I ask you to build tractors, but you build rockets?.

Chapter 756 Lost Contact
"Loss of contact? What kind of loss of contact? Is the transmitter damaged, or is it completely out of control?"

While Jim and others were thinking about how to judge the news announced by the Aeronautical Development Commission, Zhong Cheng was anxiously inquiring about the situation.

In fact, Firefly 1 had been out of contact for two hours, but at that time it was still receiving a NACA delegation, so the control center temporarily tried to solve the problem and decided to notify NACA only after giving up completely.

Zhong Cheng did not receive the news much earlier than them. This was a complete emergency.

Now he has just arrived at the control center and the oral message is that Firefly 1 has lost contact, but the loss of contact also needs to be classified into types.

If the antenna is damaged, it is a completely acceptable accident. No one can guarantee that an isolated small machine hundreds of millions of kilometers away will not have any malfunctions. As long as the control system is still intact, the subsequent arriving probes will be able to find a way to repair the antenna. It is not a big problem.

But if the entire rover is completely destroyed or out of control, the problem will become serious.

Figuring out what kind of fault it is is the task that must be determined now.

"It's not good."

Lin Ju arrived earlier than him, knew more, and his expression looked a little mysterious.

"The loss of connection was very sudden. All signals were cut off in an instant during normal operation. It was like it had completely disappeared without any warning.

Hmm... This time it wasn't Artemis' fault, it's definitely Firefly 1 that had a problem."

Zhong Cheng: "Can we still take photos of Firefly 1?"

"Of course, it was in the high-resolution photos taken by Lihuo several times when it passed over Plain Zero, but Yinghuo 1 did not move after losing contact, so it is basically certain that it has remained in the same place."

Zhong Cheng quickly asked someone to retrieve the satellite images. The images after high magnification were still quite clear, and the positions of Firefly 1 in different time periods almost completely overlapped.

If only the communication system was broken, Firefly 1's AI would definitely follow emergency procedures and would not have stayed where it was without taking any action.

Out of power? Impossible, the RTG battery is designed to last for 10 years, this is just the end.

Frozen? The contact was lost during the day on Mars. Although the temperature was low, even the civilian chips on Earth could withstand it, not to mention the carefully protected Mars rover.

Power system failure? A highly independent rover like Firefly 1 has a fairly complete redundant system that does not interfere with each other. Even if there is a problem, the probability of it suddenly being completely disconnected and stuck is still too low.

Looking at the calm yet serious expressions on Lin Ju and the others' faces, I'm afraid there is only one answer left.

"how come!"

"Yeah, how could that be!"

Shen Zuozhou repeated what he said. Although what they were doing was looking for traces of alien civilization, this sudden incident still caught everyone off guard.

There are many ways to make Firefly 1 suddenly "die", just a close-range EMP, or sudden exposure to super-strong radiation. In short, it would not be too difficult for humans to do it.

Anyway, it is still difficult for "Lihuo" to detect these traces in space, and it cannot detect the situation on the ground in detail.

Up to now, the detection data of "Lihuo" is still normal. There are no large fluctuations in conventional data such as magnetic field and temperature, and there are no gravitational waves.

The Aerospace Development Commission is not sure what method "killed" Yinghuo 1, so whether subsequent probes should go there is a question. If the target in the northern hemisphere is abandoned, there are still three probes and a large shuttle that can land on Plain Zero. Should they continue to go there for reconnaissance?

Now the nature of the detection mission has changed. It is more like a scout going deep into the front line. Losing a few detectors is not a big deal, but it will be terrible if it causes some accidents.

It is generally believed that the possibility of the existence of living aliens in the solar system is not high. However, since the gravitational wave transmission system is still in operation, it is entirely possible that there is a self-defense system. If it is activated by the detector, human civilization will disappear immediately.

Tianwen-2 and Tianwen-3 were originally preparing to begin landing, but their orbits have now been changed and they are temporarily hovering in the orbit of Mars, thus suspending their landing plans.

"The higher-ups are already discussing how to deal with this, but for now I'm afraid it would be better for us to do nothing to avoid causing further irritation."

Shen Zuozhou sighed. Doing nothing was definitely temporary. Even if continuing would bring danger, they had to carry out more detailed exploration.

However, if subsequent probes also suddenly lose contact and cannot send back any data, the astronauts will have no choice but to take risks.

From a heart point of view, sacrificing a few astronauts is not unacceptable, but sending them out in the dark like this would be completely disregarding human lives, and the uncertainty is too great.

"The most urgent task is to find a way to restore contact with Yinghuo 1, or at least find out what happened to Yinghuo 1 and what caused it to lose contact."

Zhong Cheng thought about it and said that this was the only way at the moment.

Lin Ju: "If the higher-ups make a decision, it would be best to send another probe down. In fact, the best one would be the Zhurong, which has many tools and humanoid robots on board. It can find a way to pull Yinghuo 1 out from a distance. The other probes are sister probes of Yinghuo 1. If we approach them rashly, we may get nothing."

Zhong and Shen thought about it for a moment and just nodded slightly.

Lin Ju knew that they were hesitating. It would be easy to replace a few Mars rovers if they were lost. The Aerospace Development Commission would not even blink an eye and could easily launch ten more.

But the Zhurong is not like that. Its size, construction difficulty and launch cost are all very high, and the consequences of its loss are too severe, so it is used with caution.

Just like the Yamato battleship, it has superior performance, but you can't take risks easily.

Skipping this topic, Zhong Cheng suddenly asked:
"How is the training of the Fram going? When will it conduct the lunar voyage?"

Shen Zuozhou: "By the end of this month, the crew has fully adapted to the rotating space station. They will complete a voyage to the moon and bring some supplies along the way."

"What about the Enterprise? When can we fly again for training?"

"The Space Force said it was not bad, but the way the Enterprise landed was a bit too violent. The atmospheric environment is much more complicated than the Jiuzhang on the moon. We need to select professional elites, otherwise they won't be able to withstand the dizziness."

Zhong Cheng nodded and didn't think it was difficult.

"We are not short of elites. Who among the crew of the Fram is not an elite? So, arrange one or two crews from the Enterprise as soon as possible to conduct joint training with the Fram.

Well, the Enterprise's second ship also needs to speed up, otherwise the counterweight will be very troublesome."

Since the Fram is rotating as a whole, the center of gravity must be kept at the geometric center. Simply docking with one shuttle would cause it to be unbalanced, and two or four shuttles must be docked at the same time when rotating.

(End of this chapter)