人類“逐日”夢想終于要實現(xiàn)了

There is an ancient Chinese story about a giant man named Kua Fu who chases the sun. He drains the Yellow and Wei rivers during his race and finally dies of dehydration. His failure has reminded people of the unstoppable power of the sun for centuries.

中國古代有“夸父逐日”的故事。逐日時夸父喝干了黃河、渭水，最終干渴缺水而死。數(shù)百年來，他的失敗警示著人們太陽勢不可擋的力量。

And yet, scientists throughout history have tried to better understand the most important star in our sky. On Aug 12, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US, marking the start of its trip to the sun, according to space.com.

然而，從古至今科學(xué)家們都在試圖更好地了解天空中這顆最為重要的恒星。據(jù)太空網(wǎng)報道，8月12日，美國國家航空航天局在美國佛羅里達州卡納維拉爾角空軍基地發(fā)射了帕克太陽探測器，開啟了探日之旅。

The probe itself is almost as big as a car and needed the help of a powerful rocket to escape Earth’s orbit, change direction and reach the sun, reported CNN.

據(jù)CNN報道，這個汽車大小的探測器在重型火箭的運載下離開地球軌道，隨后改變方向，奔向太陽。

In order to reach the sun, the probe must complete seven flybys of Venus, using the power of the planet’s gravity to change its path, sending it toward the sun.

為了接近太陽，帕克探測器需要7次飛掠金星，借助金星引力改變飛行軌道，不斷靠近太陽。

But that’s not the only difficult part of the journey. As the probe approaches the sun’s corona, it will have to bear temperatures reaching 1,400 C, as well as deal with serious radiation. So how will the probe survive?

但這并非探日之旅中的唯一難題。隨著探測器不斷靠近日冕，它將面臨1400攝氏度的高溫以及巨大的輻射。探測器將如何克服這些困難呢?

“The spacecraft and most of the payload will be protected by a shield from the sun’s heat, which will be as high as 500 times what we experience on Earth,” deputy project scientist Nour Raouafi told Discovery Magazine.

“探測器及其大部分的裝備都裝上了保護罩，以抵御比地球上高出500倍的高溫。”該項目副主任、科學(xué)家努爾·拉烏夫在接受《探索》雜志采訪時表示。

According to NASA, this shield is a special 11.5 cm-thick carbon-composite shield that will be positioned between the probe and the sun’s corona.

美國國家航空航天局表示，保護罩由厚度為11.5厘米的特殊碳復(fù)合材料制成，將探測器和太陽日冕隔開。

It’s advanced technology like this will make the probe’s trip to the sun much smoother. If everything goes as planned, the probe will reach a speed of 692,018 kilometers per hour as it orbits the sun, setting a new record for the fastest man-made object (物體) in history, NBC noted. It will fly close to the sun 24 times between 2018 and 2025, NBC added.

這項先進技術(shù)將會令探測器的探日之旅更為順利。美國全國廣播公司指出，按照計劃，探測器將以每小時692018千米的速度進入太陽軌道，屆時將成為迄今為止速度最快的人造物體。在2018-2025年期間，帕克將靠近太陽24次，美國全國廣播公司補充道。

The “mission to touch the sun” will “not only make history by answering questions that have puzzled scientists for decades, but it may also lead to the discovery of new phenomena that are completely unknown to us now,” Raouafi told Discovery Magazine. “This mission has the potential to push solar research into a new direction,” he added.

“這次‘觸摸太陽’的行動創(chuàng)造了歷史，它不光能夠解答困惑科學(xué)家們多年的謎題，還能讓我們發(fā)現(xiàn)未知的新現(xiàn)象，”拉烏夫向《探索》雜志表示。“這次行動或許能將太陽研究推動進入一個新方向，”他補充道。