Chapter 18

Summary

• The crew of the Project Hail Mary spacecraft is gathered in a break room, each with a beverage: Commander Yáo with beer, Engineer Ilyukhina with vodka, and Science Specialist DuBois with wine.
• The break room on the aircraft carrier was installed due to demands from the international scientific community, though it was opposed by their supervisor, Stratt.
• Everyone in the room watches the live broadcast of the project's ninth launch, which is deemed particularly important as it includes the cockpit, lab, and dormitory modules for the Hail Mary spaceship.
• As the countdown for the launch approaches, tension rises; Yáo is visibly tense, Ilyukhina is impatiently consuming vodka, and the scientists press closer to watch the screen.
• There's an awkward discussion where crew members imply that the protagonist, Grace, must have an intimate relationship with Stratt or is her second-in-command, which Grace vehemently denies.
• The crew watches the successful launch; despite Grace's cautious approach, Ilyukhina and DuBois cheer when the rocket clears the tower.
• Grace tries to understand why his experiment with a glass bulb containing Adrian's air and Astrophage is failing, discussing with an alien named Rocky.
• Rocky and Grace theorize that predators of Astrophage may exist further down Adrian's atmosphere and decide to use the Petrovascope to identify Astrophage breeding altitude based on IR-light emission.
• After adjusting the Petrovascope, they discover IR cloud formations at an altitude of 91.2 kilometers, suggesting this is the altitude where Astrophage breed and where possible predators might be found.
• Grace considers how to get a sample from the breeding altitude, but notes that the ship cannot enter the atmosphere without getting destroyed and the ship's engines cannot be used in the atmosphere without catastrophic results.
• Grace comes up with an idea that involves Rocky's capability to produce a large quantity of xenonite, a substance they can potentially use for a crazy plan to collect samples from Adrian's atmosphere.
• Grace describes an insane plan for orbital "fishing" where they will lower a 10-kilometer xenonite chain into Adrian's atmosphere to collect samples, while the Hail Mary thrusts at an angle to maintain altitude without disrupting the sampling mechanism.
• Grace makes a prototype chain link in the lab and discusses with Rocky the need for many links, but declines the idea of melting items to create more aluminum for molds, due to the heat affecting life-support systems.
• Rocky shares a story about how his planet, Erid, calculated the journey to Tau Ceti incorrectly, unaware of relativistic physics, leading to confusion on the trip, excess fuel, and a faster-than-expected arrival.
• Grace then meets Dr. Steve Hatch who introduces a spacecraft prototype called a "beetle" designed to return data from Tau Ceti back to Earth using Astrophage as fuel.
• Hatch explains the beetle's technology, including navigation by constellations, memory storage for data, power from Astrophage, and high-tolerance for acceleration due to robust internal components unlike those aboard the Hail Mary.
• Hatch displays great optimism about the potential of Astrophage technology for the future, even though Grace views Astrophage as the cause of a disastrous event for Earth.
• Hatch names the test beetle for low Earth orbit "Pete" after Pete Best, the Beatles’ original drummer, and casually connects the project to the Beatles' song "Get Back."