Chapter 1435 Slingshot Effect!

"...The communication module was physically dismantled. The hijackers seemed to have no intention of talking to each other from the very beginning. They dismantled it completely. Even the backup communication system was pulled out. There is also the remote control module and the autopilot system. ...Damn it!"

Squatting in front of the console was a short man wearing glasses.

His name is Fan Sheng, and he is an engineer of a Pan-Asia aerospace company.

About a week ago, he went to Tiangong City to attend an academic report meeting, but he did not expect to encounter such a thing on the way home.

But thanks to him being here, otherwise the bionic man Xiaoai sent to pick him up had already been scrapped in the previous battle, and Lu Zhou really didn't know what to do.

Looking at Fan Sheng who was sweating profusely, Lu Zhou frowned and asked.

"Can it be fixed?"

"It's impossible to fix it. This kind of violent demolition method, they never thought about installing these things at all," Fan Sheng had a wry smile on his face, and raised his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead , "But it's okay, fortunately they don't know enough about this transport ship. I changed the setting of the signaling device on the facility maintenance system and switched to developer mode. Although the channel is a bit narrow, if it's just audio It should still be possible to talk."

Lu Zhou immediately asked: "Can it be used now?"

"It's ok... I have received an unfamiliar communication request here. It should be that the Pan-Asian Fleet has noticed the abnormality on our side."

Lu Zhou: "Connect them immediately!"

Fan Sheng quickly nodded, and quickly tapped the holographic panel a few times with his ten fingers.

"Okay... done!"

The light and shadow on the holographic panel changed, and a video call window was quickly presented in front of Lu Zhou and Fan Sheng.

Although the position of the video window is covered with snowflakes, the person standing at the other end of the video cannot be seen, but the repeated voice from there can be clearly heard.

"...This is Pan-Asia First Fleet, flight N-177, can you hear me?"

"If I can hear you, we would like to have a dialogue with you. No matter what you want, the door to dialogue and peace is always open..."

Taking a deep breath, Lu Zhou said.

"This is flight N-177... I am a passenger on the flight, and we have regained control of the flight from the hijackers."

The other side was silent for a while, as if surprised by the news.

Lu Zhou waited quietly for two seconds, and soon there was a reply from the other end of the communication channel.

Navigator: "Can you slow down?"

"Yes...we have turned off the main engine, but the automatic navigation module has been dismantled by the hijackers, and the two captains have also been executed by the hijackers," Lu Zhou said with a headache looking at the track data displayed on the navigator , "You'd better send someone over to help us... Those hijackers can board this transport ship, you should have a way too?"

This time, there was a long silence on the communication channel.

Navigator: "...Flight N-177, upon hearing this news, I hope you will remain calm."

From the heavy tone, Lu Zhou had vaguely guessed something, and his mood sank to the bottom.

Glancing at Fan Sheng next to him, he was silent for a while before speaking.

"Go ahead."

Navigator: "37 minutes ago, you missed the final deceleration window."

Lu Zhou: "Does that mean we can't come back?"

Navigator: "Yes..."

Lu Zhou didn't answer immediately, but glanced at Fan Sheng next to him.

"Is that so?"

Fan Sheng's face was pale, and he nodded slightly with trembling lips.

"...There is such a saying. But it's not enough, right? It should be salvageable! Where's your landing craft? At least send us some supplies..."

"The Dolphin 230 transport ship has 12 pairs of K-15 electric propulsion main engines. In terms of longitudinal acceleration, even the Sentinel-class patrol ships of the Pan-Asian First Fleet buy refrigerant loads and set off from the nearest space port. Reach the same speed as yours within 72 hours. The window period for rescue is only 11 hours. Once you pass by the Earth-Moon system, it will take two weeks at the fastest before our aircraft carrier can reach the distance from your flight. The docking was completed on the 37 million-kilometer orbit of the moon system."

Lu Zhou looked at Fan Sheng and continued to ask, "Is what he said true?"

Fan Sheng nodded palely.

"The dolphin-type civil transport ship was originally designed to facilitate passengers to quickly travel between the Earth-Moon system and the Mars system, so 12 pairs of main engines are installed at the tail... If it is just a simple race, it will carry ammunition and battery life. It’s really not necessarily possible to catch up with the military transport ship.”

"Those sky pirates probably started preparing for us a week ago..."

While Fan Sheng was explaining the reason to Lu Zhou, Yang Wu stepped forward and patted the navigator on the shoulder while looking at the snow-white video window in the headquarters of the Pan-Asia First Fleet.

"Let me communicate with them."

The navigator glanced at the commander, seeing the latter nodded, so he gave up his position.

Taking over from the navigator and sitting in front of the console, Yang Wu stared at the snow-white holographic video window, and said in a serious and steady voice.

