Chapter 459 - 450 Accident Analysis_1

"Log name: system

Source: DistributedCOM

Level: Warning

User: Artemis II HLS F1

Operation code: 000#38F

..."

Inside B-level Base, a group of System Engineers were analyzing the causes of the Blue Moon’s crash.

It wasn’t mere speculation; they were reconstructing the malfunction history using the black box and other storage devices from Blue Moon.

Everyone was interested in the accident cause of Blue Moon; 14 had spent half a day with Explorer 9 disassembling the wreckage of the lander into a mess to find the black box and other electronic components for decryption and analysis.

Probably because NACA didn’t think aliens would scramble to snatch the black box, the data was almost unencrypted and was quickly read.

This behavior made Academician She feel somewhat contemptible, and then he demanded that a report be given to the space agency as well once results were out.

From the mouths of Victor and Koch, a lot of information was pried out, including the faults Blue Moon developed before landing and the condition during the landing:

The leakage of the liquid oxygen tank lines is one thing, but the widespread subsystem blackouts and engine shutdowns during landing are definitely serious accidents. However, the likelihood of them happening simultaneously is very low, so mostly, it must have been some severe malfunction that triggered a chain reaction.

With the lander data sent by NACA, the base had proceeded to check each system according to the guidance of the black box, and soon made discoveries.

While congress was still discussing how to retrieve the black box, the base had already taken a step ahead and completely clarified the cause of the accident.

"The root of everything was indeed the leakage of this pipeline."

Academician She and the space agency experts still at the base sat together, listening to Guo Shen’s summary of the accident findings:

"The astronauts of Artemis II said they had plugged the leaking valve, which actually only solved one leak point. We believe that there was another leak occurring where it connects to the tank.

Why would an empty tank that had already leaked cause a serious accident? Well, I must say, a lot of the liquid oxygen didn’t actually leak out and was still inside the lander."

Guo Shen pulled up the lander data sent by NACA, which now had been constructed into a cross-sectional view for easier understanding:

"We all know that Blue Moon’s purpose is for multiple reuses, so they used a double layer structure in the design of the crew cabin, meaning the living space for the crew and the lander are two separate modules. This design not only reduces vibration during use but also ensures that the crew cabin is extremely solid. Hence, it remained intact during the crash, with good airtightness, and the hatch could still be opened independently."

The experts below nodded in agreement, this design was indeed clever, reducing the risk of the crew cabin being damaged due to external injury to the lander.

"The problem lies in this buffer layer; a large portion of the leaking liquid oxygen flooded into the buffer layer, taking at least a dozen hours to leak out completely. And we know that there definitely are many bundles of wires and pipes connecting between the two modules, inside and out."

Academician She: "Are you saying the liquid oxygen damaged these lines?"

"Exactly. Located internally and in a sealed state to save space, these lines were made as integrated plugs and were not heavily protected. Under the intrusion of liquid oxygen at minus 200 degrees Celsius, their structure was compromised and further deteriorated during the engine’s start-up tremors.

So, in fact, the connection between these two modules was the problem, leading to a gradual loss of electrical system control inside. The external computer received lost or confused directions, causing problems everywhere."

This hypothesis and the logs largely matched up, especially explaining why the pressure sensor continuously showed pressure — because once the pipes were blocked, the liquid oxygen stored in the buffer layer was still affecting the sensors and causing misreadings, and only during the descent did it finally leak out completely.

"So, in fact, there were also issues with the placement of the Blue Moon’s pressure sensors and redundancy in testing, but more importantly, sending astronauts on a mission with these issues is the root of all problems."

Overall, the Blue Moon’s technology was more complex compared to Dawn III, but its development time was even shorter, inherently leading to immaturity; the entire landing mission was also rushed, reflecting the overall changes in America’s aerospace capabilities."

Academician She overturned the pre-launch SLS estimate of NACA’s capabilities: It turns out they were already this strapped."

Although domestic progress was fast, each procedure was completed methodically, quickly yet unhurriedly, but this level of efficiency was already a struggle for NACA’s lifeblood."

Lin Ju, "Should we tell them about finding the black box? Without it, it would take NACA at least a year to find the cause of the accident, or they might simply give up on the Blue Moon’s design."

Academician She, "Since we also know the information, this can also be used as a bargaining chip; with this thing, they must make more concessions."

"Ah, the once powerful and proud NACA has now become an old man entering his twilight years, breaking many of the taboos of space exploration, many of which they were the first to propose."

...

"Yamamoto Ikki, if you continue to engage in dangerous activities like before, we will have to monitor you and conduct random searches."

The special police from the police headquarters uncuffed Yamamoto, but he showed no fear, walking out with his head held high and his chest outstretched."

Outside, more than a dozen people like him were gradually being released; they had all come to meet Yamamoto."

"Hey, you can’t gather here, leave immediately!"

Inoue Junji amiably slung his arm around Yamamoto Ikki’s shoulder and entered the car, completely disregarding the police headquarters’ threats."

"You’ve had it tough, Yamamoto-kun. Out of the dozens of demonstrations our organization held, only your team made the biggest impact, that’s why they targeted you.

But look, just like I promised, not one of you will go to prison."

Yamamoto Ikki, "I’m not afraid of this, I just want to know if our efforts are useful?"

"Of course, you see, the weakness of America has been seen by the whole world; they almost killed two astronauts.

Representative Nakayama’s power is growing stronger and there’s hope for a stalemate soon."

But then Inoue Junji’s happy expression dissipated, and he sighed deeply before saying,

"But I’ve recently come to learn of something, the impact of which could be very serious."

Seeing this, Yamamoto Ikki pressed for details, but Inoue Junji was reluctant to speak. After a long while, he finally spoke with a worried frown,

"According to our people inside Edo Electric Power Company, they’ve secretly dumped untreated wastewater a couple of times already, just on a small scale, so it wasn’t detected. The power company got the go-ahead from Kishimoto to forcibly discharge into the ocean."

"What?!"

Yamamoto Ikki clenched his fist in anger, "These bastards will directly ruin all of our efforts; they should all be struck down by Heaven’s Punishment, Heaven’s Punishment!"

"Yes, and what’s more shameful is that Kishimoto plans to go to the streets of Chiba County to give a speech promoting the discharge as harmless, which is truly disgraceful."

Inoue Junji continued, while sighing and slapping his thigh heavily,

"It’s a pity, a pity that such a favorable situation is about to be ruined in an instant!"