by Andy Weir
“Yes, I'm pretty awesome,” he agreed.
Marissa continued to wave David's hand at the camera. David was more interested in his other hand, which was actively engaged in picking his nose.
“So,” Martinez said. “You're pissed.”
“You can tell?” Marissa asked. “I tried to hide it.”
“We've been together since we were 15. I know when you're pissed.”
“You volunteered to extend the mission 533 days,” she said. “Asshole.”
“Yeah,” Martinez said. “I figured that'd be the reason.”
“Your son will be in kindergarten when you get back. He won't have any memories of you.”
“I know,” Martinez said.
“I have to wait another 533 days to get laid!”
“So do I,” he said defensively.
“I have to worry about you that whole time,” she added.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sorry.”
She took a deep breath. “We'll get past it.”
“We'll get past it,” he agreed.
“Welcome to CNN's Mark Watney Report. Today we have the Director of Mars Operations Venkat Kapoor. He's speaking to us live via satellite from China. Dr. Kapoor, thank you for joining us.”
“Happy to do it,” Venkat said.
“So Dr. Kapoor, tell us about the Taiyang Shen. Why go to China to launch a probe? Why not launch it from the US?”
“Hermes isn't going to orbit Earth,” Venkat said. “It's just passing by on its way to Mars. And its velocity is huge. We need a booster capable of not only escaping Earth's gravity, but matching Hermes's current velocity. Only the Taiyang Shen has enough power to do that.”
“Tell us about the probe itself.”
“It was a rush job,” Venkat said. “JPL only had 30 days to put it together. They had to be as safe and efficient as they could. It's basically a shell full of food and other supplies. It has a standard satellite thruster package for maneuvering, but that's it.”
“And that's enough to fly to Hermes?”
“The Taiyang Shen will send it to Hermes. The thrusters are for fine control and docking. And JPL didn't have time to make a guidance system. So it'll be remote-controlled by a human pilot.”
“Who will be controlling it?” Cathy asked.
“The Ares 3 pilot, Major Rick Martinez. As the probe approaches Hermes, he'll take over and guide it to the docking port.”
“And what if there's a problem?”
“Hermes will have their EVA specialist, Dr. Chris Beck, suited up and ready the whole time. If necessary he will literally grab the probe with his hands and drag it to the docking port.”
“Sounds kind of unscientific,” Cathy laughed.
“You want unscientific?” Venkat smiled. “If the probe can't attach to the docking port for some reason, Beck will open the probe and carry its contents to the airlock.”
“Like bringing in the groceries?” Cathy asked.
“Exactly like that,” Venkat said. “And we estimate it would take 4 trips back and forth. But that's all an edge case. We don't anticipate any problems with the docking process.”
“Sounds like you're covering all your bases,” Cathy smiled.
“We have to,” Venkat said. “If they don't get those supplies... well, they need those supplies.”
“Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions,” Cathy said.
“Always a pleasure, Cathy.”
He fidgeted in the chair, unsure what to say. After a moment, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped sweat from his balding head.
“What if the probe doesn't get to you?” He asked.
“Try not to think about that,” Johanssen said.
“Your mother is so worried she couldn't even come.”
“I'm sorry,” Johanssen mumbled, looking down.
“She can't eat, she can't sleep, she feels sick all the time. I'm not much better. How can they make you do this?”
“They're not 'making' me do it, Dad. I volunteered.”
“Why would you do that to your mother?” He demanded.
“Sorry,” Johanssen mumbled. “Watney's my crewmate. I can't just let him die.”
He sighed. “I wish we'd raised you to be more selfish.”
She chuckled quietly.
“How did I end up in this situation?” He lamented. “I'm the district sales manager of a napkin factory. Why is my daughter in space?”
Johanssen shrugged.
“You were always scientifically minded,” he said. “It was great! Straight-A student. Hanging around nerdy guys too scared to try anything. No wild side at all. You're every father's dream daughter.”
“Thanks, Dad, I-”
“But then you got on a giant bomb that blasted you to Mars. And I mean that literally.”
“Technically,” she corrected, “the booster only took me in to orbit. It was the nuclear powered ion engine that took me to Mars.”
“Oh, much better!” He said.
“Dad, I'll be all right. Tell Mom I'll be all right.”
“What good will that do?” He said. “She's going to be tied up in knots until you're back home.”
“I know,” Johanssen mumbled. “But...”
“What?” He said. “But what?”
“I won't die. I really won't. Even if everything goes wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
Johanssen furrowed her brow. “Just tell Mom I won't die.”
“How? I don't understand.”
