美国国家公共电台 NPR To Prepare For Mars Settlement, Simulated Missions Explore Utah's Desert

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

NASA hopes to send people to Mars sometime in the 2030s. President Trump¹ would like to see that happen even sooner. And at a remote site in the Utah desert, would-be astronauts are already simulating what it would be like to live on the Red Planet. NPR's Rae Ellen Bichell spent some time with one crew.

RAE ELLEN BICHELL, BYLINE²: Victoria LaBarre was in her spacesuit, climbing out of a canyon³, when she started to experience an astronaut's nightmare.

VICTORIA LABARRE: Suddenly I couldn't breathe.

BICHELL: But LaBarre didn't unlatch her helmet to get a breath of fresh desert air because in this simulation she was clambering out of a 5-mile-deep chasm⁴ on Mars. And on Mars, you do not take off your helmet. So instead she radioed her crewmates, who walked her through some breathing exercises.

LABARRE: I think that's one of the best things about Mars is the teamwork.

BICHELL: LaBarre and the rest of Crew 177, known as the Lone⁵ Star Highlanders, are a few days into their week at the Mars Desert Research Station.

Hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Welcome.

BICHELL: Hi. I'm Rae.

It's a two-story metal cylinder⁶ in southern Utah. There's a workshop and bathroom on the first level. And Pitchayapa Jingjit, the crew biologist, climbs a ladder to the sleeping area and kitchen on the second.

PITCHAYAPA JINGJIT: Most of us, like, just hang out here.

BICHELL: The only other people they talk to are the ones at Capsule Communications, the simulated command center. The kitchen pantry is stocked with freeze-dried ingredients so dry they rattle⁷ in the jars. Joseph Quaas is the team cook.

JOSEPH QUAAS: Here's our eggs. I don't think you've ever seen eggs that look like just a weird⁸ powder.

BICHELL: Today the crew has planned an excursion, a spacewalk.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: You'll put your suit on in here.

BICHELL: Their goal is to collect rock samples so they can find out what resources the land might hold and what this place was like millions of years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: There we go.

BICHELL: Elijah Espinoza, the crew engineer and geologist⁹, points out a strange flag on the wall with blocks of red, green and blue. It's an unofficial flag of Mars.

ELIJAH ESPINOZA: I guess when we land on Mars that's what's going to be planted. I'm not really sure.

BICHELL: Many people think of Mars as the next frontier for human exploration. Victoria LaBarre is excited about all the technological¹⁰ advances the mission could spur.

LABARRE: Oh, man, it's going to be amazing.

BICHELL: Others like Elijah Espinoza view Mars as a necessary plan B.

ESPINOZA: Four or five generations on the road, there may be a point in time where Earth isn't suitable anymore. You know, you have to leave. And they're just - it's either, you know, the human race can end or the human race can progress on another planet.

BICHELL: A group called the Mars Society built this place in 2001 to promote the human settlement of the Red Planet. The group isn't affiliated¹¹ with NASA. It's a nonprofit funded by grants and private donations. Groups pay the society to stay at the Utah site and work on research projects.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: That's the rover we put together. Esteban's working on a generator¹² bike.

BICHELL: Usually the teams that come here are scientists from all over the world. The previous crew came from Poland. But this crew is made up of students from McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. Some are the first in their families to go to college. At least one hadn't been to a state other than Texas until this Mars mission. Now four of them are squishing into the airlock to leave the building. They count down a minute. It's a pretend depressurization to keep them from getting sucked outside like ants in a vacuum cleaner.

ESPINOZA: All right, guys, you ready?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Yep.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Yep.

BICHELL: The astronauts step out...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Radio check. Can you hear me?

BICHELL: ...Board a couple of electric ATVs and navigate¹³ their way between hills that come in stripes of maroon¹⁴, white, red and yellow. They pull over to collect rock samples.

ESPINOZA: All right, guys, these are all ancient sand dunes¹⁵. So what we're going to do is we're going to take some samples from them and the ground around them. Cool?

BICHELL: In some places the ground is sandy. In others, dirt crumbles¹⁶ underfoot like a stale muffin. The whole landscape looks extraterrestrial except for the cow off in the distance.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Alien spotting.

BICHELL: Aliens.

They wave to the alien and then hammer off a chunk¹⁷ of sandstone and zip it into a baggie. Later they'll test the samples for things like potassium, iron and uranium.

ESPINOZA: That way you know what you have to work with when it comes to starting a civilization and things like that. Y'all ready to head back?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Yeah.

ESPINOZA: Yeah, we've got one more sample, then we're going to head back to the hab. Over.

BICHELL: After I leave, the group will watch the sunset from the porthole windows. And in a few days, they'll step out of the capsule, this time without spacesuits on, and go back to breathing the outside air. They'll go back to Waco, Texas, to classes and homework and dreams of graduate school. And if all goes as planned, by the time the members of this crew are in their late 30s, NASA will actually be sending humans to the Red Planet - the real one. Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR News.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

4 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

5 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

6 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。

7 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 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。

10 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

11 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

12 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

13 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

14 maroon   

v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的

参考例句：

• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks.埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。
• Robinson Crusoe has been marooned on a desert island for 26 years.鲁滨逊在荒岛上被困了26年。

15 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

16 crumbles   

酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This cake crumbles too easily. 这种蛋糕太容易碎了。
• This bread crumbles ever so easily. 这种面包非常容易碎。

17 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。