As the flash of light outside the porthole gradually disappeared, the shaking of the spacecraft gradually stopped.
Deng Kai looked out of the cabin and saw stars densely packed in the deep sky, which was even grander and more spectacular than the scenes he had experienced on the northwest plateau!
"Have we arrived at Saturn?" Deng Kai was filled with joy and surprise, and his tone became much more relaxed.
"It's right in front of us on the left, we've seen it!" Katz motioned to Deng Kai to change positions and observe.
Deng Kai moved to the left side of the command module, looked ahead through the porthole, and couldn't help shouting: "I saw it! Oh my god! It's really amazing and exquisite!"
Saturn, now wearing its beautiful halo, almost in a standard circle, appears completely in the field of vision of Deng Kai and Katz! It is getting closer and bigger! The separation of light and dark on the planet and rings
It's like what an artist painted with a brush! Behind it, there is a sky spraying with light stars...
"Mr. Deng Kai, I have done what I should do, and now it is up to you to control the spacecraft!" Katz said in a gentlemanly manner.
Deng Kai quickly checked the working condition of the spacecraft and found that everything was normal. He then sent a set of information back to the base control center to report the status of the spacecraft. After that, he also specially turned on the response system and shouted into the microphone: "This is
'Express No. 1', this is 'Express No. 1', we have seen Saturn! It is as wonderful as a fairy tale world!"
Although he knew that it would take more than an hour for the base's control center to hear his voice, he still wanted to convey his joy back as soon as possible.
The readings show that the spacecraft is still 3 million kilometers away from Saturn.
Deng Kai turned off the nuclear engine, and the spacecraft "swooped" toward the orbit of Saturn with extremely high inertia.
It will take five or six hours for the spacecraft to decelerate and enter the orbit around Saturn, and the instructions from Base X will not arrive until at least two and a half hours later. Deng Kai wants to use this time to have a serious communication with Katz.
"Congratulations, Mr. Katz! Thank you for your cooperation!" Deng Kai extended a hand to the other party.
Katz smiled happily. He high-fived Deng Kai.
"I would like to ask you about the 'enchantment'. Is that okay?"
"Okay! Please ask. However, if my answer makes you feel unreasonable, please don't doubt or make fun of my honesty!"
"Okay. Then let me ask you, what kind of existence is 'enchantment'?"
"I can't describe it specifically. I only know that it is an 'existence' without any existence."
"Nothing exists? So is it part of the solar system or the Milky Way?"
"Like the solar system and the Milky Way, it is part of the universe."
"Then you mean that the 'Boundary' exists independently of the solar system and the Milky Way?"
"This understanding is not accurate. In fact, there are 'boundaries' even on the earth, between the earth and the moon, or between the planets in the solar system. Do you remember that I once asked you about 'parallels'
Is it about space?" Katz found a writing board and drew a large circle on it with a pen, and then randomly drew a number of curves within the circle, each curve intersecting the circumference. "We can understand it this way.
: This big circle is like a projection of the universe - sorry I can only draw two dimensions - the irregular shapes in it represent different 'parallel spaces', and these curves are 'boundaries'. It's like
It is the membrane between the two 'parallel spaces', and it bends as the 'parallel spaces' bend."
"Are these 'boundaries' themselves space? Is there a vacuum inside them?"
"I'm sorry! I don't know if 'enchantment' should be classified as a form of space, but it should indeed be absolute void. There is neither matter nor time."
"Since there is no matter and time, there is no reference object. So how do you judge the orientation of the spacecraft in the 'Boundary'? How can you ensure that we re-enter the solar system space just near the orbit of Saturn without flying to
Jupiter or Pluto?"
Katz picked up the writing board, erased the pattern he had just drawn, drew a new mushroom-like figure, and drew a few circles on the "cap" of the "mushroom".
"We usually think that the orbits of the planets in the solar system are flat. In fact, that is just a static assumption. The real situation should be like this -" Katz pointed to the "mushroom" pattern, "the sun leads
Its friends are circling the Milky Way along with the Orion spiral arm! The sun is in the middle, and the other planets are spiraling forward on the periphery. Can you understand what I say?"
