Star of Fire 火星 Mars Space People

Part 2. The Commies (preemptively) strike back

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• Chapter 14. Third in Space
• Taikonauts
• Chapter 15. Beach Bum
• Area 51
• Flight Simulator
• The Kobioshi Maru Scenario
• The Grasshopper

Part 2. The Commies (preemptively) strike back Medical and psychological investigations have long shown that women are better than men at withstanding pain, heat, cold, loneliness and monotony. – Dr. Randy Lovelace, Lovelace Clinic, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chapter 13. Japanese The Japanese response to the Common Shell/ERV Request for Proposal was only slightly gold-plated. The Japanese design added a patio airlock that could be built into the top of the vehicle, something useful for space EVAs but less than functional on the surface of a planet. The patio or crow’s nest provided a third exit, which would only be practical, using pressure suits, if the vehicle had collapsed on its side. Zubrin’s Mars Direct spirit of simplicity and using the resources on Mars was followed, with extras that a purist might consider violations of the less is more principle. The Russian aerospace firm, Energia, submitted a belated proposal to construct the spacecraft shells and the basic equipment, which was lacking in substance, and summarily dismissed by the Americans. The Japanese were buying in – they would be subsidizing the ERV for its overall contribution to Japan’s aerospace and space industry. The Chinese proposal was priced 20% below the Japanese bid and promised the use of the Chinese launch sites to supplement the use of the Russian site in Kazakhstan. The loss of the contract to the Chinese really pissed off the Japanese. They continued the development of the ERV and its systems. Especially frustrating to the Japanese was not having a payload for their heavy lift H2 rocket booster, which would have made the cost of the booster more acceptable to Japanese taxpayers. The Japanese Mars probe, Nozomi (Hope), became hopeless after running low on fuel five years and two passes past Mars. Hayabusa has done better, inadvertently landing on the Itokawa comet. The Itokawa comet is named after Hideo Itokawa, the Japanese father of rocketry. The Chinese were also looking at competing with the Japanese and Italians for participation in the fabrication of the new Boeing 787 airliner. Was Japan only going to be known as the Island Kingdom of sushi, sake and anime? Chapter 14. Third in Space It had been a bad month for the Chinese and their fledging space program. The first manned launch of the Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) ended up in the Pacific. Not the first death in China’s Long March into space and certainly not its last. General Zhou controlled the testing and fabrication of the American-designed spacecraft, which made him a competitor to the Chinese space program. The Shenzhou failure had not affected Zhou personally. If anything, his stature had been enhanced with the failure of the manned Shenzhou (a Chinese-style Soyuz capsule). His project was to make the vehicles for missions to the moon and hopefully Mars. The Chinese wanted to pay for lunar exploration by mining helium-3 (astrofuel), the ideal fusion fuel, from lunar sand - strip mining on the moon. The Sea of Tranquility is at the top of the list of locations for the mining of astrofuel. This light isotope of helium has been captured from the solar wind for billions of years by the lunar regolith (dirt). Helium-3 from the moon and deuterium from Mars or the Earth – now that was the winning cocktail (considered the cleanest albeit an advanced fusion reaction). The worker bees in the trenches in China and America didn’t have to believe the rationalization for space travel coming out of Beijing and Washington, DC respectively. The Japanese and their lesser partners wanted to use a deuterium-tritium (DT) reaction with a breeder reaction to replenish the tritium by neutron activation of lithium. The Chinese felt that an astrofuel reactor would be easier to implement after the Japanese, Europeans and Americans solved the fusion reactor problems with the DT reactor in the next thirty years (if astrofuel becomes available and life-cycle considerations overcome the high cost of mining the astrofuel on the lunar surface.). The DT (or higher temperature DD) fusion reaction produces neutrons and neutron activation of the elements in the tokomak [magnetic plasma containment reactor] produces similar radioactive contamination to that which occurs in a fission reactor. Heat is produced in the tokamak blanket by the spare high-energy neutron left over from the helium product. Fusion reactor technology has been thirty years off for the last fifty years. Taikonauts Two taikonauts (English nickname for Chinese astronauts, a combination of the Chinese characters for space or cosmos and the Greek suffix naut), had completed training with the Russian cosmonauts at Star City Space Center outside of Moscow and the Chinese, in an abrupt change of policy, were anxious to work with the Americans on the International Space Station. China’s continuing designs on Taiwan set the baseline for China’s space program – China wanted America’s space surveillance capabilities and the ability to nullify America’s space advantage. China had built three launch sites to support their space ambitions – in Jiuquan, Xiching and Taiguan. Newspapers in China reported that more than a dozen military jet pilots had been selected to become taikonauts. A photo was published which allowed one of the taikonauts to be identified as Chen Long. Very few westerners were allowed to visit the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, which eventually controlled the successful launch of China’s first taikonaut [yuhangyuan], Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, into orbit with Shenzhou 5 on October 15, 2003. A Long March 2F booster launched the Shenzhou 5 from the Jiuquan launch site. Two Chinese taikonauts, Fei Junlog and Nie Haisheng, were launched into space in