新闻周刊:美国毅力号火星车即将登陆火星,成功难料

From the culture section.

来自文化板块

Mars Rover Perseverance¹ Offers the Best Chance Yet of Finding Signs of Life on Red Planet

毅力号火星探测车为在红色星球上探测生命迹象提供了最好的机会

BY JON JACKSON

作者：乔恩·杰克逊

After a seven-month and 125 million–mile journey, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will touch down on the red planet today at the expected time of 3:55 p.m. ET. The rover will first have to undergo a difficult landing that NASA refers to as the "seven minutes of terror" due to the number of challenges present and the fact that they occur too fast for radio signals to and from Earth, but it will then set forth² on what is hoped to be an extraordinary mission: The most comprehensive search yet for signs of life and past presence of water on Mars.

2020毅力号火星探测车历时7个月，经过1.25亿英里的旅程，将于今天下午3点55分（美国东部时间）登陆这颗红色星球。探测车将首先经历一次艰难的着陆，美国宇航局称着陆过程为“恐怖七分钟”，原因是目前面临的挑战太多，而且发生速度太快，探测车无法向地球发送或接收无线电信号，但它随后将展开一项被寄予厚望的非同寻常的任务：最全面寻找火星上的生命迹象和曾经存在水的证据。

The site chosen for this grand exploration is the Jezero Crater³. Scientists feel this crater with a diameter of approximately 30 miles was once a water-filled lake, and thus the best possible place currently known to examine the ground for past Martian life.

这次探测选择的地点是杰泽罗火山口。科学家们认为，这个直径约30英里的火山口曾经是一个充满水的湖泊，因此，这里是是目前已知的考察火星过去生命迹象的最佳地点。

Perseverance will send information in real time, while also collecting rock samples. These samples will be stored on the surface of Mars for a potential future mission to pickup⁴ and return to Earth. The rover will also be busy photographing and investigating specified⁵ target areas in the delta⁶ of Jezero. In addition to all those tasks, Perseverance will test out the Ingenuity⁷ helicopter drone to see if targeted scouting⁸ is possible on the planet.

毅力号会实时发送信息，同时也会采集岩石样本。这些样本将被储存在火星表面，以备未来可能采集样本并带回地球的任务。探测车还将忙于拍摄和调查杰泽罗三角洲的特定目标区域。除了所有这些任务外，毅力号还将试飞Ingenuity的火星直升机，看看是否有可能在火星上进行有针对性的侦察。

The work Perseverance sets out to do is based on approximately 50 years of past missions, with much of the water-searching research it's using coming from rovers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Spirit and Opportunity rover missions, which both started in 2004, were especially instrumental in the understanding of the history of water on Mars. Then 2012's Curiosity confirmed the presence of organic molecules⁹ that could be the building blocks of life.

毅力号计划所做的工作是建立在过去50年的任务基础上的，其中大部分的探测水的研究任务都起源于20世纪90年代末和21世纪初的探测车。“勇气”号和“机遇”号火星车任务都始于2004年，这两项任务对了解火星上的水的历史有极大帮助。2012年的好奇号证实了有机分子的存在，这些分子可能是生命的组成部分。

"We've built on all of that knowledge to prepare ourselves now with the Perseverance rover," Lori Glaze¹⁰, director of NASA's planetary science division, said in a NASA press conference on February 17 that involved several of the program's officials. She said that with Perseverance, NASA looks to "take that next step—to really, actually look for those signs of life."

“我们现在已经基于所有现有知识为毅力号火星车做好了准备。”美国宇航局行星科学部主任洛里·格拉斯2月17日在美国宇航局新闻发布会上表示，该项目的几名官员也参加了此次会议。她表示，美国宇航局希望凭借毅力号，“迈出下一步，真正地、切实地寻找那些生命迹象。”

As with all the prior missions, Perseverance is seen as just another building block for information and discovery—though a large one—to be used to inform future Mars landings and explorations. Perseverance could also lead the way to human exploration of Mars one day. First, though, a lot of logistics has to go right for a safe landing and the hope that all the communications gear works properly.

与之前的所有任务一样，毅力号被视为信息和发现的另一个基石，在很大程度上用来为未来的火星登陆和探索提供信息。终有一日，毅力号也会引领人类探索火星。不过，首先，为了安全着陆，以及希望所有通讯设备都能正常工作，很多后勤工作必须进行。

"This is a very fast-paced, high-stakes operation. It's kind of a race to get it done. And it also involves literally¹¹ hundreds of people having to work together seamlessly. I can tell you, this is not what scientists usually do. Scientists do not usually perform under these kinds of circumstances," Ken¹² Farley, Perseverance project scientist at the California Institute of Technology, said at the press conference. "It's a big challenge and I think we are ready."

“这是一个非常快节奏、高风险的行动。这是一场完成任务的赛跑。它还涉及到数百人的无缝合作。我可以告诉你，这不是科学家通常做的。科学家通常不会在这种情况下表现出色。”加州理工学院毅力号项目科学家肯·法利在新闻发布会上说，“这是一个巨大的挑战，我想我们已经准备好了。”

1 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

8 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

9 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• 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。

10 glaze   

v.因疲倦、疲劳等指眼睛变得呆滞，毫无表情

参考例句：

• Brush the glaze over the top and sides of the hot cake.在热蛋糕的顶上和周围刷上一层蛋浆。
• Tang three-color glaze horses are famous for their perfect design and realism.唐三彩上釉马以其造型精美和形态生动而著名。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

12 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.