“I don't want to get in to the how,” Johanssen said.
“Look,” he said, leaning toward the camera. “I've always respected your privacy and independence. I never tried to pry in to your life, never tried to control you. I've been really good about that, right?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“So in exchange for a lifetime of staying out of your business, let me nose in just this once. What are you not telling me?”
She fell silent for several seconds. Finally, she said “They have a plan.”
“Who?”
“There's always have a plan,” she said. “They work out everything in advance.”
“What plan?”
“They picked me to survive. I'm youngest. I have the skills necessary to get home alive. And I'm the smallest and need the least food.”
“What happens if the probe fails, Beth,” her father asked. This time, he was uncharacteristically firm.
“Everyone would die but me,” she said. “They'd all take pills and die. They'll do it right away so they don't use up any food. Commander Lewis picked me to be the survivor. She told me about it yesterday. I don't think NASA knows about it.”
“And the supplies would last until you got back to Earth?”
“No,” she said. “We have enough food left to feed six people for a month. If I was the only one, it would last 6 months. With a reduced diet I could stretch it to 9. But it'll be 17 months before I get back.”
“So how would you survive?”
“The supplies wouldn't be the only source of food.” she said.
He widened his eyes. “Oh... oh my god...”
“Just tell Mom the supplies would last, ok?”
Taiyang Shen's con-trail wafted in the chilly Gobi sky. The ship, no longer visible to the naked eye, pressed onward toward orbit. Its deafening roar dwindled to a distant rumbling thunder.
“Perfect launch,” Venkat said enthusiastically.
“Of course,” said Zhu Tao.
“You guys really came through for us,” Venkat said. “And we're grateful!”
“Naturally.”
“And hey, you guys get a seat on Ares 5. Everyone wins.”
“Mmm.”
Venkat looked at Zhu Tao sideways. “You don't seem too happy.”
“I spent 4 years working on Taiyang Shen,” he said. “So did countless other researchers, scientists, and engineers. Everyone poured their souls in to construction while I waged a constant political
battle to maintain funding.
“In the end, we built a beautiful probe. The largest, sturdiest unmanned probe in history. And now it's sitting in a warehouse. It'll never fly. The State Council won't fund another booster like that.”
He turned to Venkat. “It could have been a lasting legacy of scientific research. Now it's a delivery run. We'll get a Chinese astronaut on Mars, but what science will he bring back that some other astronaut couldn't have? This operation is a net loss for mankind's knowledge.”
“Well,” Venkat said cautiously, “It's a net gain for Mark Watney.”
“Mmm,” Zhu Tao said.
“Distance 61m, velocity 2.3m/s,” Johanssen said.
“No problem,” Martinez said, his eyes glued to his screens. One showed the camera feed from docking port A, the other a constant feed of the probe's telemetry.
Lewis floated behind Johanssen and Martinez's stations.
“Visual contact,” Beck's voice came over the radio. He stood in Airlock 3 (via magnetic boots), fully suited up with the outer door open. The bulky SAFER Unit on his back would allow him free motion in space should the need arise. An attached tether led to a spool on the wall.
“Vogel,” Lewis said in to her headset. “You in position?”
Vogel stood in the still-pressurized Airlock 2, suited up save his helmet. “Ja, in position and ready,” he replied. He was the emergency EVA if Beck needed rescue.
“All right, Martinez,” Lewis said. “Bring it in.”
“Aye, Commander.”
“Distance 43m, velocity 2.3m/s.” Johanssen called out.
“All stats nominal,” Martinez reported.
“Slight rotation in the probe,” Johanssen said. “Relative rotational velocity is 0.05rps.”
“Anything under 0.3 is fine,” Martinez said. “The capture system can deal with it.”
“Probe is well within manual recovery range,” Beck reported.
“Copy,” Lewis said.
“Distance 22m, velocity 2.3m/s.” Johanssen said. “Angle is good.”
“Slowing her down a little,” Martinez said, sending instructions to the probe.
“Velocity 1.8... 1.3...” Johanssen reported. “0.9... stable at 0.9m/s.”
“Range?” Martinez asked.
“12m,” Johanssen replied. “Velocity steady at 0.9m/s.”
“Angle?”
“Angle is good.”
“Then we're in line for auto-capture,” Martinez said. “Come to papa.”
The probe drifted gently to the docking port. Its capture boom, a long metal triangle, entered the port's funnel, scraping slightly along the edge. The port pulled the boom in, aligning and orienting the probe automatically. After several loud clanks echoed through the ship, the computer reported success.
“Docking complete,” Martinez said.