Shenzhou 6 on October 12, 2005 from the Jiuquan Space Center, a more advanced flight reminiscent of the American Gemini missions. Chapter 15. Beach Bum Ken Zhou Xim lived near Hilo on the big island of Hawaii as a child. He adopted a haole (Hawaiian for Caucasian) name (Ken), a common procedure among the Asian Americans in Hawaii. Zhou especially liked his first name of Xim – the Haoles couldn’t hear the name much less pronounce it. Years of stepping through the looking glass between China and America and his earning a PhD in Engineering Physics at the University of Hawaii made him feel like a foreigner everywhere. His main qualification for command in the Chinese space program had nothing to do with his knowledge of the Americans or physics. As a young boy, Ken was an avid surfer, swimmer, and Hawaiian outrigger canoeist. Fate picked him out when he attended a reception for local Chinese entrepreneurs at the Chinese consulate in Honolulu with his parents. His parents were staying at the family plantation and had flown over to visit Honolulu while Ken finished his dissertation. The bronzed doctoral student stood out, radiant and confident among the anemic looking businessmen from the mainland. Amanda Xing Xioulung, the daughter of the CTO of Shanghai Aviation Services Ltd, thought he looked like some mythical Hawaiian god, maybe the master of a volcano or whatever other gods the ancient Hawaiians had. She arranged an introduction through her chauffeur/bodyguard and the trio began dating. The courtship went on for weeks after Ken’s graduation. Finally, in desperation, Ken arranged for his friend Ken Hing Ching to be walking down the beach at Waikiki with a surfboard while the three were watching the surfers in the lumber yard from the sparse pile of sand that passed for a beach at Waikiki. Ken stepped into the surf with the surfboard and Xioulung followed him. Ken had her lie down on the board as he showed her how to paddle. Then he knelt above her and started paddling. Bye, bye chaperone. Ken taught Xioulung how to body surf, Xioulung lying down on the surfboard with Ken kneeling above her for about an hour, just barely in sight of the beach. The sun, coral, and sea air worked their magic and the couple made love in the water. Their families made the wedding arrangements six months later. Area 51 The part of the military base in Shanghai controlled by General Zhou was called Area 51, Dreamland, or Roswell by the taikonauts, references to the restricted areas in America that are home to secret aircraft and according to conspiracy theories, extraterrestrials providing technology transfer to the American Air Force. The truth was more interesting than ETs, involving the oddly dressed young girls that flew General Zhou’s rocket planes. The girls wore body suits, hoods and goggles that concealed their identities. Flight Simulator Captain Wu of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) was showing a USAF married couple, the American astronauts, Majors Sonja and Reggie Bradley, around the computer center. Cost reduction had forced General Zhou to depend on computer-based system training as opposed to a greater amount of teacher-led instruction. Eight of the strangely attired young girls were paired up on PC-based simulators equipped with two flat-panel monitors and some flimsy plastic flight controls. Reggie asked the PLAAF officer if they could get a closer look at the instruction. Wu agreed and the trio approached one of the workstations occupied by two student pilots. Reggie could see that the two girls were using the Microsoft® Flight Simulator with a Boeing 767 add-on from Wilco Publishing and customized local scenery. Reggie recognized the control tower at Logan International in Boston (BOS), at one time the highest control tower in the world. After watching as the girls performed the pre-flight checklist, Reggie asked if he could try flying the simulator. The girls nodded and slid their chairs back to give him some room. Reggie put on the earphones that had an attached boom mike. Reggie held his position on taxiway 03L until he was cleared onto the runway [an add-on module simulates interaction with the tower and ground control]. When cleared, he increased the throttle settings on the twin engines and taxied out onto the runway. He turned left and headed for Boston Harbor. The girls looked at each other and one of the girls said, “You’re going the wrong way.” “I’m taking a short-cut,” was Reggie’s reply as the airliner descended a bank and turned right in Boston Bay. Reggie increased the thrust to 100% as he lined up with the John Hancock building. The Boeing 767 accelerated to takeoff speed, ignoring the high-rises directly ahead of the jumbo jet. Reggie banked to the left as he flew over the locks that made the Charles River a small lake for windsurfers and sailing boats. “That’s the capital building for Massachusetts, that building with the golden dome,” said Reggie. The flight continued up the Charles, gaining altitude as it flew past the Prudential Building. Reggie noticed that the new Boston landmark, the Leonard Zakim Bridge, had not been inserted into the scenery software. Reggie continued to narrate a tourist guide’s description of Boston as he banked to join a standard instrument departure (SID) segment from Logan. The girls had the impression that he had done this comic routine before. The Kobioshi Maru Scenario Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise had cheated on the no-solution scenario; Kirk didn’t like to lose or fail. Lin and Qi had never heard of Kobioshi. The simulated flight plan was a simple Sedona (SEZ) to Flagstaff (FLG)-Meteor Crater flight. Flagstaff and Sedona would be high altitude takeoffs and landings. The simulated scenery did justice to the original and the girls threw themselves into a routine training flight. As expected, the takeoff roll was long, the result of the high temperature as well as the high altitude. They flew over Walnut Canyon, the deserted home of the Sinagua (without water) cliff-dwelling Indians. The flight continued up to Meteor