Chapter 523 Chaos
Just when the International Space Station of the Earth Union was arguing with the Earth Union Association.
In orbit above the space station, there are 16 small communications satellites owned by SpaceX, which suffered irreparable damage in this solar storm.
The orbit control systems of these satellites have failed, and their communication systems are also unusable, making them completely scrapped.
One of the defunct Starlink satellites lost control and collided with another nearby Lucia spy satellite.
Because the solar storm at this time had affected the Earth's communications, and some communication satellites were scrapped, the members of the Earth Association were unable to monitor all spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.
Especially the side of low-Earth orbit that is swept by the solar storm.
After the scrapped Starlink satellite collided with the Lucia spy satellite, both satellites suffered serious damage and deviated from their respective orbits.
The debris and wreckage produced by the satellite impact splashed in all directions, especially drifting towards lower orbital areas.
The orbital altitude of these two satellites is approximately 670 to 680 kilometers in low-Earth orbit .
The new international space station of the Inter-Earth Association will be in the 450-460 km low-Earth orbit.
Hundreds of satellite fragments and debris drifted towards lower orbits.
Soon, three Starlink satellites and two satellites from other forces were involved. These colliding satellites and debris produced more fragments and wreckage, further expanding the range of the debris splash.
About an hour and a half later.
Dozens of satellite debris have floated near the new International Space Station.
Due to the attack of the solar storm, nearly a quarter of the equipment on the International Space Station was paralyzed, and a large part of the equipment malfunctioned, and the small debris approaching the space station was not detected at all.
A piece of debris separated from the Lucia spy satellite rolled over and hit the No. 3 experimental module of the space station.
The satellite , smashed through the wall of the No. 3 experimental cabin in an instant at a very fast speed.
[Alarm! Alarm! There is a gas leak in the No. 3 experimental chamber...].
Zhang Ming's face changed drastically when he felt the surrounding air pressure begin to drop rapidly: "Not good! Quickly close the air pressure gate of cabin 3..."
Robert, who was responsible for controlling the internal air pressure system, quickly pressed the emergency button.
Suddenly, the doors on both sides of the No. 3 experimental module closed automatically, and the air pressure inside the space station stopped dropping.
However, they had not yet breathed a sigh of relief.
Another piece of satellite debris the size of a screw silently penetrated a fuel tank of the space station, causing a large amount of methane stored in the fuel tank to leak out.
[Alert! Alert! F5 fuel tank is leaking…].
"This..." Zhang Ming was shocked.
The entire new international space station has only four pairs of fuel tanks, corresponding to the 16 attitude control engines on the space station.
Jin Shangwen, the power system administrator, swallowed his throat and said, "Captain, we only have nine posture control engines left."
Zhang Ming thought for a moment and made a prompt decision: "Immediately activate emergency plan No. 7."
"receive."
The other seven astronauts had no objections, as this emergency plan was prepared for just such a situation.
They quickly put on extravehicular spacesuits and headed for the space station's emergency escape spacecraft. It was obvious that Zhang Ming had already sensed the problem with the space station and did not dare to be careless.
Come to the emergency escape spacecraft.
Communicator Owen received instructions from the Ground Union Headquarters.
"Captain, the headquarters requires us to stay here for half a month. After half a month, the headquarters will send two spacecraft to send us a batch of repair components."
Zhang Ming frowned: "Have you reported our current situation?"
Owen's face also looked very ugly: "I reported it."
"Fuck! Don't they know that the space station is now facing the crisis of losing control and disintegrating?" Robert cursed.
Although Zhang Ming was very angry and disappointed, he still forced himself to calm down: "Owen, in the name of all our members, please submit another application to return to Earth and explain the crisis of the space station at this time."
"yes."
Then Zhang Ming said to the others: "Everyone, we have to make preparations for both scenarios. On the one hand, we need to find a way to eliminate the danger to the space station, and on the other hand, we need to make an emergency evacuation plan."
Everyone also knows that this is one of the few things they can do at the moment.
However, Zhang Ming and other astronauts did not know that the satellite fragments that were splashing everywhere were already killing people like crazy at this time.
Because SpaceX has a large number of Starlink satellites, there are currently 3,572 of them operating in low-Earth orbit, plus some satellites launched in cooperation with the SpaceX Association in recent years.
Moreover, these satellites are crowded in an orbit at an altitude of 400 to 750 kilometers.
When a large amount of debris was flying everywhere, the solar storm happened to interfere with communications, and many satellites responsible for monitoring space debris in low-Earth orbit had large-scale monitoring blind spots.
Soon the number of satellites colliding with each other increased to 37.
These colliding satellites further increase the size of the debris field.
As if triggering a chain reaction, a large amount of debris was running around in low-Earth orbit.
The headquarters of Sapiens' space division.
We are very clear about what is happening in low-Earth orbit at this time, and even the trajectories of various debris can be monitored.
Faced with this tangled low-Earth orbit, Sapiens also feels very difficult and can only give priority to protecting the company's satellites.
This is one of the reasons why Sapiens placed the space station in the mid-level orbit.
It is because of the large number of Starlink satellites launched by Musk, if they get out of control, it will easily trigger a chain reaction.
Even if a large-scale Homo sapiens space station were deployed in an orbit of 400 to 500 kilometers, it would be terrified when faced with such dense and chaotic satellite debris.
Sapiens Company only cares about its own business.
On the other side, the Local Association finally realized the problem, but it was too late.
Especially for those Starlink satellites with limited fuel, there is no way to make large-scale maneuvers to change orbits, which has led to a rapid increase in the number of Starlink satellites hit by debris.
This situation further increases the scale of satellite debris.
A vicious cycle begins.
Three hours later, the helpless Local Association had to declare the evasion plan a failure.
During this period, the new International Space Station was hit by seven pieces of debris of varying sizes.
Zhang Ming's face had turned extremely dark as he looked at the emergency escape spacecraft's cabin wall which had a small hole smashed by debris.
"No! Although the leak has been blocked, one of the escape spacecraft's attitude control engines has been damaged. The escape spacecraft cannot be used." Jin Shangwen floated out of the escape spacecraft.
The other astronauts were worried.
Robert even yelled, "Fuck it! Those bastards killed us! If they hadn't stopped us from returning to Earth, we would have returned safely to Earth long ago."
Zhang Ming asked: "Owen, has the Earth Union headquarters not responded yet?"
Owen shook his head in disappointment: "No, they told us to keep waiting."
"Wait a minute!" an astronaut cursed.
In fact, the Local Association was also very anxious at this time. It was not that it was indifferent, but there was no use being anxious.
After receiving the call for help from the space station, the management of the Earth Union Association immediately held a meeting to discuss how to solve the problem.
