Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Consequences of Orbit Deviation

Now, except for the end of the journey; at least Barbicane no longer had to worry about the impetus for throwing Hugh away.Because its emotional force alone can push it over that center line.So (now the projectile will not come back to the earth. It will not stay on that center line. There is only one possible hypothesis left now) that the shell will reach its destination under the gravitational pull of the moon. This is a descent from a height of eight thousand two hundred and ninety-six leagues to a celestial body.Of course, on this celestial body, the weight is only one-sixth of that on Earth, but the landing is still terrible, and precautions must be taken without delay.

There are two precautions: one aimed at softening the impact of the projectile as it lands on lunar soil, and the other aimed at reducing the velocity of the projectile as it descended, thereby lessening the impact of landing. In lightening the impact of projectiles on landing, it is a pity that the Barbican was unable to use the equipment for cushioning impacts which was so effective at departure, that is to say, the drains and frangible partitions which acted as springs.Although those compartments are still intact, they lack water, because although they still store a part of this precious liquid, it is reserved for use when there is a shortage of water on the moon, and it cannot be wasted here.

Besides, this water is too little.Prior to departure, the projectile's fifty-four square feet of hermetically sealed chassis contained a few feet of water.With a total volume of six cubic meters and a weight of 5,750 kilograms, the tank of the projectile now holds only one-fiftieth of it.Therefore, no matter how effective this means of preventing impacts to the destination, it has now to be abandoned. Fortunately, Barbicane didn't like the water layer device at the beginning, and installed a strong elastic cushion on the bottom circular plate, which can play a role in easing the impact after the horizontal partition of the water layer is broken.These spring pads are still here, as long as the gravity is installed under the bottom circular plate which can be removed.All these parts are rather easy to deal with, since they weigh next to nothing, and can of course be quickly reinstalled.

And so they did.The various parts were refitted without difficulty.It's just a matter of fitting the bolts and turning the nuts.There is no shortage of tools.As long as, after a while, the movable chassis is loaded with springs, just like the table legs are mounted on the table top.After putting on the round chassis, there is only one inconvenience, and that is that the bottom porthole is blocked.Therefore, when passengers descend vertically, they cannot observe the moon through this porthole.But it had to be so.However, a large area of ​​the moon can still be seen through the portholes on both sides, just like the earth can be observed in the flying fat pod.

It took an hour to place the bottom circular plate, and it was not until noon after the preparations were completed.Barbicane re-observed the inclination of the projectile, and to his dismay was that the projectile still did not descend appreciably: it seemed to follow a curve parallel to the lunar surface.The celestial bodies in the night are shining brightly in space, and the celestial bodies in the day are also shining brightly on the opposite side. This situation makes people worry. "Can we reach the moon?" Nicholl asked. "We should be ready to go to the moon," answered Barbicane.

"You are trembling with fear," Michel Ardan replied, "we will reach the moon sooner than we hope." This sentence reminded Barbicane, and he hurriedly continued his preparations, getting ready the mechanical device for reducing the speed of descent. We naturally remember the scene in Tampa, Florida, when Captain Nicholl was the bitter rival of Barbicane and Michel Ardan.Captain Nicholl said that the projectile would be smashed like a glass, to which Barbicane replied that he would suitably slow the projectile down by means of rockets. In fact, these powerful rockets were launched from the bottom of the projectile as a fulcrum, and the recoil force they produced could properly control the velocity of the projectile.It is true that the rocket will burn in a vacuum, but there will be no lack of oxygen, because the rocket itself can supply oxygen, just as lunar volcanoes will never stop exploding because there is no atmosphere around the moon.

The rockets provided by the Barbican were housed in screw barrels that could be screwed into the bottom of the projectile.The bottom of the gun was level with the bottom inside the projectile and projected half a foot outside.A total of twenty rocket launchers.A hole was left in the movable floor through which the rocket detonator could be ignited.The explosion of the rocket can only affect the exterior of the projectile.The mixed explosives were already packed into the barrel.Just unscrew the metal piston at the bottom and screw the barrel in tightly. The new work was completed by three o'clock, and now that everything was ready, it was only a matter of landing.

At this moment, the projectile was obviously getting closer and closer to the moon.Apparently, it has been affected somewhat by the moon: but it is moving along... a slant, driven by its own speed.Under the influence of these two forces, the course of the projectile may become a tangent.But we can be sure that the projectile would never have landed on the Moon normally, since, due to gravity, its bottom should be facing the Moon. Seeing the phenomenon of the cannonball resisting the gravitational force, Barbicane was doubly disturbed.This is an unknown that appeared in front of him. This unknown passed through the interstellar space and flew in front of him.As a scientist, he thought he had foreseen three scenarios: return to the earth, descend to the moon, or stay on the center line of the two gravitational forces!But, lo and behold, there's a fourth hypothesis, and it's terribly frightening that Infinity pops it up just when you don't expect it.Only a scientist as determined as Barbicane, a man as calm as Nicholl, or an adventurer as bold as Michel Ardan, could face this hypothesis without being dizzy.

