Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

Even so, my feet, which were directly on the cold Martian soil, still felt a bone-chilling cold, and my hands were trembling slightly from the cold.

The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and behind them, the external lights of the Xihe began to flash.

Han Jing glanced at the time.

"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "I think we should go into the cabin."

In the darkness, through the mask, he couldn't see Mira's face, only the last rays of sunlight reflected off the goggles.

At that moment, this silent silhouette seemed to belong to any soul gazing at the universe.

……

"This is Sergei, broadcasting live from the Red Planet to Earth. Hello, Earth! I want to tell you all, Mars is absolutely amazing! I love it here."

I have to say, as you all know, I complained a lot about those months of grueling training, but now it seems that the sheer awe I felt just standing on this land made it all worthwhile.

That's fantastic! Did I just say that? I think I did. Anyway, it's just fantastic.

"We landed successfully today. You've all seen the landing footage taken by the lander, right? And the photos taken by the cameras? As soon as we finished landing, we opened the hatch, and I ran outside and jumped around for a bit."

You all know Mars is red, right? But it's actually much more than that. It's hard for me to describe precisely; it's more of a yellowish-brown, a bit like caramel, and has an extremely rich range of colors.

The closer you look, the more you'll discover countless shades of yellow and orange, even pink, bright yellow, and subtle hints of purple.

"Our spacesuits are absolutely amazing! They feel so light on your body, and with the low gravity here, it feels like you could fly into the sky with just a light jump."

Today I also climbed a sand dune. Although I haven't encountered any sandstorms or other spectacular sights since I just arrived, the environment here is absolutely first-class. Did I mention that before? I'm so excited I'm almost speechless.

There are rolling mountain ridges in the distance, actually not far from us, and they don't look too difficult to climb. After we confirm the return capsule's status tomorrow, maybe we can challenge those peaks. I can't wait!

"To all Sergei's friends, and all my friends on Earth, Sergei wants to say goodbye! Sergei Channel, that concludes today's broadcast. See you tomorrow! Goodbye, Earth!"

……

When people think of space exploration, they often picture the boundless sky and the vast universe.

However, reality is quite different: the biggest enemy facing astronauts is actually the monotonous and tedious daily life that feels like a cage.

The Xihe's crew cabin is less like a spaceship soaring through space and more like a cramped prison cell, except that the scenery outside the window is a bit peculiar.

During the seven-month journey to Mars, the astronauts were assigned a lot of temporary work, but very few of the tasks were truly meaningful.

They measured cosmic ray radiation, observed the solar wind, and used the long baseline formed by the Kitto spacecraft orbiting Earth to make precise timing measurements of gamma-ray bursts.

However, these experiments could have been done entirely by unmanned probes. The only reason they were assigned to them was to keep the astronauts occupied and prevent them from going crazy with boredom.

After a month in space, the crew of the Xihe spacecraft began to utter the classic childlike question: "Mom, have we arrived yet?"

A month before landing, Mars was just a dim, yellowish dot in the deep, velvety expanse of space, and Song Xingye was already complaining, "I'm going crazy. I don't care what happens on Mars, as long as it's not this fucking boring."

"I never want to look at this dilapidated cabin again in my life," Sergei echoed.

Fate played a cruel trick on them; their wishes later turned out to be prophetic.

……

As a systems engineer, Song Xingye's main responsibility was to inspect the Darwin and confirm that it met launch standards.

Sasha, a geologist from Country R, ​​had received cross-training at a propellant manufacturing plant and might even be more knowledgeable about the operation of that equipment than Song Xingye.

Therefore, in this extravehicular activity (EVA), Sasha naturally became Song Xingye's assistant and substitute.

EVA, a rather awkward term, stands for "Extravehicular Activity".

Before the mission began, everyone solemnly agreed to completely abandon those confusing acronyms used in space missions.

But somehow, using "EVA" to refer to all actions that exit the Xihe airlock has become a loophole. They really need to invent a new term; perhaps "Mars Walk" would sound cooler.

