3

Landing

 

A sleek teardrop-shaped space vehicle dropped out of Mars orbit. The shuttle Olympus, carrying six human beings and fifteen tonnes of cargo, hit the Martian atmosphere at some 19,000 kilometers per hour and bit deeply, plunging to within fifty kilometers of the surface before rising back out of the atmosphere. Some two hours later it swung back toward Mars in a much-truncated orbit, hitting the atmosphere at 14,000 kilometers per hour, and this time it rode through the atmosphere all the way to the surface. After a four-minute bumpy ride through hypersonic entry that briefly enveloped the shuttle in ionized plasma, the Olympus’s speed dropped enough for drogue chutes to be deployed, followed by main parachutes a few seconds later. The teardrop slowed further, to a mere thousand meters per second, and as it fell into thicker air below Martian “sea level” the drag slowed it further to five hundred meters per second. Doors in the metal heat shield covering the bottom of the teardrop opened, exposing rocket engines, and seconds later they flamed alive, burning off the Olympus’s remaining speed. Landing legs began to extend. The Olympus, following the Outpost’s radio beacons, modified its course ever so slightly, then settled on its tail of orange-tinged, bluish methane-oxygen fire, touching down gently exactly in the center of its landing bullseye.

The silver teardrop, sixteen meters long and six meters wide at its bottom, sat on its six landing legs. Inside the six crew, relieved that everything had gone perfectly—everything happened very fast—said their silent prayers of thanks and unstrapped themselves. In the bridge and the great room of the Outpost, where everyone gathered, there was applause.

Two conestogas—large, eight-wheeled surface vehicles—immediately headed for the landing site. They circled the shuttle to photograph it and assure everyone it was safe. With the systems inside mostly shut down, mission control—Will and Roger—gave the conestogas permission to move in. The six new residents of Mars suited up and came outside, joyfully walked around their vehicle, marveling at the new world they had safely reached, then climbed inside the conestogas with as much as they could load into them for the ride to the Outpost. The conestogas entered the basement of the new building, allowing everyone to step straight into regular air. Will and five others were there to greet them.

“Yevgeny! Alexandra!” Will called out. A Russian couple, the Lescovs, were the first to step out, laden with bulging suitcases. They saw Will and waved. He walked over and shook hands with both. “Welcome to Mars!”

“Thank you,” replied Yevgeny. He smiled broadly; he and Will had known each other on the moon. “Long time no see, Will.”

“A very long time, Yevgeny. I’m glad you’re both here.”

“We’re delighted,” replied Alexandra. “Where’s Ethel?”

“At work; you’ll see her later, I’m sure. Let me greet the others who are arriving, then I’ll show you to your quarters.” Will turned to greet Charles and Martha Vickers, two Americans who were just arriving; he was a geophysicist and expert on meteorites, she was a psychiatrist. Then Will shook hands with Dr. Tang Enlai, the first Chinese astronaut on Mars and an accomplished exobiologist. “Welcome, Dr. Tang. I’m thrilled to have representation from China here.”

“And I am pleased to be here; thank you. I look forward to working with you.”

“Thank you.” Will made an extra effort to be friendly; he wanted Dr. Tang to feel at home. The last man stepping off was Dr. Olaf Norlander, a Swede and an expert on driving Prospectors, telerobotically operated rovers. He greeted him as well, then turned back to the Lescovs.

“Follow me, and I’ll take you to your new quarters.”

“We can find them ourselves; we don’t want to inconvenience you!” exclaimed Alexandra.

“Oh, it isn’t an inconvenience at all.” Will pointed to a little metal wagon, looking almost like the sort a child would own. He helped them put their three pieces of luggage in it. Alexandra stopped to admire the workmanship, then nodded. At the airlock into the rest of the Outpost she stopped to look at the work again.

“Good quality welds, and the metal looks pretty good, too.”

“You really can’t tell very well by video, can you.”

“No, you can’t! The quality of work here is excellent.”

“It has to be; our lives depend on it.”

They closed one airlock door, then walked five meters through a tunnel and opened another door. It led them into Renfrew.