Their conversation immediately turned to this subject.If you change someone else, you must consider the problem from a practical point of view.Will definitely consider where this shell carriage is taking them.But they don't think so, they want to find the reason for this phenomenon. "Have we escaped our orbit?" asked Michel Ardan. "But why?" "Despite all precautions we have taken," Nicholl replied, "I am still concerned that the Columbia was not aimed. Even the smallest error could throw us outside the gravitational circle of the Moon." "Is it really not aimed?" asked Michelle.

"I don't believe there was no aim," replied Barbicane. "The cannon is absolutely vertical, and its orientation is at the zenith, there is no doubt about it. But the moon is going to reach the zenith, and we should reach the moon at the time of the full moon. There must be another reason here, but I think Can't figure out why." "Are we too late?" asked Nicholl. "Too late?" asked Barbicane. . 'Yes,' continued Nicholl. 'The Cambridge Observatory advises that the distance must be completed in ninety-seven hours, thirteen minutes and twenty seconds.That is to say, it came too early, and the moon has not yet reached the designated place, and it came too late, and it passed by again. "

"Yes," replied Barbicane. "However, we left 13 minutes and 20 seconds short of eleven o'clock in the evening on December 1st, and we should have reached the moon on time when the full moon was full at midnight on the 5th. However, today is December 5th. Now it is At half past three in the afternoon, eight and a half hours later, we will be able to drive us to our destination. Why can't we get there?" , 'Is it because the speed is too high? replied Nicholl. "Because, as we now know, the muzzle velocity is greater than originally thought." " "No! Never!" retorted Barbicane. "Even if the speed was too great, if the shells were directed in the right direction, we would still reach the moon without hindrance. Never! There must be a deviation in the orbit. We are out of orbit." "Whose fault is it? What is it?" asked Nicholl. "I cannot tell," answered Barbicane. "I say, Barbicane," said Michel, "that you would like to hear my opinion as to the cause of the deviation?" "Go ahead." "Even if I had to give half a dollar, I wouldn't want to find out why! Now that we're off track, well, it's true. Where are we going? What does it matter! We'll soon be I know. What the hell! Now that we've been sent into space, we're bound to end up in a gravitational center sooner or later!" Barbicane could not have been satisfied with Michel Ardan's indifference.It was not because Barbicane was worried about their future!But exactly why his projectile had escaped its course was something he would have to figure out at any cost. At this time, the cannonball still carried all the thrown things and moved beside the moon.Barbicane was even able to observe, from the marks on the moon, that the distance of the projectile from the moon was not more than two thousand leagues, and that its speed did not vary.This proves that the projectile Hugh has not yet begun to land.Now, the propelling force of the projectile is still greater than the attraction of the moon, but its orbit must bring it closer and closer to the surface of the moon, so we can hope that when the distance is relatively close, gravity will prevail and finally cause the fall. The three friends had nothing else to do but continue their observations.But they haven't been able to determine the moon's topography yet.Under the sunlight, they still can't see the height of the moon's surface. And so they looked out through the portholes on either side until eight o'clock in the evening.In their eyes, the moon is so large that it seems to cover half the sky.On one side the sun, on the other the orbs of night, and both cast brilliant lights on the projectiles. At this moment, Barbicane thought that the distance between them and their destination was only seven hundred leagues.He considered the velocity of the projectile to be 200 meters per second, or 170 leagues per hour.The bottom of the ball was gradually turned towards the moon under the influence of centripetal force; but the centrifugal force was still dominant, and the rectilinear motion was probably changed into a curved motion, although it is not at present possible to determine the nature of this curve. Barbicane has been searching for an answer to this insoluble question.Hours passed and still no results.It was obvious that the projectile was getting closer and closer to the moon, but it was equally obvious that it could not reach its destination.As for the shortest distance to the moon that the projectile will travel, that is only the result of attractive and repulsive forces acting on the moving body. "I only want to be able to do one thing," Michelle kept saying, "that is, we get closer to the moon, so that we can spy on the secrets of the moon!" "Hey!" exclaimed Nicholl, "the cause of our projectile going out of orbit: be damned!" "Alas! to be cursed," replied Barbicane, who seemed to have suddenly realized the mystery of the matter. "It is the bolide we met on the way that should be cursed!" "Well!" Michel Ardan replied. "You mean," said Nicholl aloud. "I mean," went on Barbicane with assurance, "that we are to blame only this wandering celestial body for leaving our orbit!" "But it didn't touch us," Michel replied. "That's all right. It's massive compared to our projectile, and its gravity must be able to influence our direction." "Minimal impact:" Nicholl exclaimed. "Yes, Nicholl, but however small it is," replied Barbicane, "at a distance of eighty-four thousand leagues, it is enough to keep us from hitting the moon."