"I generally understand the operation of the solar system revolving around the Milky Way." Deng Kai replied.
"What I want to tell you now is that the surface of this 'mushroom' is the 'boundary' of the solar system. Each circle I drew on it corresponds to the position of each planet, which changes with the strength of the planet's magnetic field.
The stronger the planet's magnetic field, the farther away the 'border' will be from it. The 'border' is a membrane that is neither visible nor detectable. The magnetic fields of all planets will form one after another on this 'membrane'.
Wave'. Among them, Jupiter's magnetic field is the strongest, and it is dozens of times larger than the 'wave' of Mars. Therefore, after we enter the 'boundary', as long as we pass through this 'big wave' and then return, we will reach Saturn!"<
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"But the spacecraft seems to be completely stationary in the 'enchantment'. How can you feel this 'big wave?'"
"Of course you ordinary humans can't detect it, but I can!"
Deng Kai continued to stare at the slowly growing Saturn. From his perspective, the broad rings of Saturn were like a golden record, with ring gaps clearly visible. This was similar to what he had observed through an astronomical telescope on Earth.
The "tilted straw hat" shape is obviously different.
"It's unimaginable..." Deng Kai said with emotion. "How do you know the existence of the 'enchantment'? Have you flown before?"
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"'Boundaries' are everywhere! Even on Earth, there are 'Boundaries'. Well, I've only crossed through 'Boundaries' on Earth."
"Then... have you ever thought about what to do if you fail today?!"
"I believe I can do it." Katz said calmly.
"Received the 'Express No. 1' signal!" A surprised voice came from the loudspeaker of the control center. Then, Deng Kai's voice echoed in the hall.
"This is 'Express No. 1', this is 'Express No. 1', we have seen Saturn! It is as wonderful as a fairy tale world..."
Li Zhanxiong jumped up from his seat, walked quickly to the intercom, and grabbed the microphone: "Well done! Deng Kai! Congratulations!"
At this moment, the interior image of the spacecraft appeared on the big screen, and Deng Kai was waving and smiling at the camera. The smaller screen next to him showed an image of the entire Saturn and its rings from above the poles.
Since the distance between the spacecraft and the earth is more than one billion kilometers, the transmission of radio signals will be delayed by more than 80 minutes. Therefore, it will take more than an hour for Li Zhanxiong's voice to be received by the spacecraft.
"Express No. 1" is different from "Project No. 1". "Project No. 1" is completely autonomously controlled by the computer system on the spacecraft according to a preset program. "Express No. 1" is a manned flight, so it has additional
Instead of manual control, it can be operated by astronauts when encountering abnormal situations.
Now, because Katz used artificial orbit changes to make the spacecraft cross the "border", which not only changed the flight route from the Earth to Saturn, but also greatly shortened the transit time, the control center can no longer redesign the program for the computer, so the next step is to
It all depends on the coordinated operation of Deng Kai and Katz.
Arriving at Saturn is just a step across the threshold. The core mission of "Express 1" is to find the lost "Fuxi" and "Xia Zhi", and land on Enceladus to overhaul the "Xia Zhi" power system. However,
Why did the "Fuxi" and "Xiazhi" lose contact? Can Deng Kai and Katz still find them? If they are still there, what will happen?
Li Zhanxiong's heart was full of questions and worries.
He picked up the microphone again: "Deng Kai, after you find the 'Fuxi', keep a distance and fly with us, report the situation to us at any time, and strictly follow the instructions of the control center!"
The spacecraft has reached a position about 500,000 kilometers away from Saturn, and the planet and its rings have completely filled the portholes. Deng Kai started the orbiting engine and adjusted the attitude of the spacecraft. The spacecraft began to enter Saturn at a speed of 20 kilometers/second.
Orbital.
Deng Kai admired the most beautiful planet in the solar system through the porthole window.