“You’ve moved your family into here, right?” asked Yevgeny, looking at the duricrete walls.

“Yes. Renfrew has been airtight for over a year, now, and it has proved very reliable. With another baby on the way, we needed more space.” Will pointed to the stairway that went up to the top level. “The building has exits on both ends, and both levels have airtight emergency shelters near the middle. The kids will never be alone until they know what to do.”

“Still, I would worry if I had children here,” said Alexandra. “I suppose you get used to it.”

“I’m not sure you ever get used to the dangers, but what can we do?”

“It’s difficult,” agreed Yevgeny. “Alexandra and I decided not to have children at all for that reason, and now it’s really too late. But I suppose we’ll enjoy your kids.”

They walked across the Great Room, waving to the two people in the kitchen preparing lunch. Then they passed through another airlock, then through a greenhouse. The wagon barely fit and brushed against tomatoes and corn constantly as they walked through. The Lescovs looked at the plants and marveled; after months in space, they craved greenery.

“How did the Olympus do?” asked Will. “I didn’t fly on it, but as you know it was on Columbus 1. It’s nice to have it back.”

“Well, it’s been pretty extensively refurbished,” replied Yevgeny. “You might not recognize it. The new crew module in the cargo bay is more comfortable and reliable than the old one.”

“Much better life support,” added Alexandra. “Easier to maintain, too.”

“And new pumps and engines,” continued Yevgeny. “The guys at the International Space Station II worked on it for six months.”

“I’m relieved. The ‘Shuttle B’ design is widely regarded as more safe. One thing we can’t afford is an accident up here.”

“They are much better,” agreed Alexandra. “And since these engines have been tested extensively with ethylene propellant, they are more flexible.”

“I’m very interested in the proposed Phobos-Deimos science mission,” said Yevgeny. “Six weeks on each moon would allow us to do quite a lot of research and lay the groundwork for future stations on each. We’d also be able to upgrade the fuel-making plants more extensively than a one week visit allows.”

Will nodded. “I’ve been fascinated by the proposals that have been made. We’ve got plenty of science equipment we can take up there to leave, and now we have maneuvering units that make movement easier on the moons.”

“And with two interplanetary habitats at Embarcadero, each with ion engines, we can move one to each moon to provide housing and redundancy for the mission,” added Yevgeny.

“It’s the only way to stay six weeks; the shuttles don’t have the consumables otherwise,” agreed Will. “I have to be satisfied the safety margin’s there. I’m in favor of flights to the moons, especially if they carry cargo to orbit for eventual transport to Earth. And NASA’s being much more conservative with us, since Paul’s accident.”

“What about the Mars Commission?” asked Alexandra.

“The Commission still doesn’t have much say. As you know, the United States has managed to retain most of its control in spite of the Commission because it provides most of the services. So right now the Commission is a bit toothless. But that isn’t to say we don’t have to convince Morgan; we do.”

“The Commission has become an exercise in frustration,” said Yevgeny. “I wonder whether it was such a good idea, now.”

“Maybe all of us can help make it a good idea, then,” replied Will. “Over time, I believe it can grow stronger.”

They passed through another airlock and entered Habitat 1. The sound of children greeted them. “Day care is still here, but it’s moving to Renfrew,” explained Will. They walked across the habitat toward the stair at the other end, but first Ethel came out of the child care area.

“I thought it would be you,” she said to Alexandra and Yevgeny.

“How are you?” asked Yevgeny, smiling. He stopped to kiss Ethel on both cheeks; Alexandra followed him.

“It’s been a long time since that stay at ISS2, Yevgeny,” replied Ethel. “And I haven’t seen you, Alexandra, since our time at Shackleton in ’18.”

“Nine years! Time flies,” she replied.

“Welcome to Aurorae,” said Ethel. “It’s nice to have old friends join us. You’ve signed up for three cycles, right?”

Yevgeny nodded. “Three, and I doubt we’ll stay more. That’ll be plenty.”

“And we’ll be in our fifties by then. Maybe we’ll retire early,” added Alexandra. “We’ll have plenty of money and a modicum of fame.”