Crater, parallel to Interstate 40. The upraised rim of the crater could be seen from fifteen miles away. Lin had the controls as the Cessna 182 flew over the crater caused by a meteor impact some 50,000 years ago. Lin dropped into the crater and flew the required two circuits at less than cruise speed. She anticipated flying out of the crater in a westerly direction but the aircraft wouldn’t climb. They couldn’t climb out even at full power. Lin had three choices: (1) burn off fuel and hope that the plane would eventually be light enough to climb over the rim, (2) throw Qi out the door, or (3) pick a point and perform a controlled crash. Tania, a senior pilot, walked over and saved the two girls the agony of the hours of flying before running out of avgas that two airline pilots had been subjected to, before the pair had crashed in Meteor Crater. The undelivered aircraft is still in the crater with the wing and horizontal stabilizer clearly visible from the observation decks. Flying on the Colorado Plateau was different from flying in Kansas or Shanghai. The Grasshopper The Grasshopper’s lack of performance was due to its being oversize for its engines. This lack of power made the Grasshopper only acceptable as a trainer. The Grasshopper looked like a bus with an aerodynamic front end and rockets sticking out of its rear end; its fuselage didn’t provide enough lift for a horizontal landing since Mars and the moon didn’t have an earthly atmosphere. The small windows looking forward would be covered during the initial ascent phase and during reentry. Small window/ports were scattered over the less critical areas of the fuselage; metal gates covered the portals during critical phases of flight as well. Most of the viewing during the critical phases of the flight would be via video cameras and the large flat panel displays distributed throughout the cockpit and interior of the spacecraft. The Americans were used to the concealing apparel of the Chinese flight crew. The pilots introduced themselves as “Janice” Chan Jiang Li, Grasshopper captain or pilot, and “Jane” Chen Shu Teng, copilot. Commander Hollis sat behind the pilots’ seats in the commander’s chair. The Bradley husband and wife team sat behind the two strangely dressed Grasshopper pilots close to two more similarly dressed women sitting behind them monitoring the vehicle’s systems. Without any fanfare or safety briefing the pilot in command closed the hatch while the copilot checked that the passengers were strapped in. The pilot taxied out to a concrete pad and asked if everybody was ready. There was a chorus of agreement and the pilot rotated the Grasshopper into a vertical position. The pilots glanced back at the passengers for a final status check and Commander Hollis came unglued. “Where the hell was the preflight and checklist?” he demanded. “We’ve done all of that already,” was the reply from the captain, Janice Chan. “Let me out of here,” was the commander’s response. “I’ve never seen such a screwed up outfit in my life.” The pilots looked at each other, then at the two other American astronauts. Then they rotated the Grasshopper back onto its wheels. The commander had already released his restraining straps and umbilical cord and was heading for the egress port. The pilot released the airlock/stairs and Commander Hollis rushed past her, helmet in hand, to get outside. He walked at a brisk rate towards the airport lounge. When he was about half way to the terminal a golf cart approached him with two of the small alien girls. The girls were hurriedly getting into launch-and-entry suits (LESs). The driver yelled to Hollis that he’d be back for him and drove to the waiting Grasshopper. The girls were giggling and ecstatic about the change in plans. The driver helped the girls up the stairs and they disappeared into the aircraft. The stairs were retracted and after a few minutes the Grasshopper rotated into its launch position. The rocket engines fired for about a minute and then full thrust was applied. The aero brakes were retracted as the aircraft left the ground; the aero brakes provided mechanical support and lifting power during rotation on the ground. The Grasshopper slowly climbed into the clear sky. The acceleration was a mild two and a half Earth gravities increasing another half of a g as the fuel burned off. The silence of space returned as the engines were shut off and weightlessness reigned. The young girls were euphoric about their first flight in the Grasshopper as the flight crew concentrated on their procedures. One of the flight engineers helped the young girls to unstrap and all three floated in space, tethered to umbilical cords. After about three minutes the girls were herded into their seats and strapped in. As the deceleration built up the view ports were closed. The incandescent plasma was beautiful over the monitors, even in the bright daylight. The vibration built up and decreased until the aero brakes were activated provoking a loud roar from the surrounding air. The parachutes jolted the Grasshopper when they were deployed as the Earth rushed up to meet the falling aircraft. A gentle blast from the rocket engines and the Grasshopper thudded to a landing. The parachutes were jettisoned, the rocket engines were shut down, and the landing checklist was completed as light streamed through the reopened ports and fresh air rushed into the interior of the vehicle. Finally, the Grasshopper rotated to a horizontal position and the display screens showed a properly oriented world. The pilots looked at the Bradleys somewhat like kids expecting words of approval for a well-caught baseball. The Bradleys gushed their thanks and approval as they removed their helmets, disconnected their umbilical cords, and loosened their restraints. The fresh air felt good on their faces as the copilot drove the Grasshopper towards the hanger. After the American astronauts had left the Grasshopper, Jane looked at Janice and said in her best Austrian accent, “I’ll be back.” Both women giggled/laughed. Download 0.66 Mb. Share with your friends: