The launch window will arrive at 5:12 a.m. on January 6.
The average flight speed of "Kunlun" during this mission will reach 300 kilometers/second, and it is expected to enter the orbit of Mercury in 92 hours, that is, on the fourth day. At that time, Mercury will also orbit from west to east to the right of the sun.
Side, this can relatively reduce the interference of the sun's gravity on the spacecraft, so that the spacecraft can successfully enter the predetermined orbit with the help of Mercury's gravity.
This is the third time that humans have flown to the orbit of Mercury since the Mariner 10 probe in the mid-1970s and the Messenger probe at the beginning of this century.
were all unmanned probes, and today is the first time in human history that a manned spacecraft has arrived at Mercury and entered the near-solar space within 50 million kilometers of the sun!
Moreover, due to the successful application of a new generation of controllable nuclear fusion propulsion devices, the voyage time of the spacecraft has also been greatly shortened. At that time, the "Messenger" needed to orbit the Earth and Venus, using the gravitational slingshot effect to speed up, and it took six and a half years to turn around.
It entered an elliptical orbit around Mercury; and the Parker Solar Probe, known as the "fastest aircraft of mankind" at that time, also took more than 70 days to cross the orbit of Mercury. Therefore, whether the "Kunlun" spacecraft can continue to "
"Fuxi" has once again proven its speed miracle to the world and has become the focus of global attention.
In fact, this is also a key step for the United Nations and "N-601" to formulate a defense plan against the "Cloud Body" in the future, because they believe that no matter whether the "Kunlun" detection is successful or not, mankind will face a battle with the "Cloud Body"
A comprehensive showdown between "objects". In order to prevent near-Earth defense from affecting the earth's ecology, UNISDR and IAWG have set the battlefield for this showdown in space within the orbit of Venus and beyond the orbit of Mars. For this reason, in addition to CNSA, the United States NASA,
European ESA and Russian RKA have begun to use the controllable nuclear fusion propulsion devices and technology provided by China to step up the production of their own nuclear spacecraft, so as to form a "joint space fleet" to implement defense plans when necessary. Therefore, based on the improvement of "Fuxi"
The new "Kunlun" spacecraft formed by the "Kunlun" also assumes the important task of "verifying the spacecraft" of the "United Space Fleet".
Just after 5 o'clock in the morning, the launch entered the final 10-minute countdown. Li Zhanxiong had already entered the control center and sat down on the command platform. Various departments were reporting various data on the spacecraft one after another. Everything was in order...
Gao Tianjun sat at the back of the observation hall, quietly waiting for the rocket ignition moment to arrive. A few rows apart in front of him, sat Martin and several United Nations observers...
On the big screen, dozens of meters high launch vehicles and launch towers stand majestically under the light. In the background, the vast Milky Way stretches across the dark sky, as if waiting and witnessing this solemn moment...
"One minute countdown!" A deep male voice announced from the loudspeaker. The observation hall gradually became quiet...
"30 seconds!"
Gao Tianjun felt that this half minute seemed to have passed very long!
"20 seconds!"
At this moment, Li Zhanxiong's eyes reappeared with the determined expression that Yan Shaojun had when he took the initiative to invite him...
"10,9,8..."
Everyone in the control center and observation hall held their breath and focused their attention on the big screen.
"...3,2,1. Ignite!"
A flame flashed out from the bottom of the launch tower, and the launch vehicle soared into the night sky...
After Ding Yushi learned about the successful launch of the "Kunlun", she immediately told Eisen.
Eisen's contact with Ai Bin has been interrupted for many days. He doesn't know if it is because the local magnetic field has become worse after Death Valley was attacked by a "cloud body" last time. In short, the information between him and Ai Bin has been lost since then.
The transmission was interrupted. For this reason, he asked and asked Jacob for help, but although the latter denied this, he tried many times to no avail. Jacob uneasily told Aisen and Ding Yushi: With the "marginal space"
The phenomenon of losing contact may be related to the fact that "cloud bodies" have poured into the solar system in large numbers, disrupting the energy distribution in the solar system space! Jacob's point of view made both Eisen and Ding Yushi feel helpless... Now, when he learned that the "No. 2 Project" was successfully launched and that the "Kunlun" spacecraft was flying to Mercury with a human mission, Eisen had a glimmer of hope in his heart, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a little worried - "Cloud Body"
"The ruthless harm to human beings in Death Valley still left him with lingering fears.
"Maybe 'marginal space' can only help us so far!" He said to Ding Yushi. "If the intelligence level of the 'cloud body' life is higher than that of 'marginal space', then there is nothing they can do, and we still have to rely on ourselves in the end.
To face it. What I am worried about now is that the 'Express 1' has encountered unexpected events. What will happen to the 'Kunlun' this time? Although the fearless adventurous spirit of the astronauts is admirable, but those 'cloud bodies'
But there is no human consciousness, and there is even no space for human existence in their 'consciousness'. There is no communication between two types of life forms with widely different intelligence levels!"
"At least we have to give it a try. Since they already know that humans exist on the earth, we can't bury our heads in the sand like ostriches!" Ding Yushi said.
Aisen led Ding Yushi to the hourglass in his cave and said to her: "This is the sacred instrument of the Immortal God Society. I have been using it to improve my subconscious ability."
"Is this an hourglass?" Ding Yushi asked.
"Yes. But it is not an ordinary hourglass, it can accept people's thoughts."
"Why haven't I heard you say that before?"
"I thought you would consider it a superstition."
"Now that you brought me here, what do you want me to know?"
"I want to do an experiment and want you to participate. But I don't know if it can succeed..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
"What experiment do you want to do? Let Jacob hypnotize us?"
"Have you seen the astronauts on the Kunlun?"
"I only know that the commander is our Chinese female astronaut Colonel Yan Shaojun, but I have never met her; there are also Ms. Vera from Russia and Mr. Sean from the United States, and I don't know them either."
"There are two women and one man on the spaceship..." Eisen thought, and then asked: "Then do you know what the 'Kunlun' spacecraft looks like?"
"I know. What are you asking me for?"
"Don't ask me yet. Yushi, from now on, don't think about anything else and just concentrate on what the Kunlun looks like, okay? I need your cooperation."
"Okay, let me try!"
So, Eisen stared at the hourglass, and the shadow of a spaceship gradually appeared in his mind - it was the projection formed by the thoughts of Ding Yushi he had received. The images of the hourglass and the spaceship overlapped each other, clearly
The degrees alternate with each other...
Eisen focused all his attention on the "ship". The overlapping sand flow in front of his eyes began to become colorful and became darker and darker, until it turned into a black mist that spread around the "ship". The "ship" suddenly
It jumped and disappeared in the black mist instantly...
"Kunlun" started its reverse jet about 100,000 kilometers away from Mercury. 15 minutes later, its speed had slowed from 200 kilometers/second to 17 kilometers/second, which is close to the revolution speed of Mercury.
Yan Shaojun and the crew have long been prepared to face a large-scale "cloud body" surround, but strangely, since the spacecraft took off until now, neither the ground observation system nor the spacecraft detection system has been on Mercury.
"Cloud bodies" were found near the orbit. It seems that they are like a group of naughty children who deliberately hid when they knew someone was coming.
The spacecraft searched near the orbit of Mercury for several hours, but still found no trace of the "cloud body".
"Strange! Why can't they be seen at all?" Yan Shaojun muttered in her heart, and she reported everything here to the X base control center.
About 12 minutes later, she heard Li Zhanxiong's voice - this was caused by the delay in radio signals from the "Kunlun" to and from the earth. Li Zhanxiong ordered the "Kunlun" to cruise autonomously along Mercury's orbit as originally planned and continue to search for "
"Cloud body". He also told Yan Shaojun that if you find a "cloud body", you must keep a distance and not get close to avoid misjudgment by the other party.
"Just think of yourself as a wandering asteroid!" Li Zhanxiong said.
Yan Shaojun didn't know Li Zhanxiong's worries. A few hours ago, he received a report from Gao Tianjun: According to Eisen's premonition, the "Kunlun" may be engulfed by the "cloud body", but it seems that the "cloud body" is not hostile this time
...Li Zhanxiong warned Yan Shaojun not to get close to the "Cloud Body", just because he didn't want to actively provoke him.
"Kunlun" orbits the sun along the orbit of Mercury at a speed of 20 kilometers per second, and gradually distances itself from Mercury behind it. From this position, the sun has become as big as a basketball, and its flames are dazzling
, cannot look directly at it at all.
None of the astronauts spoke, as if they were all waiting quietly for something, or they were all worried about something. The calm seemed to be filled with a depressing atmosphere that made people breathless.
Vera hummed a Russian song softly, and the singing broke the silence in the cabin——
"You know, how much I want to live and watch the red sunrise.
Live just to love everyone who is with you.
You know, how much I want to live.
At dawn, I wake up with you; I make coffee while the world is still sleeping soundly.
You know, if you want to live, you don’t need to be publicized in newspapers.
Share everything and live so that the children will never forget..."
Yan Shaojun immediately recognized that what Vera was singing was a song that was widely circulated among Russian soldiers in the early years - "I Want to Live More". The song expressed a hero's fearless spirit and tragic spirit in the face of death.
Feelings touch the soul of every listener. A few years ago, at a social gathering after a joint military exercise between the Chinese and Russian air forces, a Russian pilot took the stage to sing this song. Yan Shaojun was listening to the song.
When I arrived, I was moved to tears by its shocking and melancholy melody.
Yan Shaojun's ancestral home is in HEB City, Heilongjiang. She has been exposed to many Russian descendants since she was a child. She can also speak fluent Russian and especially loves Russian songs. Therefore, when she heard this familiar song again on the spacecraft today,
When singing the song, I couldn’t help but sing along...
"Discovered 'cloud body'!" Sean's report instantly made the atmosphere in the cabin tense.
In front of the orbit of "Kunlun", a long line of hazy luminous clouds appeared. Looking from a distance, it seemed to extend from the outer space of the sun to a "Great Wall of Clouds" that passed through the orbit of Mercury.
, lying in front of the spacecraft.