“How long will all of you stay here?” asked Yevgeny. “If you wait for the new baby to grow up, it’ll be 2045!”

Will sighed. “It sure will be. We may be too old to fly back to Earth by then! Now they’re saying that Columbus 5 will test the new nuclear thermal engines, and once the reliability is assured, in a few cycles they may switch to three month flights each way. With proper radiation shielding, kids could manage a three-month flight, it appears. So who knows? Maybe we’ll go back in a decade.”

“On the other hand, in 2045 this place will be getting big and interesting,” said Ethel. “There could be 200 people living in the Outpost by then. Maybe we’ll be the first residents of the Aurorae retirement home, about 2060.”

“It hinges on cheaper transportation,” agreed Yevgeny. “I wouldn’t count on the nuclear thermal engine, though. Environmental concerns have forced redesigns and the development cost has doubled. Maybe some day a Swift Shuttle variant will be built just to transport hydrogen to orbit cheaply and it’ll be economic. But a Swift with a much larger cargo bay will have to be built first.”

“The timing was bad,” agreed Will. “NASA was foolish to pretend the Swift shuttle wouldn’t work and that their expendable rockets would continue to be the cheapest way to launch. Now no one wants to use them, and with the reduced demand the cost of using them to launch hydrogen is seven times the cost of launching argon for the ion tugs using the Swift.. But there are scenarios that may change the situation. If lunar water drops in cost a lot, we can throw away the oxygen and just use the hydrogen.”

“Oxygen afterburners are even better,” noted Yevgeny. “The specific impulse is reduced, but it’s still fifty percent higher than hydrogen-oxygen combustion, and it uses all the water instead of eleven percent of it.”

“Let’s hope NASA can convince the current administration to develop them,” agreed Will. “It’s ridiculous to build solid-core nuclear engines and not use them, or force people to use them even though they’re much more expensive. The oxygen afterburners are relatively cheap, I understand.”

“But the current Democrat Congress is anti-nuclear.” Yevgeny shrugged. “Maybe the Chinese will develop them instead.”

Will laughed. “That might be the incentive the U.S. needs! Let me help you get your luggage up the stairs; you can’t use the wagon there.”

Ethel went back into the day care area. Will and the Lescovs grabbed the luggage and carried it up the stairs to the two-room apartment that used to be Will and Ethel’s. Then Will said goodbye and headed back to the bridge, to see how the Daedalia was doing.

The Daedalia landed two hours after the Olympus. Then just before noon the Alba came down at pad 6 with the last six members of Columbus 3. Orbit was now clear and all eighteen new people had arrived safely. It was a great relief for everyone. Furthermore, the three shuttles that had landed—two that had just arrived from Earth and one that had already been on Mars—deorbited thirty-six tonnes of consumables and equipment. Unpacking everything and setting it up would take the next four weeks, in and around training sessions and safety drills. And when all of that work and training was over, three automated cargo vehicles would blaze into Mars orbit with forty-five more tonnes of equipment, requiring them to initiate another round of flights.

The rest of the sol was devoted not to unloading the shuttles, though, but to showing the new arrivals around and helping them unpack. Then at sunset—7:20 p.m.—everyone gathered in the Great Room in Renfrew Hall for a banquet.

Will and Ethel were careful to invite Dr. Tang to join them. They also invited Michiko Suzuki, a Japanese meteorologist, to sit with them.

Will was the last to sit and eat because he helped serve the food. After filling his plate, he stopped to survey the happy, boisterous gathering. The new arrivals and the veterans were mixed together, as he had hoped they would be; the old hands had been assigned a “buddy” to assist on arrival, and most had sat with their buddies. The great room was filled; indeed, the life support system would be strained by their carbon dioxide output. But there was enough room to evacuate everyone in case of a leak, and there were spacesuits in the building in case there was trouble requiring them.

