时代周刊:各国扎堆探索火星却是为何?(2)（打印版）

This summer just such an alignment is taking place, dramatically slashing inter planetary travel time to the current seven-month itinerary.

今年夏天就出现了日地火星排成直线的情形，星际旅行时间瞬时缩短到了目前的7个月。

So that explains the when question.

这就解释了时间安排的问题。

The why part is because of Mars’ tantalizing, potentially biological history.

至于原因，则是因为火星有着极大的拥有生物的可能性。

The surface of the planet is etched with dry riverbeds, stamped with ancient sea basins,

火星表面布满了干燥的河床以及古老的海洋盆地的痕迹，

marked by deep depressions that could only indicate long-vanished water.

那些深深的洼地就是标志，而那些洼地表明，它们只能是很早以前就已干涸的水域留下的洼地。

Perseverance is landing in one such place: the Jezero Crater, north of the Martian equator,

“毅力号”便着陆在了这样一个地方：杰泽罗陨石坑。这是位于火星赤道以北的一个陨石坑，

which is lined with both inflow and outflow channels indicating it was once a vibrant sea.

流入流出通道齐全，这就表明，这里曾是一片充满活力的海洋。

Previous rover analyses in similar locations have discovered chemicals and compounds that form only in the presence of water,

以往火星车对类似区域的分析发现了只有在水存在的情况下才会形成的化学物质和化合物，

proving that Mars was once, like Earth, exceedingly wet.

这就证明和地球一样，火星过去也非常潮湿。

Now the mission is to look for actual fossilized organisms or even signs of extant microbial life.

“毅力号”接下来的任务是寻找真正的生物化石，甚至是现存微生物的痕迹。

To that end, Perseverance is the most ambitious of the new spacecraft and is actually just the first part of a multipart mission.

因为这一目标，“毅力号”也成了新航天器中最具雄心壮志的一部分，然而，这也只是此次探测任务的首站任务。

During its explorations, it will collect Martian soil samples in sterile titanium tubes and set them neatly on the ground

它还需在探索期间收集到火星土壤样本，将其存放到无菌钛管中，然后固定到火星地面上，

awaiting another spacecraft that could leave Earth as early as the 2026 alignment, collect the samples and fly them home for analysis.

等待另一艘航天器，最早可能会在2026年离开地球的航天器来取走样本，将其空运回地球等候分析。

Finding life on Mars would be an epochal discovery.

发现火星上存在生命将会成为一项划时代的重大发现。

The bragging rights that go with being first to make the find is part of what makes the planet the hot new destination it’s become.

成为首个有此发现的国家便拥有了吹嘘的资本，一定程度而言，火星之所以成为近日的热门探索之地，跟虚荣心作祟也不无关系。