Getting back to the point, he walked over, patted Sasha on the shoulder, and asked, "Ready for a 'Mars walk' on the Darwin, Sasha?"

"We can leave anytime," Sasha replied readily.

"Then let's go change our clothes."

The new type of extravehicular activity suit they are wearing, also known as a Mars walking suit, is an absolute engineering marvel.

The torso of the entire suit is encased in a hard shell structure, while the abdomen, shoulders, and hips utilize flexible armadillo-like bionic joints.

The breastplate is made of lightweight composite material and is covered with a one-centimeter-thick foam insulation layer. The sleeves, gloves and legs are made of piezoelectric fabric.

Although this material is as light and flexible as ordinary fabric, its fibers can contract under the stimulation of electrical signals, thus forming a three-dimensional mechanical pressure structure that perfectly fits the limbs.

This is an extremely ingenious compromise design: the rigid chest armor ensures normal breathing space, while the retractable smart fibers ensure free movement of the limbs.

The only regret was that he couldn't scratch his nose. Song Xingye discovered in despair that as long as he put the bubble helmet on his shoulder, his nose would immediately start to itch.

Fortunately, he figured out a trick: by twisting his head sharply to the side and stretching his neck, he could barely reach the radio speaker above his shoulder and rub his itchy nose against it.

Each spacesuit has a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) embedded in the center of its back, continuously supplying power to the oxygen generation equipment.

The waste heat generated by isotope decay is pumped into the capillary network of the close-fitting underwear to maintain the core body temperature of the chest and abdomen. At the same time, the limbs are kept warm by an electric heating system to ensure that the astronauts will not be frostbitten in the extreme cold of tens of degrees below zero on Mars.

The rigid silicon carbide bubble helmet itself has UV protection, and it is also equipped with a sun visor shaped like the brim of a baseball cap, which can be rotated at any angle to block the sun.

Inside the helmet is a dark visor that can be pulled down at any time, functioning like sunglasses, specifically designed to combat glare.

In short, these spacesuits are extremely practical, and they're like self-sufficient miniature Earth environments. (The text also mentions a love of reading, starting with cola novels.)

Because Mars walks are typically time-consuming, like all extravehicular spacesuits, it is also equipped with a urine and feces collection and recycling system.

Song Xingye learned an unwritten rule early on: if an astronaut suddenly stops while on a mission and has a vacant, dreamy expression on his face, you should politely turn your face away and not disturb his "convenience" moment.

After dressing neatly and carefully checking the seal of each other's spacesuits, the two descended the gangway to the Martian surface.

The journey to the Darwin was not far. The upper deck of the return capsule and the four huge booster fuel tanks looked like an old beer can surrounded by a few ostrich eggs, standing quietly on the sand. The entire behemoth was steadily supported by four landing gear shaped like mantis legs.

Song Xingye circled the spaceship, conducting an external visual inspection.

The vent valves of both liquid oxygen tanks were hissing and spewing out thin white mist, which is normal and indicates that the tanks are completely full.

The temperature control paint on the booster surface was originally zinc white, but now the bottom is covered with a light pink color due to the dust from the sparks.

However, this was entirely within expectations and had already been taken into account in the thermal control model's calculations. Apart from this, there was no visible physical damage on the spacecraft's surface.

"As it stands, 'her' condition is not bad," Song Xingye said slowly.

However, looking at the spaceship, he felt a subtle unease, as if he had missed some obvious detail, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

"Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"No," Sasha replied.

"For an old ship that has already endured six and a half years of hardship in space and the freezing cold, her condition is simply superb," ​​he concluded.

Perhaps that's true. He originally thought that a spaceship that had been exposed to the wind and sun in the Martian sand sea for five and a half years should be even more dilapidated, covered in dirt, and even mottled from the erosion of sand and wind.

Between boosters number two and three, a ladder leads directly to a small, circular hatch.

He climbed up the ladder, while Sasha waited on the sand below.

The hatch release mechanism rotated freely, and he unlocked the hatch latch, squeezing through the narrow gap that barely allowed his Mars suit to pass through.