The room had five tables, each with about seven people around it. Will’s table had, in addition to himself, Ethel, Marshall, Tang Enlai, Michiko Suzuki, and Shinji Nagatani, because he was Michiko’s “buddy.” The table next to them had Érico Lopes, their Brazilian geophysicist and repair man; Carmen Segovia-Lopes, a Spanish pilot and engineer, who was five months pregnant, just like Ethel; Lisa Kok, their Dutch horticulturalist; Karol Havlicek, their Czech mechanical engineer and repair guru; Andries Underwood, their South African sedimentologist; Francisco Almeida, Brazilian, a Prospector operator with horticultural and food preparation experience; and Enrique Delrio, Mexican, a welder and construction specialist.

Table three was occupied by Eve Gilmartin, physician; Gaston Gilmartin, horticulturalist and animal care specialist; Jacques Deschanel, an eobiologist and paleontologist; and Therese Deschanel, an ecological specialist; the four of them were French. Seated with them were Louise Tremblay, a French Canadian rocket engineer; Eammon O’Hare, a big, red-haired Irishman who was an electrical and software engineer; and Irina Lesz, Polish, a laboratory assistant. The entire table was speaking in French.

Table four had Neal Stroger, an American geologist, and Rosa Stroger, an American nuclear engineer; Rosa was three months pregnant as well. Seated and talking intensely with them were two other Americans: Kevin Dunbar, a nuclear engineer, and Jennie Dunbar, a child care specialist and jane-of-all-trades. Watching and participating as best they could were Roger Anderson, an American geologist; his wife Madhu Gupta-Anderson, a dietician and horticulturalist who was also an accomplished Indian classical dancer and artist; and Sam, their seventeen-month old son.

Table five had Yevgeny Lescov, a pilot and geologist, and his wife Alexandra, a civil engineer, architect, mechanic. They were obviously close friends with two Americans, the Vickers: Martha, the psychiatrist, and Charles, a Prospector specialist and repair expert. Olaf Norlander, the Swedish Prospector specialist, joined them. Koyo Takenaka, their Japanese Prospector specialist, and computer repairman, was regaling everyone with stories of narrow scrapes some of the Prospectors had experienced on Mars. Lal Shankaraman, a glaciologist from India, was talking boisterously in Hindi with Sridhar Pradhan, a geochemist from the same country.

Looking over the crowd, Will was impressed by its remarkable diversity and its vast talent. Of the thirty-three adults present, twenty-nine had doctorates and the others had Masters degrees, sometimes more than one. They represented sixteen nations. Three had been on Mars for six and a half years; four, four years; eight, two years; eighteen were newly arrived.

When he sat next to Dr. Tang, the exobiologist leaned close and said “Commander, I was most surprised to see you hauling food from the kitchen and serving people!”

“Why? Service never diminishes anyone.”

“You should see him washing the floors,” quipped Shinji.

“Really?” Tang’s eyebrows went up. “When I arrived, I was expecting that this place would be different from anything I had experienced before. And it has not disappointed me in that score. But it has been different in surprising ways. I see that you lead by example, and I am grateful for that.”

“You are very kind, Dr. Tang,” replied Will.

Call me Enlai; I suppose everyone uses first names, here.”

“Yes, they usually do. Call me Will; people usually do.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you comfortable in your room?” Ethel asked.

Enlai nodded. “Yes, it is more spacious than the accommodations on the trip out, so it feels absolutely luxurious. I walked over to the biology facility, where Jacques and I familiarized ourselves with the equipment and confirmed our decisions who would have what space as their own. Now I can’t wait to get outside and walk around. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll walk up to the top of Boat Rock.”

“It’s got a nice view, and we’ve built a little observation area on the eastern end,” replied Ethel.

“Really? I’d like to see that,” said Michiko.

“I’ll be happy to show you tomorrow,” volunteered Shinji quite quickly.

She smiled shyly. “Thank you, I’d love that.”

“How was the flight out?” asked Ethel.

Enlai shrugged. “Alright. The ITVs are pretty crowded, as you know. At least we felt safe; with four ITVs and two shuttles, there was plenty of redundancy. As you know, our flight paralleled 2009ZA12 for about a month, and the rock was actually visible out the window for ten days. Charles Vickers was very pleased with the data we gathered.”

