Chapter 1301 The Pendulum Into Orbit

In a vast darkness.

A pitch-black aerospace plane slowly approached from the edge of the star curtain. The silent radio echoed in the vast deep space, communicating with the ground command center tens of millions of kilometers away with a delay of hundreds of seconds.

"This is the 'Messenger', we are close to the 'New World'."

"Close to the past."

"receive."

Xiaguang is a ship model.

As for "Messenger", it is the code name of this aerospace plane in this operation.

Since the aerospace industry has changed from elite to large-scale, not to mention the early model Xiangrui, which has been gradually discontinued, the Xiaguang currently sailing in outer space has maintained more than five ships, and there are even more Queqiao.

If you continue to use the ship model to call it, it is easy to be confused, so now it has been called by the code name.

Xu Zhenghong, who was sitting in the main driver's seat, reached out and pulled the joystick on the right hand side, and pressed the button to lock the track.

With the assistance of the automatic navigation device, the co-pilot Liu Biao carefully monitored the speed and distance parameters, and cooperated with Xu Zhenghong to drive the Xiaguang rover towards the intersection of the Mars transfer orbit and the MOI3 orbit.

"Turn on the high-gain directional antenna, and the laser alignment device."

"receive."

The most critical moment has come.

There is only one chance, and only when the three main parameters of speed, angle of entry, and distance are all satisfied, can it be successfully orbited.

And if they miss it, they have to circle Mars one more time or at least half a circle to correct the orbit.

A minute is like a century.

Finally, the moment the words "successfully entered orbit" appeared on the screen, both Xu Zhenghong and Liu Biao, who were tense, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here's 'The Messenger', and we've cut into the moi3 track."

"This is the ground command center. We have received your message. From now on, the ground navigation is over, and the rest is up to you."

"Got it, please wish us luck."

The answer is over.

Compared with the communication delay of hundreds of seconds, it has become an unrealistic thing to guide the Xiaguang to complete the remaining complicated orbit switching through the ground command center.

The rest of the voyage is on their own.

However, although there is no navigation from the ground command center, for Xu Zhenghong and Liu Biao sitting in the cockpit, they are actually relieved.

Unless there is a meteorite collision or other accidents, basically there are very few links that require their manual operation.

It can even be said that if all goes well, they only need to press the button to open the hatch after reaching the predetermined orbit, and throw out the Z particle clock in the cargo hold like laying an egg, and the mission of this voyage will be considered complete.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No."

"Then I have to order it myself," grinning, Liu Biao unlocked the life safety device, left the co-pilot's seat, floated to the refrigerator in the living area, and took out the refrigerated coffee from it.

In fact, what he wants to drink is beer, but he is still on a mission, so it is naturally impossible to drink that stuff.

Returning to the cockpit with a bag full of coffee, Liu Biao, who re-fixed himself on the seat, fixed the bag containing cold brew coffee on the chest of the spacesuit, and then pulled out the straw and brought it to his mouth.

In a gravity-free environment, the taste of all liquid foods will change wonderfully, no matter if it is a drink or anything else. The flowing liquid became like jelly, and there was an indescribable strange feeling when drinking it.

Fortunately, the taste is still the same.

Looking at the planet that seemed to be burning outside the cockpit, Liu Biao, who squinted his eyes, took a sip of the straw, stared at the beautiful scenery for a long time, and suddenly said with emotion.

"Simply beautiful."

Xu Zhenghong, who was quietly waiting in the driver's seat, also nodded his head in agreement.

"yes."

After exchanging two sentences, the two fell into a silent silence, completely immersed in the beautiful scenery that they had no time to appreciate before.

No matter how many times you watch it, you will never get tired of the magnificent waves, and every time you see it, you can't help but be fascinated.

It's hard to describe this feeling specifically.

just like……

The new world is right in front of you.

About an hour or two passed, and after glancing at the orbital data on the cockpit instrument, Liu Biao guessed that the time was almost up. He reached out and turned on the deep space navigation optical sensor, aiming at the direction of the center of Mars, and facing the star map. The scale data of the data were corrected twice.

After the next orbit change, they will enter the lowest orbit.

With any luck, they should be able to see the return capsule of the BFS spacecraft there.

"Sooner or later we're going to extend our borders here."

"I don't know if I can see it in my lifetime."

"It doesn't matter if you can't see it, someone will see it for us... ready to work."

"receive."

Almost at the same time as the voice fell, the spacecraft had successfully cut into the lowest orbit after decelerating for the last time.

Listening quietly to the countdown sound in his ears, and looking at the virtual beacon on the helmet eyepiece that was getting closer and closer, Liu Biao, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, pushed the safety on the joystick with his thumb, and put his thumb on the on the green button.

The moment the countdown is complete.

His thumb pressed down almost reflexively.

With the sound of a slight electric current, a metal ball framed by two black rings was thrown from the back of the cargo hold. Like a thumbtack on a blackboard, it is firmly bitten to death in the orbit around Mars.

After confirming the orbital parameters of the Z particle clock left behind from the laser calibrator, Xu Zhenghong switched the communication channel to the ground command center and said in a calm voice.

"The package has successfully entered orbit, and the first phase of the mission is completed!"

It takes about four minutes to respond. During this time, their task is to maintain the current flight trajectory and wait quietly for the next instruction.

The task in hand finally came to an end, Xu Zhenghong's expression finally relaxed a little, he unlocked the safety system in the cabin, and moved his sore shoulders.

Sitting next to him, Liu Biao suddenly smiled and said as he looked at the black spot on the rear camera that was receding and disappearing.

"...like putting a ring on the bride."

Grinning the corner of his mouth, Xu Zhenghong said with a smile.

"It's kind of romantic to say the least."

"I've always felt that spaceflight itself is a romantic thing...Speaking of which, what about the rest of the work?"

"Wait for the news from the ground command center, return to the moi3 orbit without accident, and then wait there quietly." Looking at the metal ball that had disappeared so far away, Xu Zhenghong narrowed his eyes, "Wait until the end of the experiment, Confirm the status of the Z particle clock."

"After that, we can go home."

At this time, a distant sound of "received" came from the communication channel of the ground command center.

The two people sitting in the cockpit all cheered up in unison.

At the same time, the aerospace ground command center is tens of millions of kilometers away.

Standing in the command room, Lu Zhou slowly raised his left hand and glanced at the silver watch worn there.

The time was right on the hour.

Guessing that the preparations are almost done, Lu Zhou raised his head, his eyes passed over the crowds of people in the ground command center, and landed on the two-person-high floor-to-ceiling screen.

He spoke in a voice that everyone could hear.

"It's time for us to go."