Tomorrow night, I’ll be at rock bottom!
No, that doesn’t sound good either…
Tomorrow night, I’ll be in Giovanni Schiaparelli’s favorite hole!
Ok, I admit I’m just fucking around now.
For millions of years, the rim of the crater had been under constant attack from wind. It eroded the rocky crest like a river cuts through a mountain range. After aeons, it finally breached the edge.
The high pressure zone created by the wind now had an avenue to drain. The breach widened more and more with each passing millennium. As it widened, dust and sand particles carried along with the attack settled in the basin below.
Eventually, a balance point was reached. The sand had piled up high enough to be flush with the land outside the crater. It no longer built upward, but now outward. The slope lengthened until a new balance point was reached, one defined by the complex interactions of countless tiny particles and their ability to maintain an angled shape. Entrance Ramp had been born.
The weather brought dunes and desert terrain. Nearby crater impacts brought rocks and boulders. The shape became uneven.
Gravity did its work. The ramp compressed over time. But it did not compress evenly. Differing densities shrunk at different rates. Some areas became hard as rock while others remained as soft as talc.
While providing a small
Upon reaching Entrance Crater, the lone inhabitant of Mars turned his vehicle toward the Schiaparelli Basin. The difficult terrain was unexpected, but looked no worse than other terrain he routinely navigated.
He went around the smaller dunes, and carefully crested the larger ones. He took care with every turn, every rise or fall in elevation, and every boulder in his path. He thought through every course and considered all alternatives.
But it wasn’t enough.
The rover, while descending down a seemingly ordinary slope, drove off an invisible ridge. The dense, hard soil suddenly gave way to soft powder. With the entire surface covered by at least 5cm of dust, there were no visual hints to the sudden change.
The rover’s left front wheel sank. The sudden tilt brought the right rear wheel completely off the ground. This in turn put more weight on the left rear wheel, which slipped from it’s precarious purchase into the powder as well.
Before the traveler could react, the rover rolled on to its side. As it did, the solar cells neatly stacked on the roof flew off and scattered like a dropped deck of cards.
The trailer, attached to the rover with a tow clamp, was dragged along. The torsion on the clamp snapped the strong composite like a brittle twig. The hoses connecting the two vehicles also snapped. The trailer plunged head-long in to the soft soil and flipped over on to its balloon-roof, shuddering to an abrupt halt.
The rover was not so lucky. It continued tumbling down the hill, bouncing the traveler around like clothes in a dryer. After 20 meters, the soft powder gave way to more solid sand and it shuddered to a halt.
The rover had come to rest on its side. The valves leading to the now missing hoses had detected the sudden pressure drop and closed. The pressure seal was not breached.
The traveler was alive for now.
Chapter 24
The department heads stared at the satellite image on the projection screen.
'Jesus,' Mitch said. 'What the hell happened?'
'The rover’s on its side,' Mindy said, pointing to the screen. 'The trailer’s upside down. Those rectangles scattered around are solar cells.'
Venkat put a hand on his chin. 'Do we have any information on the state of the rover pressure vessel?'
'Nothing obvious,' Mindy said.
'Any signs of Watney doing something after the accident? An EVA maybe?'
'No EVA,' Mindy said. 'The weather’s clear. If he’d come out there’d be visible footsteps.'
'Is this the entire crash site?' Bruce Ng asked.
'I think so,' Mindy said. 'Up toward the top of the photo, which is North, there are ordinary wheel tracks. Right here,' she pointed to a large disturbance in the soil, 'is where I think things went wrong. Judging by where that ditch is, I’d say the rover rolled and slid from there. You can see the trench it left behind. The trailer flipped forward on to its roof.'
'I’m not saying everything’s ok,' Bruce said, 'but I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks.'
'Go on,' Venkat said.
'The rover’s designed to handle a roll,' Bruce explained. 'And if there’d been pressure loss there’d be a starburst pattern in the sand. I don’t see anything like that.'
'Watney may still be hurt inside,' Mitch said. 'He could have banged his head or broken an arm or something.'
'Sure,' Bruce said. 'I’m just saying the rover is probably ok.'
'When was this taken?'
Mindy checked her watch. 'We got it 17 minutes ago. We’ll get another pic in 9 minutes when MGS4’s orbit brings it in view.”
“First thing he’ll do is an EVA to assess damage,” Venkat said. “Mindy, keep us posted on any changes.”
Hmm.
Yeah.
Things don’t go well on the descent in to Schiaparelli Basin. To give you some indication of how unwell they went, I’m reaching up to the computer to type this. Because it’s still mounted near the control panel, and the rover is on its side.
I got bounced around a lot, but I’m a well-honed machine in times of crisis. As soon as the rover toppled, I curled in to a ball and cowered. That’s the kind of action hero I am.
It worked, too. Cause I’m not hurt.
The pressure vessel is intact, so that’s a plus. The valves that lead to the trailer hoses are shut. Probably means the hoses disconnected. And that means the trailer junction snapped. Wonderful.
Looking around the interior here, I don’t think anything is broken. The water tanks stayed sealed. There aren’t any visible leaks in the air tanks. The bedroom came unfolded and it’s all over the place, but it’s just canvas so it can’t have gotten too hurt.
The driving controls are ok, and the Nav Computer is telling me the rover is at an 'unacceptably dangerous tilt.' Thanks, Nav!
So I rolled. That’s not the end of the world. I’m alive and the rover’s fine. I’m more worried about the solar cells I probably rolled over. Also, since the trailer detached there’s a good chance it’s fucked up, too. The balloon roof it has isn’t exactly durable. If it popped, the shit inside will have flung out in all directions and I’ll have to go find it. That’s my critical life support.
Speaking of life support, the rover switched over to the local tanks when the valves shut. Good boy, Rover! Here’s a Scooby-Snack.
I’ve got 20L of oxygen (enough to keep me breathing for 40 days) but without the Regulator (which is in the trailer) I’m back to chemical CO2 absorption. I have 312 hours of filters left. Plus I have another 171 hours of EVA suit CO2 filters as well. All told, they’ll last 483 hours, which is close to 20 sols. So I have time to get things working again.