"'Kunlun', maintain the course, slow down and approach!" Yan Shaojun issued an instruction to the spacecraft computer.
"The spacecraft is being pulled by unknown gravity! It is deviating from the orbit of Mercury and turning to a heliocentric orbit!" Sean continued to report.
"What's the thrust of the spacecraft?" Yan Shaojun asked hurriedly. She knew very well that within the orbit of Mercury, if the spacecraft loses speed, it will be in danger of falling into the sun, and the engine thrust must be increased to recover as soon as possible.
"The thrust of the spacecraft has disappeared!" Vera reported.
"Start the magnetic bubble!"
"Magnetic bubble cannot be activated!"
The "magnetic bubble" technology is a protective device specially designed for the "Kunlun" by CNSA engineers after the "Express No. 1" was engulfed by the "cloud". It can use strong magnetic fields to float on the Kunlun just like a bubble.
An isolation layer is formed on the outside of the spacecraft to prevent the hull from being eroded by unknown media. The application of this technology has been carried out many verification experiments in the earth's atmosphere and in confined spaces filled with corrosive gases and has achieved success. CNSA hopes that it will be used in the face of "
It can also play the role of protective armor when "cloud body".
Yan Shaojun became alert, and she immediately called the base: "'Kunlun' called the base, the spacecraft has discovered the 'cloud body'! Now the thrust has disappeared, prepare to restart manually!"
At the same time, she quickly switched the control system to manual state and tried to reload the thrust to allow the spacecraft to escape the unknown gravity and return to orbit. However, the thruster did not respond.
"The thruster is turned off and cannot be restarted!" Vera seemed unusually calm, but her speaking speed had increased.
The "Great Wall of Clouds" blocked the front like a huge wall, but the Kunlun, which had lost its thrust, was not attracted by it, but flew quickly toward the sun along this "wall".
Just when they felt confused, the inside and outside of the cabin of the spacecraft suddenly became completely dark, as if they were wrapped in a large piece of black cloth, and the sun's light disappeared instantly.
"What's going on?!" Yan Shaojun asked nervously, "Why is it so dark? Have we already entered the 'cloud body'?!"
The three astronauts looked out through their own observation windows - there was no sun, no Mercury, not even a hint of starlight.
"It's not like we're in a 'cloud body'..." Sean said.
Yan Shaojun stared at the echo display for a while, but there was nothing on it.
"Is the magnetic bubble activated?" she asked again.
"No. It's impossible. The spacecraft has lost power!"
"That's strange! It's like a void 'space' here... nothing exists around it! Not even light!" Yan Shaojun murmured.
"Did we enter a 'parallel space'?!" Sean wondered, "Did the unknown gravity just come from a 'parallel space'? And we were sucked in by it?"
"It seems like time has stopped!" Vera said in surprise as she stared at the readings of the atomic clock.
Only then did Yan Shaojun notice that the atomic clock on board the spacecraft showed a row of "0"s!
She immediately tried to contact the base again, but there was no sound in the headset. She suddenly realized that from the time she reported to the base that the spacecraft had lost thrust, she had never received a reply from the base. Although she had not heard anything from the base since then.
The signal from the spacecraft to the earth will be delayed by about 12 minutes, but the signal sent to the base before that time should be echoed now!
The uneasiness in Yan Shaojun's heart is getting stronger and stronger...
"There is something outside the cabin!" Vera suddenly exclaimed in a low voice.
Yan Shaojun and Sean heard the sound and looked out the porthole window. Since the lighting in the cabin was still very bright, their own faces were almost reflected on the porthole glass, so it was difficult to see what was outside.
"There seemed to be a red light spot flying past just now. I'm not sure if I saw it wrong, but it doesn't look like a reflection in the cabin." Vera said hesitantly.
Yan Shaojun found a noteboard to cover most of the porthole, then put her face close to the glass and looked around. Now she finally saw clearly that there was indeed a small red-light thing "flying" in the darkness outside. She couldn't
To describe how small it is, it can be said that it is even smaller than a firefly. It can even be said that it is just a tiny red light spot with an immeasurable volume. It is flying up and down and jumping outside the spacecraft at an extremely fast speed. "What is this? Is it plasma? No way..."
The sudden curiosity diluted Yan Shaojun's previous uneasiness a lot. An absolutely dark space appeared near the sun. This was originally an incomprehensible phenomenon; now, faced with this elf-like appearance in the dark space,
The flying red light spots surprised her even more!
"Sean, have you seen it?" Yan Shaojun turned around. At this moment, Sean and Vera were looking at her at the same time, with confusion and novelty in their eyes. She knew that they had also seen it clearly. "It doesn't seem to be obvious.
Not aggressive. But why are they flying around us?"
The red light spot flew in front of the "Kunlun", stopped beating, and always maintained a visible distance.
"Is it a detector for higher life forms in the universe? Or is it sent by the 'Cloud Body' to monitor us?" Yan Shaojun thought.
Suddenly, the red light spot expanded rapidly and turned into a red light mist, completely covering the spacecraft. Before they could react, the light mist dissipated and the spacecraft escaped from the black barrier...