NASA“洞察者”號登陸火星

Mars has often been regarded as a possible place for human beings to live in the future. But although the dream of setting foot on Mars for us may still be years away, “the Red Planet”, as the Yahoo website put it, “is turning into something of a monument park for our species all the same”.

火星常常被視為人類未來的居所。盡管踏足火星的夢想對于我們而言或許還有多年才能實(shí)現(xiàn)，但正如雅虎網(wǎng)站所言，“這顆紅色的星球正在變成我們自己的紀(jì)念碑公園。”

InSight, the latest robotic visitor from Earth touched down on the surface of Mars in November, marking the beginning of its two-year study of the Mars’ interior.

來自地球的最新機(jī)器人訪客“洞察者”號已于11月登陸火星，開始其為期兩年的火星內(nèi)部研究。

NASA believes that this journey is quite a challenge.

美國航空航天局認(rèn)為，此次征途是項(xiàng)不小的挑戰(zhàn)。

According to Business Insider, as the spacecraft traveled through the Martian atmosphere it would have experienced great pressure.

據(jù)《商業(yè)內(nèi)幕》報道，飛船在穿越火星大氣層的過程中會遭受巨大的氣壓。

If InSight had reached the atmosphere at an unsafe angle at the speed of 19,795 km/h, the pressure would have pushed the spacecraft away from the planet’s atmosphere and out into deep space. If there had been an error, InSight would have been destroyed completely.

“洞察者”號目前的速度為每小時19795公里，如果其進(jìn)入火星大氣層的角度并不安全，那么氣壓便會將飛船推出大氣層，拋入深太空。如果發(fā)生失誤，那么“洞察者”號將會被徹底摧毀。

In order to solve the problem, NASA put InSight into an entry capsule, which helped it speed toward the atmosphere and enter it at the perfect angle.

為解決這一問題，美國航空航天局將“洞察者”號放入了一個進(jìn)入艙內(nèi)，這有助于其向火星大氣層加速前進(jìn)，并以完美的角度進(jìn)入大氣層。

The extreme high temperature of the Mars’ interior will make fulfillment of the project a challenge, as Jim Green, NASA chief scientist explained.

美國航空航天局首席科學(xué)家吉姆·格林解釋稱，火星內(nèi)部的超高溫會令該項(xiàng)目挑戰(zhàn)重重。

“It’s like a cake,” he told Live Science. “You bake a cake, and when you take it from the oven, it’s still hot inside while it’s cooling off.”

“它和蛋糕一樣，”他在接受《生活科學(xué)》雜志采訪時表示。“你在烤蛋糕時會發(fā)現(xiàn)，從烤箱中拿出蛋糕冷卻后，蛋糕內(nèi)部依然是熱的。”

Green believes that the planets are still cooling off from when they came into being 4.5 billion years ago. So, he said, the interior of Mars is hot, and that heat is still released from the mantle and the crust”.

格林認(rèn)為，這些在45億年前成型的星球仍在冷卻階段。所以，他表示，火星內(nèi)部溫度很高，地幔和地殼依然在釋放熱量。

For this reason, InSight was coated with a heat shield and given a heat probe to measure the temperature.

出于這一原因，“洞察者”號的外層覆蓋了一層防熱罩，并裝有熱量探測器來測量溫度。

Though the trip was actually dangerous and risky, the InSight mission is of great significance. If all goes well, the photos InSight is taking will provide us with a different angle on how this rocky planet has evolved through time.

盡管征途危機(jī)重重，但“洞察者”號的這一任務(wù)意義重大。如果一切順利，“洞察者”號所拍攝的照片能夠?yàn)槲覀兲峁┎煌慕嵌葋硌芯窟@顆巖質(zhì)行星的演化歷程。

As InSight chief scientist Bruce Banerdt told the BBC: “The small details in how planets evolve are what … make the difference between a place like Earth where you can go on vacation and get a tan, and a place like Venus where you’ll burn in seconds or a place like Mars where you’ll freeze to death.”

正如“洞察者”號首席科學(xué)家布魯斯·巴納特在接受BBC采訪時所言：“行星演化的小細(xì)節(jié)正是其產(chǎn)生差異之處：你能在地球上度假、曬日光浴，然而在金星上，你在數(shù)秒內(nèi)便會被烤焦;但在火星上，你卻會被凍死。”