"This is the headquarters of the Pan-Asian First Fleet. I am Yang Wu, the military operations advisor."

"Although I am sorry to inform you of this news, the possibility of your safe return is very slim. Even under the best conditions, it will take two weeks for our rescuers to arrive. Therefore, we need you to take some necessary self-rescue measures to come Avoid the worst."

"...If you can control this flight, I hope you can turn on the left steering engine, change the current course, and avoid a direct collision with the Tianzhou space station."

Lu Zhou: "How many degrees to the left?"

Yang Wu: "If you are not sure, keep the left steering engine running at full power for more than 720 seconds."

720 seconds...

Turning at full power for 720 seconds is equivalent to avoiding the earth directly and diving headlong into the deep space where no one is.

Lu Zhou: "Do you mean let us give up?"

Yang Wu said in a serious tone: "We have never given up on you, and we have absolutely no intention of making you give up. It is just for the safety of the Tianzhou and the tens of thousands of residents on the space station. I hope you can keep a safe distance from it. We will Doing our best to rescue you, but also wanting you to think about the bigger picture."

"What's your name, please?"

"Yang Wu."

"Comrade Yang Wu," Lu Zhou's tone gradually sank as he stared at the white snowflakes in the holographic window, "There are more than two hundred passengers on board, most of them are my compatriots, and there are also other passengers from all over the world. The people of the country and the organization. I agree with you that the bigger picture is important, but things are far from that. As long as I am here and I am alive, I will not allow them to die for no reason."

Yang Wu: "Can you drive a transport ship? What do you want to do?"

Lu Zhou smiled lightly.

"The principles are actually the same, the difference is that the operation has become more cumbersome. The essence of spaceflight is a mathematical problem, and as long as it is a mathematical problem, there is a solution."

Yang Wu squinted his eyes, staring at the snow-white holographic screen, and said in a deep voice.

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am, I just need you to cooperate with me."

Communications have been lost.

Flight N-177 seemed to have made up its mind to gamble the fate of itself and the Tianzhou, and insisted on continuing along the established route.

The command room of the Pan-Asian First Fleet was already surrounded by tension.

Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, staring at the flickering green dot on the radar.

"The course has not changed, flight N-177 is heading for Tianzhou!"

"Collision expected in 11 hours!"

"Aim at them, we can't let the tens of thousands of residents on the Tianzhou take risks!"

"They have no chance of surviving at all... But if there is, even 1%—"

"It's not completely absent." Looking at the consultant team of the debater, the aerospace technology consultant who had been silent all this time suddenly said, "Although the possibility may be less than 1%..."

The commander immediately looked at him: "What do you say?"

"The slingshot effect," the aerospace technology consultant continued, looking at the commander, "although judging from the current flight path, their remaining fuel can no longer be returned by normal means, but if the slingshot effect is used, it may not be impossible."

The army adviser frowned and asked.

"Slingshot effect? ​​I remember, isn't that used to accelerate unmanned probes?"

"It's not necessarily an acceleration. When the planet is moving to the right on the horizontal plane, if the spacecraft flies past the planet at a suitable angle from the left side of the planet, it will receive a rightward impulse from the planet. Theoretically speaking, if they move from the synchronous If flying past the Earth in orbit, as long as the angle of entry is appropriate, the slingshot effect can be used to extend the rescue window period."

Commander: "How long can it be extended?"

"I can't tell you, shouldn't you ask the computer about this kind of thing?"

The commander immediately looked at the staff controlling the front desk, and ordered.

"To start the AI ​​battlefield analysis system, I need to know the success rate of the plan and the possible risks."

The progress bar on the holographic screen flickered slightly.

Soon, the results of the evaluation appeared in front of everyone.

And this result also made the expressions on everyone's faces freeze.

"The success rate is 2%... The probability of flying through the synchronous orbit and colliding with the Tianzhou space station is 75%... Damn, this is still under the assumption that there are experienced pilots on flight N-177!"

"It's too difficult! There are too many variables to control! To put it bluntly, the slingshot effect cannot accurately control the speed and direction of the operation. Even experienced drivers will not regard it as a routine. Acceleration and deceleration methods!"

"This is just nonsense!"

"They've gone crazy!"

The commander's face was expressionless, and he clenched his fists tightly, as if he was struggling for something.

Standing by the side, Yang Wu silently glanced at him and just asked a question.

"does it worth?"

A city's men take risks for a ship's men.

Is it really worth it?

...

To be honest, Lu Zhou didn't spend too much time thinking about whether it was worth it.

As a scholar, there is only one problem he is considering now, and that is the optimal solution under the current situation.

Precise parameters are like building blocks stacked vertically. No matter which parameter is adjusted, a slight carelessness may lead to extremely serious navigation accidents.

