For the China academic community, June was the time when the academician primaries were announced.
June was the third month since the launch of the Heart of Gold …
Tens of millions of kilometers away from Earth, a silver-white spacecraft slowly moved forward.
Although it looked as slow as a snail with the distant sun and the fiery red planet close at hand as the background, the fact was that it was moving at a speed of nearly four kilometers per second.
Four days ago, it would have been even faster. This was after it was captured by the Mars gravitational system and decelerated for nearly 90 hours.
Johnson floated in the cabin and stared at the red planet outside the porthole for a long time. He had a victorious smile on his face.
"Mars! God, we're finally here! "
Jones held an electronic camera in his hand and took a picture of the red planet. He stood next to the porthole and exclaimed.
"It's so beautiful!"
Four days ago, the BFS spacecraft carrying the colony capsule successfully separated from the BFR rocket. It entered the Mars gravitational system and orbited the planet in an elliptical orbit.
Now, after a long period of active deceleration, the BFR manned spacecraft named Heart of Gold finally successfully approached the Martian atmosphere after several complex orbital changes.
This was the end of their journey.
This was the starting point for human civilization!
"When are we landing?" Travis looked at the planet outside the window and muttered, "I feel like I'm floating up there."
He was different from Johnson, who dreamed of becoming Columbus. He was different from Jones, who signed up for the Ares program just because he was heartbroken. He was here to avoid paying his debts.
As for why he came to Mars …
There was no reason. He never did things with a plan.
Maybe he saw a Space-X commercial while he was drunk, so he filled in the form with the mentality of giving it a try. As a result, when he almost forgot about it, someone suddenly called him and told him that he was selected.
Honestly speaking, he thought it was a scam call. After all, he didn't expect them to find a black man on this spacecraft. Not to mention that he only played football before.
Fortunately, NASA didn't ask him to do anything complicated. They only gave him some basic knowledge that colonists needed to know. The specific professional issues were handled by Johnson, a former Marine.
Unlike him and Jones, the "captain" of the Heart of Gold was an astronaut who had been selected and professionally trained. He had signed a contract with Space-X a few years ago.
Apparently, there was no Ares program at the time, and China hadn't started sending people to the Moon yet. Colonizing Mars was Space-X's own plan …
"We'll land right away!" Johnson left the porthole and floated to the side of his seat. He looked at his two teammates standing in the cabin and clapped his hands. "Okay, guys … and ladies, our future home is right in front of us. Current orbital altitude of 316.7 kilometers, will reach the target airspace in 5 minutes! Please put on the Mars spacesuit and connect to the environmental life-support system. Give me an OK sign when you're ready! "
Travis anxiously plugged the life support system into his seat. He looked around and asked, "How long are we going to live here?"
Johnson smiled and said, "About four to five years if we're fast! After two launch windows, someone will 'take over' our shift. Of course, it might be forever. I like this place. The scenery here is just like Las Vegas, a vast expanse of yellow sand as far as the eye can see. "
Travis couldn't help but say, "Las Vegas isn't that desolate!"
"Then let's make it look like that … Guys, get ready to land! Activate the life support system, 3, 2, 1 … Ignite! "
"New continent, here we come!"
The spacecraft arrived at the target airspace. The moment the orbit calibration was completed, Johnson pressed the landing button.
A violent tremor came from the seat under them. Outside the porthole, they quickly saw that the dome-shaped aircraft had been left behind, getting further and further away from them.
Travis felt the pull of gravity, and he cursed, "Sh * t". Johnson, who was sitting in the driver's seat, clenched his teeth, and his face was filled with excitement.
Jones, who was also sitting in the cockpit, had a tense expression on his face. He looked around anxiously, silently praying for a safe trip.
Whatever their mood, whatever their motivation, they had taken the first step towards Mars.
As for what their next step would be, only God could tell them …
…
Even though Mars was close to Earth, it was still thousands of kilometers away from Earth.
It would take at least three minutes to send an email to Earth from here. Therefore, after entering the Martian gravitational system, it was difficult for NASA's ground command center to accurately track the Heart of Gold's flight path and provide navigation.
However, even though the three-minute delay made it difficult for the command center, it didn't prevent Earth from receiving news of the Heart of Gold's successful landing …
Jinling launch site.
Ever since the establishment of the Lunar Orbit Committee, this place had become the headquarters of the Lunar Orbit Committee.
In order to facilitate the lunar orbit construction, not only did the two major aerospace companies set up offices here, but even the China National Space Administration moved two departments here from Beijing.
Inside the conference room on the first floor of the launch site command tower, an emergency meeting was being held.
Chen Yunhai, the deputy director of the China National Space Administration and the director of the Lunar Orbit Committee, stood in front of the conference table with a report in his hand. He had a serious look on his face as he spoke.
"35 minutes ago, we received news from the Qianzhou Radio Observatory. Through active space signal diagnosis, we have received an artificial electromagnetic wave communication signal from Mars. The message transmission time is 10 minutes."
He put the report in his hand on the table, looked around the conference table, and spoke after a pause.
He paused for a second and said, "This is the report from the FAST project team. According to their speculations, the Heart of Gold has successfully entered Mars orbit!"
There were whispers around the conference table.
Many people looked at Lu Zhou, who was sitting at the other end of the conference table. He was staring at his laptop. Unfortunately, Lu Zhou didn't have much of an expression on his face.
Academician Yuan Huanmin, the chief engineer of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, went silent for a while.
He then asked, "Have they started landing?"
"I'm not sure yet, but if they have successfully entered orbit, landing shouldn't be too difficult."
Even though this was the first time NASA had sent people to Mars, this wasn't the first time NASA had visited Mars. Ever since the Viking 1, the American aerospace industry had accumulated half a century of experience in the research of landing on Mars. Even if there was a problem with the Ares program, it was unlikely that they would land on Mars.
After hearing Academician Yuan's question, Chen Yunhai went silent for a few seconds.
"We're not sure yet, we're still confirming the accuracy of the information …"
"There's no need."
Lu Zhou, who was sitting at the corner of the conference table, stared at his laptop and didn't speak. He suddenly spoke.
"They should have succeeded. The information captured by the FAST project team is probably the landing video transmitted by the Heart of Gold to NASA's ground command center."
Chen Yunhai paused for a second. He pushed his glasses up and spoke.
"How do you know …"
Lu Zhou didn't explain much. He turned his laptop around and showed the content of the video.
"Because just a few seconds ago, they uploaded the video onto YouTube," Ye Zichen said.
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