Although such a design appears clumsy, every kilogram of the return spacecraft's payload is crucial, and there is no need for a fancy hatch design.

Upon entering the cabin, he switched off the circuit breaker, and the lights inside the cabin immediately turned on.

This cabin is almost identical to the one on the Xihe, except for the addition of an indicator panel for the fuel production equipment.

The computer system was already booting up and running. He turned on the CRT monitor to read the internal data and, while the system was booting up, checked each of the mechanical instruments one by one.

Whether before launch from Earth or during flight, they checked the fuel data over a hundred times via radio link.

But the data displayed on the instruments inside the cabin was completely beyond his comprehension; they were all values ​​that shouldn't have appeared.

After the computer finished booting up, he turned his attention to the screen, and the result was still baffling.

Sasha poked her head in through the hatch: "What's wrong?"

"Wait a moment," he replied.

He sat at the system engineer's workstation, his eyes fixed on the instrument readings, but he couldn't understand a single word. What was wrong?

Darwin was originally scheduled to stay on Mars for two years to store propellant for its return mission, but it has now been stuck on Mars for nearly seven years, waiting for its crew to return.

However, the propellant should still be plentiful, as evidenced by the almost invisible plume of white steam at the tank opening.

Why did the sensors malfunction? The mechanical instrument readings of both liquid oxygen tanks were all zero, and the pressure gauge readings were all abnormal: the pressure in one tank was abnormally high, while the pressure in the other two was abnormally low.

He pondered to himself that Mars is cold and dry, with almost no water vapor in its atmosphere. However, over seven years, the trace amounts of water vapor remaining in the atmosphere would eventually condense and freeze on the surface of the cryogenic pipes.

Perhaps ice crystals have clogged the sensor. This shouldn't be the trigger mode for a malfunction, but anything can happen over a period of seven years.

He pulled up the schematic diagrams of the mechanical instruments and examined them one by one.

Perhaps, he handed the blueprints to Sasha at the hatch.

"Right here," he said, pointing to the blueprints. "What would happen if ice formed in the heat exchanger piping of the intake manifold?"

Do you really think this situation could happen?

Song Xingye shrugged: "Do you have any other ideas?"

Sasha stared intently at the blueprints. He held a PhD in planetary science and a degree in mechanical engineering, and was intimately familiar with the workings of the pipeline.

"If I go down and tap the manifold, and there really is ice blocking it, I might just break it with a tap."

Song Xingye hesitated: "I think this method is feasible, but it's too restrictive."

"I'll give it a try." Sasha stood up. "If I break the ice, the reading will definitely change, at least that way we can pinpoint where the problem lies. If that doesn't work, well, if that doesn't work, we'll think of something else."

Song Xingye nodded: "Okay, that sounds good. At least it's a plan."

Later, he would think of those words countless times, "It sounds good."

Song Xingye switched to the feed of an external camera. After being idle for nearly seven years, the device was finally restarted. He watched as Sasha bent down and picked out a rough-textured volcanic rock about the size of a brick.

He picked up a stone, walked towards the first booster tank, and went around to the heat exchanger behind the tank.

"It's hard to get a good look, but I think I can see some ice," Sasha said to him over the radio. "Are you ready?"

"I'm watching the readings."

Sasha braced himself against the jar with one hand and gently tapped it with a stone.

"The instruments haven't changed," Song Xingye said, staring at the screen.

"No change," Sasha reported.

"Okay, I'll use a little more force."

Sasha pulled his arm away and swung the stone, smashing it hard against the aluminum manifold.

A plume of snow-white mist shot out from the pipe, landed on the ground, and instantly evaporated in the dry air.

The instrument reading jumped sharply, surged past the full scale, then fell back, finally settling steadily at 22.8 tons – perfect!

"It's done!" Song Xingye blurted out.

"Okay! Let's try another one," Sasha said, walking towards the second storage tank.

Another loud bang, and the ice layer shattered suddenly.