The sky outside the base had just darkened, and there was still a dark glow on the horizon. A construction vehicle drove into the base at a fast speed.
Luo Qi hurriedly jumped out of the engineering vehicle, washed his body as quickly as possible, and rushed into the base command room in a hurry: "Boss, have you started?"
Ye Han chuckled: "It's okay, I'm just in time, sit down."
Today is the day when the orbital elevator cables are transported to Europa. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, Beidou requires the forward base to go all out and there must be no problems.
Ye Han almost didn't worry about his hair turning gray after receiving the order. There were only a few people in the entire forward base, and more than half of them were engaged in research. He only had two groups of people at his disposal, and there was another group of people stationed in the center of the earth.
, no matter how upset he was, he just called Luo Qi back to help.
Luo Qi sat down next to Ye Han and glanced at the transport ship dragging its tail on the main screen: "Where is it?"
The images on the main screen are from the Tianhe and several other spacecrafts. There are not only frontal images, but also side images, and they are from two directions.
Ye Han glanced at the time, and before he could speak, Ouyang Ping had already taken the lead: "He'll be there soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from the loudspeaker: "Base, we have arrived at the scheduled coordinates quickly, please give us instructions."
Ye Han immediately put his mouth in front of the microphone: "Basic received, fast nine to maintain speed, fast three, report position!"
Kuai San Kuai Jiu are the abbreviations of fast transport ships. The naming of this thing is quite simple, but every time when calling the transport ship, Ye Han will think of ballroom dancing.
"Quick report, our ship is in position and ready to capture the cable stern!"
The picture on the screen changed to the end of the cable. Due to the shooting angle, the picture of the transport ship approaching the cable looked like looking up at a remote-controlled aircraft flying towards the flagpole.
Ye Han whispered: "Quick three, pay attention to your posture, and master the timing by yourself!"
"Quickly understand!"
Ye Han frowned and said nothing, and the radio went silent. Several people stared at the transport ship that kept approaching the cable with their eyes wide open.
Luo Qi broke the silence: "Boss, is this okay?"
Ye Han shook his head: "It should be no problem. The new captain of Kuaisan is very experienced and was specially transferred here from above."
Luo Qi blinked in confusion: "What kind of experience?" The fast transport ship had only been out for a few months, and he couldn't think of any incredible skills that the most experienced captain had.
Ye Han glanced at Luo Qi: "Experience in docking. When building the orbital factory and space city, he was responsible for the docking."
"Hey, what a great guy!" Luo Qi was immediately impressed.
Space docking has always been a technical task, but the difficulty of docking two ground-to-space spacecraft can only be considered average, and it can be done as long as it undergoes systematic training.
If you switch to two low-tonnage light space battleships, the difficulty will jump directly to a higher level; if you switch to a heavy space battleship, the docking difficulty will definitely increase geometrically. The direction, angle, speed, position, and attitude will all go wrong.
It's no small trouble. It can range from docking failure to the spacecraft being damaged.
The docking difficulty between orbital factories and space cities is higher than that of heavy battleships. If the shape of the docking parts is complex, the difficulty will be even higher.
Such a powerful person is a strategic-level presence no matter where he is, which shows that Beidu attaches great importance to the orbital elevator.
Several people waited patiently for a while, and finally the Kuaisan ship approached the end of the cable. An indifferent voice came from the radio: "Bearing difference is four, angle difference is two, left rudder is two!"
"The second engine from the right, power 5, output for one second..."
A series of steering commands came out of the loudspeaker. The Kuai 3 ship on the main screen continued to adjust the position of the hull, gradually overlapping with the end of the cable. Several mechanical arms protruded from the belly of the ship, slowly and steadily grasping the end of the cable.
Reserve grommet holes.
A particularly obvious exhalation sound came from the loudspeaker: "Okay, fix it now!"
Ye Han also breathed a sigh of relief: "It's finally okay."
"Is this the end?" Ouyang Ping sighed for a while, "You are indeed a great guy."
The cable towing length is more than 24,700 kilometers. The relationship between the Kuaijiu ship and the cable is like the handle and tip of a whip. An imperceptible vibration on the Kuaijiu ship is magnified after more than 24,000 kilometers.
Later, it can turn into a large swing of the cable tail.
Getting close to the end of the cable is only the first step in catching the end of the cable. The next step is to catch the end of the cable before the end of the cable changes.
The scene on the screen switched to the belly of the Kuai 3 ship. Several mechanical arms were seen grabbing the collar on the tail of the cable and pulling the collar towards the belly of the ship... The collar is a metal ring specially added to both ends of the cable to fix the cable.
.
Through the camera, you can see that there is a convex wave crest coming quickly on the cable. If the Kuaisan Ship moves slower, the tail of the cable will definitely change direction due to this wave crest.
The mechanical arm quickly pulled the cable tail into the belly of the ship and pressed it firmly against the fixing device inside the ship. The opened hatch slowly closed, firmly fixing the cable tail with the Kuaisan ship.
Just as the hatch was closed, the crest of the wave hit the tail of the cable, and the Kuaisan ship suddenly changed direction without warning and drifted for some distance in the direction of the swing.
Luo Qi's eyes almost popped out of his head: "Isn't it? So energetic?"
Ouyang Ping squinted his eyes and looked Luo Qi up and down, as if he had never known him before: "What the hell are you talking about? That was flown by Kuai San himself!"
Luo Qi was startled: "Are you afraid of breaking it?"
"Then I don't know." Ouyang Ping said.
Luo Qi looked at Ye Han, and at this moment the speaker rang: "Base, hurry up and prepare to slow down."
"The base received it, Kuai San, you and Kuai Jiu will coordinate on your own."
"Kuai San understands... Kuai San calls Kuai Jiu!"
"Copy it soon!"
"Our ship is about to slow down, please hold still!"
"Kuaijiu understand!"
"Slow down countdown, three, two, one, start!"
It can be seen from the screen that the engine of the Kuaisan ship exploded with a few flashes of light, but it was immediately annihilated.
At the same time, the Kuaijiu ship at the other end of the cable also slowed down and cooperated with the Kuaisan ship's instructions. The two transport ships were more than 24,000 kilometers apart, but they always maintained speed synchronization.
With the strength of the cable, it would be no problem for the Kuaijiu ship not to slow down, but then the entire deceleration process would have to rely entirely on the Kuaijiu ship. Not only would it take longer to decelerate, but the cable would also have to be tightened by the two ships.
There are more than 24,000 kilometers of cables, and the combined elasticity is no joke. If there is a rebound, there may be some trouble.
Another thing is that the construction behind Jupiter requires the cable to be relaxed, rather than being pulled tightly by the two spacecraft like a tug-of-war.
Therefore, the two spacecraft must decelerate simultaneously to avoid omissions to the greatest extent.