“We watched the whole effort closely,” agreed Will. “How did you happen to be chosen for this trip?”

Enlai chuckled. “It’s a strange story. China has nearly one hundred astronauts, and some fifty have worked on the moon at our station attached to the international Shakleton Station. All of them were anxious to be chosen to come to Mars. I’ve never been to the moon; it’s not exactly an important destination for an exobiologist! But I had an advantage over everyone else because the Chinese government was urged by NASA not to send a geologist or an engineer, since Mars already had plenty. There aren’t many Chinese exobiologists.”

“What’s your opinion of the new evidence for life on Venus during its first billion years?”

“I think it’s quite solid! So far, twenty fragments of Venus had been picked up on the lunar surface, the biggest weighing half a kilo. They’ve all been dated. Their geochemistry clearly reveals a steadily warming climate, an early ocean, carbonate deposits, and evidence for microorganisms.”

“But no microorganisms in the atmosphere today?” asked Ethel.

Tang shook his head. “The atmospheric samples so far indicate that the planet’s sterile. I suppose there’s too little water and too much sulfuric acid. It’s a shame; I was hoping we’d find something.”

“Well, we still can find life here,” replied Will.

“And when will Earth reach the runaway greenhouse condition? A billion years?” persisted Ethel.

Enlai nodded. “About that. Earth’s fate is to become another Venus, unless humans have the luck to last for a billion years and the will to change the planet’s conditions. Of course, perhaps it will be Mars’s fate to become another Earth.”

“Who knows,” replied Will. “We actually don’t talk about terraforming much, here. Many people are surprised by that. But it’s too far into the future and we know how little humanity knows about this world.”

“Of course. I will do my best to contribute to our deeper knowledge. As you probably know, I have committed to stay four years. You probably also know that my government has insisted that I not be diverted to tasks other than exobiology.”

“Yes, so I was informed. I should have no difficulty honoring that commitment, either; we have plenty of people here. My only suggestion is that you might want to go out on an expedition every year. It’ll give you exposure to the actual outcrops, which is invaluable context for your work.”

“Thank you, I’m anxious to take your advice.”

“I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Enlai,” said Ethel. “I hope China will increase its commitment to Mars and send more people.”

“That will probably be possible. I know the government is considering the idea of purchasing one or two ITVs. Eventually we could be sending four astronauts every columbiad.”

“And you would be welcome,” added Will. “I’m hoping we’ll start to send six ITVs, then eight, then maybe even ten. As they are improved, they’ll get more reliable and less expensive. In a century it could cost two years’ salary for someone to buy a ticket to Mars and back. I think China will have a great role in Mars, by then.”

“We will be the world power, with India close behind,” agreed Enlai. “America will be number three. The twenty-second century will be quite interesting. Too bad we won’t live to see it.”

“It would be interesting to see, “ agreed Will. “Please excuse me for a moment.” He picked up his cup and walked to the food table to pour himself some coffee. Madhu was there getting herself a cup as well.

“Are you ready?” she asked him.

“Yes, pretty much. You?”

“The program’s set.”

“Excellent. You look tired.”

“It’s been a draining sol.”

“For everyone. I gather the chemotherapy drugs have been offloaded. Are you planning to start taking them?”

“I’m not sure yet. Shinji did another MRI yestersol and nothing showed up on the images. I seem to be cancer free. Maybe all that prayer got rid of it.”

“I hope so. So, he doesn’t recommend the chemo?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“I’m relieved, Madhu; I really am.”

“We’ll see whether the situation changes, though.”

Will returned to his seat and resumed his conversation with Dr. Tang. They turned to exobiology. “We really need to check the snowdrifts down in Arabia Terra,” Tang said at one point. “There’s been liquid water running underneath them for about twenty thousand years, if the calculations are correct. The Prospectors have been able to sample the surfaces and the wet reg at the base of the ravines, but not the water running through the ravines. We need to send a crew down with shovels to dig into the snow and look. Of course, there’s the issue of possible contam. . . .contam. . .” Tang stopped and started to hold his breath. Then, suddenly, he sneezed quite strongly. “I apologize, Commander. We will have to watch for biological contamination—”

“Dr. Tang, could you be allergic to something? Such as Martian dust?”

