Chapter 68: Crash Landing
Amid the scorching high-pressure gas jetting, the Lunar Rover Suit’s flight speed relative to the Moon was slowing down more and more.
Its orbit was a parabola; if it lost sufficient speed, according to the law of universal gravitation, it would continuously fall toward the Moon and ultimately crash onto the Moon.
During this process, the jetting continued nonstop.
Finally, all of its radial velocity was completely eliminated, and its motion pattern relative to the Moon changed to vertical descent.
From this moment on, it would be in free fall within the Lunar Gravitational Field, just like a small pebble dropping from a height on Earth.
The only difference was that the Moon’s gravitational acceleration was only one-sixth that of Earth’s, so the speed it gained each second was only about 1.6 meters.
In the control room, everyone’s gazes converged on the large screen, staring intently at the Lunar Surface footage transmitted back by the Lunar Rover Suit, which was continuously enlarging with details emerging.
Jiang Yang knew that according to the predetermined plan, upon descending to about 1000 meters above the Lunar Surface, the retro-thruster—shaped like a square steel plate with retrograde engines equipped at its four corners—would activate simultaneously to decelerate it dramatically.
During this process, it would continue descending to just two meters above the Lunar Surface and hover there temporarily.
The camera on the Lunar Rover would automatically film and analyze the terrain of the Lunar Surface below, performing the final confirmation check.
If there were no accidents and landing was feasible, it would be directly “dropped” by the retro-thruster.
From two meters above the Lunar Surface to impacting the ground, it would take about 1.6 seconds in the Lunar Gravitational Field, with a final touchdown speed of about 2.5 meters per second, roughly equivalent to an object free-falling straight from a height of 33 centimeters on Earth to the surface.
This impact force was entirely within the design tolerance range and would not damage the Lunar Rover.
At the Lunar Rover Suit’s current speed, it would land on the Lunar Surface in just a few more minutes at most.
On the large screen, the number representing the Lunar Rover Suit’s altitude kept shrinking, instructions streamed from Earth to the Moon, and feedback data from the Lunar Rover Suit continuously updated on the large screen.
Signal connection was good, equipment working state was good, and everything was as expected.
In 39 more seconds, the retro-thruster would power on.
But at that moment, Jiang Yang saw the number representing the signal transmission rate on the large screen suddenly drop to zero.
The previously crystal-clear Lunar footage, filmed in real-time by the Lunar Rover Suit’s camera and transmitted back in real-time, froze instantly.
Communication was interrupted!
A piercing alarm blared throughout the entire control hall.
Professor Li Jiaming, responsible for lunar exploration matters, instantly looked up, a flash of solemnity crossing his previously confident expression.
At this moment, the Lunar Rover Suit was less than 2000 meters above the Lunar Surface. But its speed was still over 200 meters per second, almost equivalent to a passenger plane!
If the retro-thruster could not power on normally and decelerate it, then in just ten seconds, it would crash directly onto the hard rocks of the Lunar Surface like an out-of-control passenger plane!
Professor Li Jiaming bent down, his hands rapidly typing on the keyboard.
Forced system restart, comprehensive rapid self-inspection, signal system reset, anti-interference system activation, autonomous operation activation, and so on—a series of emergency preset instructions were sent from Earth, relayed through the lunar relay satellite, arriving at the Lunar Rover Suit in just 1.3 seconds.
But Professor Li Jiaming’s efforts yielded no effect.
The high-resolution lunar exploration satellite, which had just been launched into lunar orbit not long ago, was still transmitting clear imagery of Lunar Rover Suit No. 1 back to Earth from dozens of kilometers away.
Thus, people clearly saw Lunar Rover Suit No. 1, like a steel plate with a bundle hanging from it, silently passing the “death altitude.”
Before the death altitude, the retro-thruster had to activate. Otherwise, even if the retro-thruster activated eventually, it would not be able to reduce its speed before impact.
At this moment, the final ending was already doomed.
Just a few seconds later, the Lunar Rover Suit—with a speed like that of a passenger plane and a total mass of over 800 kilograms—slammed heavily onto the Lunar Surface.
The lunar exploration satellite clearly filmed moon dust and rock fragments flying everywhere. The Lunar Rover Suit had already been reduced to a pile of twisted metal in the collision.
The atmosphere in the control hall was as heavy as mercury.
A look of bewilderment appeared on Professor Li Jiaming’s face: “How could it fail? How is that possible? Everything was normal just a moment ago…”
A small Lunar Rover, with its own mass of just a few hundred kilograms. It seemed utterly unremarkable, yet behind it was a giant rocket, orbiter, lander, retro-thruster, and a series of other complex devices.
Tracing further upstream, there were thousands upon thousands of factories, and the effort of countless engineers and technical personnel.
And now, with this single impact, all efforts were for nothing.
Jiang Yang’s heart was also filled with doubts.
He knew full well that although the Lunar Rover was precise, its complexity was far inferior to that of a Giant Spirit God II Rocket.
For the domestic aerospace sector, which already had mature plans and manufacturing experience, the difficulty in producing a Lunar Rover or Giant Spirit God II Rocket never lay in the technology, but in the final assembly stage.
The Giant Spirit God II Rocket involved millions upon millions of parts; assembling so many parts together to make it work normally—even if every part was the best of the best and rigorously screened—malfunctions were still very normal.
Yet the Lunar Rover involved at most tens of thousands of parts, its complexity far inferior to that of the Giant Spirit God II Rocket.
Such a comparatively “simple” small device actually experienced such a severe malfunction?
Sun Changhe’s voice, full of solemnity, came through: “One failure is no big deal. We still have 14 more behind it.”
Professor Li Jiaming composed himself: “Yes.”
Lunar Rover Suit No. 2 had already separated from the orbiter and was rapidly descending toward the Lunar Surface amid violent deceleration.
This time, the entire operations team was even more serious and rigorous.
They repeatedly checked the equipment’s working state over and over, searching for any points that could cause failure, tirelessly verifying data points one by one.
“Everything normal.”
This time, everyone in their hearts had a premonition.
This Lunar Rover would surely land smoothly and carry out subsequent work. Surely.
Vertical free fall phase begins. Under the gravitational effect of the Moon, its descent speed continuously increased.
In a dozen more seconds, the retro-thruster would activate.
But at this moment, that piercing alarm sounded again.
Jiang Yang abruptly looked up and saw clearly displayed on the large screen that the signal connection between Earth and the Lunar Rover had disconnected once more.