“Seal is tight,” Johanssen said.
“Beck,” Lewis said. “Your services won't be needed.”
“Roger that, commander,” Beck said. “Closing airlock.”
“Vogel, return to interior,” she ordered.
“Copy, Commander,” he said.
“Airlock pressure to 100%” Beck reported. “Re-entering ship... I'm back in.”
“Also inside,” Vogel said.
Lewis pressed a button on her headset. “Houst- er... Jiuquan, probe docking complete. No complications.”
“Glad to hear it, Hermes,” came Mitch's voice over the comm. “Report status of all supplies once you get them aboard and inspected.”
“Roger Jiuquan,” Lewis said.
Taking off her headset, she turned to Martinez and Johanssen. “Unload the probe and stow the supplies. I'm going to help Beck and Vogel de-suit.”
Martinez and Johanssen floated down the hall toward docking port A.
“So,” he said, “who would you have eaten first?”
She glared at him.
“Cause I think I'd be tastiest,” he continued, flexing his arm. “Look at that. Good solid muscle there.”
“You're not funny.”
“I'm free range, you know. Corn-fed.”
She shook her head and accelerated down the hall.
“Come on! I thought you liked Mexican!”
“Not listening,” she called back.
Chapter 20
LOG ENTRY: SOL 376
I'm finally done with the rover modifications!
The hard part was figuring out how to maintain life support. Everything else was just hard work. A lot of hard work.
I haven't been good at keeping the log up to date, so here's a recap:
First I had to finish drilling holes with the Pathfinder-murderin' drill. Then I chiseled out a billion little chunks between the holes. Ok, it was 749 but it felt like a billion.
Then I had one big hole in the trailer. I filed down the edges to keep them from being too sharp.
Remember the pop-tents? I cut the bottom out of one and the remaining canvas was the right size and shape. I used seal-strips to attach it to the inside of the trailer. After pressurizing and sealing up leaks as I found them, I had a nice big balloon bulging out of the trailer. The pressurized area is easily big enough to fit the Oxygenator and Atmospheric Regulator.
The regulator has an external component imaginatively named the “Atmospheric Regulator External Component.” The regulator pumps air to the AREC to let Mars freeze it. It does this along a tube that runs through a valve in the Hab's wall. The return air comes back through another tube just like it.
Getting the tubing through the balloon canvas wasn't too hard. I have several spare valve patches. Basically they're 10x10cm patches of Hab canvas with a valve in the middle. Why do I have these? Consider what would happen on a normal mission if the regulator valve broke. They'd have to scrub the whole mission. Easier to send spares.
The AREC is fairly small. I made a shelf for it just under the solar panel shelves. The tubing and shelf are ready for when I eventually move the AREC over.
There's still a lot to do.
I'm not in any hurry; I've been taking it slow. One 4-hour EVA per day spent on work, the rest of the time to relax In the Hab. Plus, I'll take a day off every now and then, especially if my back hurts. I can't afford to injure myself now.
I'll try to be better about this log. Now that I might actually get rescued, people will probably read it. I'll be more diligent and log every day.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 380
I finished the heat reservoir.
Remember my experiments with the RTG and having a hot bath? Same principle, but I came up with an improvement: Submerge the RTG. No heat will be wasted that way.
I started with a Large Rigid Sample Container (or “plastic box” to people who don't work at NASA). I ran a tube through the open top and down the inside wall. Then I coiled it in the bottom to make a spiral. I glued it in place like that, and sealed the end. Using my smallest drill bit, I put dozens of little holes in the coil. The idea is for the return air to pass through the water as a bunch of little bubbles. The increased surface area will get the heat in to the air better.
Then I got a Medium Flexible Sample Container (“Ziploc bag”) and tried to seal the RTG in it. But the RTG has an irregular shape, and I couldn't get all the air out of the bag. I can't allow any air in there. Instead of heat going to the water, some would get stored in the air, which could superheat and melt the bag.
I tried a bunch of times, but there was always an air pocket I couldn't get out. I was getting pretty frustrated until I remembered I have an airlock.
Suiting up, I went to Airlock 2 and depressurized to a full vacuum. I plopped the RTG in the bag and closed it. Perfect vacuum seal.
Next came some testing. I put the bagged RTG at the bottom of the container and filled it with water. It holds 20L, and the RTG quickly heated it. It was gaining a degree per minute. I let it go until it was a good 40C. Then I hooked up the regulator's return air line to my contraption and watched the results.
It worked
great! The air bubbled through, just like I'd hoped. Even better, the bubbles agitated the water, which distributed the heat evenly.