Dead on Mars

Tomcat sat on a chair as it began to attempt re-establishing communications with the United Space Station.

Normally, Kunlun Station would communicate with the United Space Station through radio transmissions via Ku, L, and C band designations. Among the bands was the Ku band designation which was in the frequency range of 12 to 18 GHz. It was a very mature band designation. Decades ago, the satellite dishes installed on many households’ rooftops used the Ku band designation.

This frequency allowed very fast communication speeds, equivalent to 500 Mbps broadband. Mai Dong and Tang Yue usually used this frequency during their video communications.

The other L and C bands were used as backups. The L band’s frequency ranged from 1-2GHz, a type of millimeter-wave. The C band’s frequency ranged from 4-8GHz. Compared to the Ku band, more time had been poured into studying these two frequency bands. It was more mature technology which was why it was used as a backup.

The United Space Station period was eighty minutes. This meant to say that the United Space Station would circle Mars once every eighty minutes, and so pass by Kunlun Station once.

During these eighty minutes, the United Space Station would spend half the time below the horizon, which also meant the other side of Mars. Under such circumstances, Kunlun Station was unable to communicate directly with the United Space Station. After all, radio transmissions couldn’t bend or penetrate the entire planet of Mars; therefore, this was when geosynchronous relay satellites came into play.

Three relay satellites were equally spaced out in geosynchronous orbit around Mars at a distance of 17,000 kilometers apart. From the poles, the three relay satellites could provide a signal that covered nearly all of the Martian surface. When the United Space Station was situated on the other side of Mars, radio transmissions sent from Kunlun Station would be relayed by the relay satellites before reaching the destination.

Tomcat wore an earpiece as it called out to the United Space Station.

On the table in front of it was a computer scene indicating the wind speed in green.

At that moment, strong winds were blowing outside Kunlun Station. The Martian atmosphere was very different from Earth’s. The lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere was the troposphere which had a height of about eight kilometers. Further up was the stratosphere. Therefore, any violent atmospheric activity was limited to the troposphere.

As for Mars, its atmosphere lacked the stratosphere. Its troposphere wasn’t restrained so it could go as high as it could, extending up to a staggering height of sixty kilometers.

Therefore, most of the atmospheric activity on the Martian surface often had hurricanes that swept the dust and sand tens of kilometers into the sky, forming a thick blanket that cloaked the surface. Human communication equipment was blind in such extreme weather.

“How’s it?” Tang Yue asked. “Can you establish communications?”

Tomcat took off the earpiece and handed it to Tang Yue.

Tang Yue put it in his ear and heard the sharp static of varying frequencies. It sounded like an old witch screeching loudly in an ear-piercing manner.

“What’s that sound?”

“Noise,” Tomcat said. “Noise from the atmosphere’s sand.”

“I thought it was Mai Dong singing.”

“I’ve tried all available bands, but none of them have worked. Be it the Ku band, L band, or the C band, all of them have failed… The weather is just too terrible.” Tomcat shook its head. “The interference above our heads is just too intense. The sand and dust have accumulated large amounts of electric charge. Now, kilometers above us, there must be lightning.”

Tang Yue handed the earpiece back to Tomcat. “Is there nothing else we can do?”

“A natural environment’s electromagnetic interference indiscriminately suppresses and blocks transmissions. Switching to any frequency channel wouldn’t work unless you have sufficient power to blast your signal through the cursed hurricane.” Tomcat shook its head.

“Then, can we increase our power?”

“It’s already at maximum output.” Tomcat shrugged. “Apart from increasing its power efficiency, reducing the distance could actually work. If you can raise Kunlun Station to a height of sixty kilometers or make the United Space Station lower its height by sixty kilometers, I could still try something.”

Raising Kunlun Station to a height of sixty kilometers was impossible; not even an immortal could do it.

Lowering the United Space Station’s height by sixty kilometers was also impossible for Tomcat at present. To change orbit trajectories of such a huge space station was an extremely complex task. Many elements need to be taken into consideration. If there were any mistakes, the space station might accidentally enter the atmosphere, resulting in an abnormal drop in deceleration and causing it to crash.

“The L and C bands are completely dead.” Tomcat shook its head. “there’s only a female ghost howling on these channels. I’m not sure if the Ku channel can be rescued.”

“How?”

“There’s only one way.” Tomcat turned its head. “The Ku band is less susceptible to interference, but its focus beam is very narrow and requires strong directionality. For example, the C band’s signal broadcasts in every direction, but the Ku band is like the beam of a flashlight. The Ku channel’s transmitter needs to be accurately pointed in your direction for you to receive the signal.”

Tomcat’s explanation was very simple. Although Tang Yue didn’t have a background in telecommunications, he could understand it.

“Now, the Ku band’s signal is completely disconnected. It might be because I didn’t point the transmitter and receiver antenna in the correct directions.” Tomcat pointed above. “After all, it’s pitch-black outside, and there are such strong winds. The communications antenna that’s mounted on the garage must have already been toppled. We have no way of pinpointing the space station’s location, nor do we have any means of tracking it.”

“So?” Tang Yue nodded.

“So, we will have to manually adjust the direction of the antenna and find the precise direction of the space station. Only then can we re-establish communications.”

“Manually adjusting it would do? I’ll do it!” Tang Yue said as he prepared to don the Radiant Armor.

“Wait.”

Tomcat pulled him back, bent down and pulled out an aluminum box. Opening it and removing the bubble wrap, it took out a folded three-legged tripod and a satellite dish. It spread open the components and set it up. “This is very old. It doesn’t have any electric motors or servomechanism. It’s purely manually-driven. It’s been kept here for years, but it’s reliable. In the early days of the Martian missions, people had to rely on this thing to establish communications with the spacecraft. I thought it wouldn’t be of use anymore.”

Only then did Tang Yue realize it was a parabolic dish antenna. The tripod was about a person’s height when set up, and at the top of it was an omnidirectional dish-shaped antenna.

“Are you out of your mind? You just survived the hurricane, so you aren’t going anywhere. The garage is too far away. Can you return after you head out?” Tomcat pushed the antenna to Tang Yue. “Ignore the antenna over there. We will repair it after the sandstorm is over. Now, we have to use this antenna to tide us through… Set it up by Kunlun Station’s entrance, and don’t go too far away. Then, listen to my commands. We will try again.”

Tang Yue sized up the gizmo, its appearance was by no means attractive. It looked like a television dish antenna used in the villages. The parabolic dish antenna was about a dozen centimeters in radius.

“We are using this gizmo?” Tang Yue had his doubts. “Its antenna isn’t any bigger than your face. Is its power efficiency enough?”

“Its main purpose is to receive signals. This is only the son,” Tomcat said. “As for the father… It’s four hundred kilometers above your head. That guy is even taller than two of you. When it’s turned on and at maximum power efficiency, it can roast a rabbit.”