“I don’t think it’s the dust. I was tested before I left Earth and the reaction was negative. Ever since Laura Stillwell sneezed her way through the last few months here, there has been pretty good testing. No, Commander, this may be that strange virus we had on the flight out.”

“You think so?” exclaimed Shinji, who had been listening. “That was a flu virus of some sort. No one has had it for three or four months.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” replied Tang. “Several people have had minor symptoms since; runny noses, for example.”

“No one told me,” said Shinji, irritated. “This is rather serious. Marshall, here, has never been exposed to cold or flu viruses before. Will, Ethel, and I haven’t been exposed for seven years.”

“I think you should talk to Martha,” suggested Will, since she had been the physican on the flight out. He looked around at the crowd. “It’s time to get started.” He stood up and walked to the front of the room. He didn’t say anything, but everyone saw him and in a few seconds they stopped talking.

“Thank you, everyone. I want to welcome Columbus 4 to Mars. I know all of you have enjoyed your first sol here because you all took long, hot showers. I guess the days of sponge baths and navy showers, with an occasional quick shower, got on your nerves.”

Everyone laughed. The routine in space was to have a sponge bath every other day, a “navy shower”—where one showered to get wet, soaped up, then showered to wash off the soap—every fourth day, and a real shower every fourth day. “I don’t know whether any of you noticed the flood in greenhouse 3 a few hours ago, caused by a faulty valve that failed to shut when the bathwater filled habitat 2’s holding tank. The eighteen of you consumed three tonnes of water, believe it or not. But don’t worry, we’ve got plenty, and we’ve got the heat to heat it up. Still, you might want to cut back a bit!”

Will paused to change topics. “Human beings have now been on Mars three columbiads; about three and a third annums; or if you prefer, six and a third years. Our population has increased from six adults to thirty-three adults, two children, and three more humans on the way. Look around the room; this is it. We are the human community here. We are the entire society. We are the residents of the world. Over the next eighteen months, we have to—and we will—become a team together.

“We have a lot to do in that time. We have to expand this outpost to feed us and provide us with plenty of extra space for emergencies and some level of comfort. We will be providing services to new land owners in the area and obtaining gold and fossils for export. Our efforts at eobiology are slated to increase significantly with new personnel and equipment; it appears we are on the verge of a breakthrough in understanding the earliest few hundred million years of Martian history, an era that will also tell us about the rise of life on Earth. We will be making trips to several Noachian terrains to locate some particularly early crustal suites, which will necessitate the clearing of a major section of the so-called Pisces Trail across the southern mid latitudes. We hope to get to the edge of the southern layered deposits to recover regolith frozen since the Noachian, in case it has frozen microorganisms or prebiotic compounds in it.

“Exploration has several other priorities. We’ll have two teams out for much of that time. The entire Circumnavigational Trail will be revisited and the road will be widened and improved in several critical spots. The Polar Trail will be finished to the South Pole. We will clear the Tharsis Trail and visit all the big volcanoes; possibly get to the top of one. Finally, we will be proposing to Mission Control that the Olympus fly to Phobos, then Deimos for a total of about three months, enough time to do major exploration and some development of the fuel manufacturing facilities there.

“We’ve got historic tasks ahead of us. The result will be another crucial chapter in the exploration, development, and ultimately the settlement of this world. I’m very excited to have all of you involved in this adventure.

“One aspect of our work here that is more important than is often assumed is the development of culture. Madhu Gupta-Anderson has devoted a lot of time to mosaics and wind sculptures outside, at the base of Face Rock; a few months ago at a borough residents’ meeting the hectare of land at the base of Face Rock was declared a public park. It was our first act of borough government regarding the disposal of land. When you’re outside, go walk through the mosaics and admire the natural art objects that have been set up there. Tonight we will experience a different sort of cultural development: music, singing, and dance. So without further adieu, I turn the program over to Madhu.”

 

© 2004 Robert H. Stockman

 

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