The dark green hexagonal storm area located at the north pole of the planet and the gray-brown stripes surrounding the surface of the northern hemisphere are clearly visible; starting from 60,000 to 70,000 kilometers outside the planet's equator and extending to hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, it is wide, flat, bright and dark
The alternate star ring is like a huge LP record, engraved with circles of spiral patterns. Dozens of pearl-like satellites of different sizes are suspended and drifting above and around it...
Deng Kai was very excited. He controlled the extravehicular camera to record the spectacular scene in front of him and simultaneously sent it back to the earth, which was more than a billion kilometers away.
He suddenly thought of the safety buckle that his wife Yan Shaojun put on him personally, and he reached out and took it out from his neck. The white, flawless and crystal clear safety buckle was so similar to the luminous star ring in front of him!
"Is that the ring of Saturn ornament hanging around your neck?" Katz asked curiously, having never seen a safety buckle.
"That's right!" Deng Kai was immersed in the scene when he said goodbye to his wife.
Before the "Fuxi" lost contact, its flight orbit was at an angle of 49° with the equator of Saturn. Therefore, "Express 1" originally planned to adjust its orbit to the same orbit as the "Fuxi" after arriving at the orbit of Saturn.
Angle to facilitate the search and tracking of "Fuxi". Now, because the spacecraft enters the orbit of Saturn at a nearly vertical angle, the spacecraft first passes through the rings of Saturn, and then uses the coordinated effect of Saturn's own gravity and the thrust of the orbiting engine on the spacecraft to
to adjust the angle of entering the orbit.
Deng Kai used a computer to calculate the flight path and decided to pass between the outermost rings of the star ring, the G and E rings. The Cassini probe passed through Saturn between the F and G rings.
ring, that ring gap is the widest in the rings of Saturn, with a width of 30,000 kilometers. However, due to the entry angle problem of the "Express" spacecraft, it can only go from the gap between the G ring and the E ring, which is about 6,000 to 9,000 kilometers wide.
A relatively narrow gap between meters.
In order to prevent the possible impact of particles in the ring gap, the spacecraft is protected by a fairing on the outside, and protective armor is also installed at several important parts. This way, even if it encounters high-speed impact from particles, the spacecraft will not be seriously damaged.<
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The action of crossing the ring gap will be completed manually by Deng Kai. The X base control center is beyond the reach. However, this spacecraft integrates the most advanced technology on the earth, and Deng Kai has repeatedly trained on this subject.
He had passed it countless times, so he thought that the spacecraft passing through the ring gap in front of him was as easy as shooting a marble into the football goal frame.
"Are you ready to challenge Cassini?" Katz knew exactly what Deng Kai was going to do next. He said humorously.
"I didn't think about challenging anyone. I was just completing my training!" Deng Kai said easily.
The brilliance of the star rings has completely occupied the portholes, and it is almost difficult to see the sphere of Saturn. Its existence can only be determined by the strips of black shadow revealed between the gaps in the rings. And the closer to the rings, the more you can feel the speed of the spacecraft.
Just like when an airplane lands from a high altitude, the speed will feel very slow at first because the reference object is far away. It is not until it is close to the ground that passengers will feel the speed of tens to hundreds of meters per second.
However, the speed at which Deng Kai and Katz drove the spacecraft into the ring gap of Saturn was close to 20 kilometers/second!
The spacecraft passed through the ring gap almost in the blink of an eye. At that moment, Deng Kai felt as if he was passing in front of an extremely sharp blade. Facing the cold light of the "blade", he even
I instinctively closed my eyes...
After the spacecraft passed through the ring gap, Deng Kai immediately started the engine and let the jet pipe spray forward to create deceleration resistance. Under the influence of Saturn's gravity, the decelerated "Express 1" turned a big turn in the shadow below the ring.
, and after several engine injection corrections, it entered the predetermined track.
Deng Kai turned on the panoramic skylight mode of the spacecraft and looked out from above his head. He saw that the backlit star ring was like a black disc covered with gold wires. The light of the planet itself occasionally showed through the gaps in the ring, diffracting into streaks of light.