If there is no accident, they will fly through the geosynchronous orbit in 11 hours, and there is a great possibility of colliding with the Tianzhou space station.

To be honest, the window period is very short, let alone the most complicated manual driving.

His calculations must be accurate, not even a tiny error.

If he wanted to survive, he had to make good use of every ounce of working fluid reserve, and ignite the lateral engine at the critical moment, and use the slingshot effect to complete the final deceleration.

Standing next to Lu Zhou, the engineer named Fan Sheng suddenly said in despair.

"I bet we were being targeted."

"aim?"

"We are now like a missile, crashing straight into the Tianzhou," Fan Sheng said with a bitter expression on his face, "It must be so in their eyes, and the orbital defense weapon will definitely respond. If I were them , will certainly not allow such a thing to happen.”

"I don't rule out this possibility, but I believe it won't happen." Looking at Fan Sheng, Lu Zhou was silent for a while, then reached out and patted his shoulder, "Go to the cabin and rest for a while, I want to be alone Wait a while."

Fan Sheng: "Can you tell me, what exactly are you planning to do?"

Lu Zhou: "Slingshot effect."

Fan Sheng opened his mouth, and after a while, he squeezed out a word from his throat.

"It's just crazy..."

After leaving the cockpit, Fan Sheng returned to the cabin, tried his best not to look too heavy, walked back to his seat in silence and sat down.

Professor Leonard sighed, and looked at the starry sky outside the cockpit with some sadness, "Are we already dead? Can anyone explain to me?"

Fan Sheng: "...not that desperate, but it's not much better either."

Eleven hours of waiting is so long.

The eyes of the whole world were drawn to the flight that came from deep space and was out of control.

The orbiting residents, who had no time to evacuate, spontaneously came to the floor-to-ceiling windows, praying for the approaching spaceship, and praying for their own fate.

100 kilometers!

10 kilometers!

Last 1km!

In their pupils, they could only see a black shadow getting closer and closer, finally blocking their sight of the moon.

The expressions in people's eyes gradually became desperate.

On this distance scale, it is impossible to stop at the current sailing speed.

However……

At this moment, a miracle happened suddenly.

Even though the astronomical distance was infinitely close, the huge ship still did not collide with it in the end, but passed by the Tianzhou.

Sitting in the cockpit, Lu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the recalculated route on the holographic image, he collapsed and sat in the driver's seat.

The momentum obtained from the Earth-Moon system allowed Flight N-177 to decelerate successfully. Cooperating with the active deceleration system that has been activated, they will be able to join the rescue patrol ship sent by the Pan-Asian First Fleet in at most two days.

instead of two weeks later...

Even in the history of aerospace, this will be a textbook-level demonstration, an epic victory!

Thinking of this, a relieved smile appeared on Lu Zhou's tired face.

When we return to the earth, we can be proud of ourselves...

In the passenger cabin, the nervous Professor Leonard stared fixedly at the towering fortress outside the window.

During the voyage of this astronomical scale, he could even clearly see the orbiting residents standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and looking at them outside the window.

On the other side, he and them were also seen, and many people were even waving excitedly at them.

This may be the greatest moment in human history.

At least, one of them!

A man from 100 years ago saves a runaway flight and everyone on board.

And even at the last moment, people still did not give up hope and chose to believe in each other.

"In our day, it was usually the worst, even though I'm not a pessimist myself..."

Taking off the hat on his head and putting it in his arms, Yang Wu looked at the commander and said solemnly, "It was your courage that saved those two hundred passengers."

"We also prepare for the worst, Comrade Yang from 2050..." Taking a deep breath of cold air, the commander's tense shoulders finally relaxed, leading him to respond with a slightly relaxed smile , "It's just that in comparison, there are so many people who believe in us."

"Even for the sake of those who trust us, I don't want to let them down."

This catastrophe will bring the people of Pan Asia closer together.

Although, similar things, he doesn't want to have a second time...

On flight N-177.

The cheers and applause sounded again, and the atmosphere was like a festival.

The spaceship passing by in the synchronous orbit is sailing slowly from the sun-facing side of the earth to the sun-facing side.

Just like overlooking the sunrise, the brilliance of the morning light illuminates the blue horizon. Under the dappled brilliance, the planet is so beautiful, the clear clouds and oceans attract everyone's attention.

The child standing in front of the window was staring at the shocking scene outside the window, his little hands were tightly clenched, as if he had grasped a dream.

Little did he know that he had just experienced the most dangerous moment of his life.

All he knew was that he, who was born and raised on Mars, saw the most spectacular sunrise in his life at this moment.

Turning his head excitedly, he looked at his mother.

"Mom, is that the Earth?"

That childish milk voice is full of yearning for beautiful things.

The mother sitting next to him smiled slightly and said softly.

"Yes."

"That's where my mother was born..."