VOA常速英语2014--Ten Years of Roving Around Mars 十年的火星游荡

 

Ten Years of Roving Around Mars 十年的火星游荡

WASHINGTON — The U.S. space agency, NASA, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), which began with the arrival of its robotic vehicles Spirit and Opportunity on the red planet in 2004. The anniversary event, held at the National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, featured a panel of NASA scientists discussing the achievements of the vehicles that have landed on Mars so far, and the future plans for exploring the planet.

美国航空航天局庆祝其火星探测漫游者计划10周年。这个计划始于勇气号和机遇号两部火星探测器2004年对这颗红色行星的考察。10周年庆祝活动在首都华盛顿特区的国家航空航天博物院举行，航空航天局的科学家们讨论了迄今登陆火星的探测器所取得的进展以及未来的计划。

A golf-cart sized vehicle named Spirit landed on Mars on January 4, 2004, while its twin, Opportunity, touched down three weeks later on the opposite side of the planet.

像高尔夫车大小的勇气号火星探测器2004年1月4号登陆火星，而同它一模一样的机遇号则于三个星期之后在火星的另一面登陆。

Although designed to operate for only 90 Martian days (Martian days are about 40 minutes longer than days on Earth), both rovers functioned much longer, and provided mission scientists huge amounts of information about Mars. Geologist¹ John Grant, who was involved with the mission, said the rovers greatly enhanced scientists’ understanding of the planet’s geologic² history.

地质学家格兰特说，这对双胞胎火星探测器的设计寿命是90个火星日，但实际工作时间远远超出预期，为科学家提供了大量信息：

“What we essentially³ get is a field geologist on Mars. Something that can move around on the surface, interrogate⁴ the rocks, tell us something about the geologic setting, the environments that were there in the past, but more specifically - what the role of water was in shaping those environments,” said Grant.

“可以说我们在火星有了一位地质学家，它可以在火星表面移动，考察岩石，告诉我们火星的地质情况，过去的环境，更具体点说，就是水在形成那些环境的过程中所发挥的作用。”

NASA lost communication with Spirit in March 2010, but Opportunity remains⁵ active, sending scientific data after traveling more than 38 kilometers around the Martian surface. The most significant discovery was evidence that Mars once had water, said Steve Squyres, the mission's principal investigator⁶.

航空航天局2010年3月与勇气号失去联系，但机遇号继续工作，在绕火星表面移动超过38公里之后将科学数据传回地球。火星探测漫游计划首席研究员斯奎尔斯说，最重要的发现是找到了火星曾经有水的证据：

“I did not expect that the evidence for liquid water at and below the surface of Mars was going to be that compelling, that much in our face, you know, when we first landed,” recalled Squyres.

“当我们的探测器最早登陆火星时，我没想到火星表面和地下有液态水的证据会那么确凿，那么明显。”

David Lavery of NASA's Mars Exploration Program said the technologies developed for the Mars rovers are now making their way into everyday life here on Earth.

航空航天局火星探测项目的拉维里说，为火星探测器开发的技术现在已经应用在地球人的日常生活中了：

“I think we’ve all heard at this point about the Google autonomous⁷ cars that are now traversing the highways. The technology that is used onboard there, in fact some of the people who developed that technology, have common roots back in technologies that were actually flown on the Mars rovers,” said Lavery.

“我想现在大家都听说了正跑在高速公路上的谷歌自动驾驶汽车。这种汽车上使用的技术，事实上研发那种技术的人，都和火星探测器上使用的技术有共同的地方。”

In August 2012, NASA landed the rover Curiosity on Mars. The size of a small car, it is powered not by batteries but a small nuclear reactor⁸, which should allow it to operate for years. Curiosity will be joined by another rover in 2020, as the U.S. space agency looks ahead to an eventual⁹ visit by humans.

2012年8月，航空航天局的好奇号火星探测器登陆火星。好奇号有一辆小汽车大小，不由电池驱动，而是装有一个小型核反应堆，使好奇号能连续工作几年。2020年将有另外一部探测器加盟好奇号，而美国航空航天局正在展望人类最终登陆火星的前景。

1 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

2 geologic   

adj.地质的

参考例句：

• The Red Sea is a geologic continuation of the valley.红海就是一个峡谷在地质上的继续发展。
• Delineation of channels is the first step of geologic evaluation.勾划河道的轮廓是地质解译的第一步。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 interrogate   

vt.讯问，审问，盘问

参考例句：

• The lawyer took a long time to interrogate the witness fully.律师花了很长时间仔细询问目击者。
• We will interrogate the two suspects separately.我们要对这两个嫌疑人单独进行审讯。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

7 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

8 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

9 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。