科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)使火星宜居的新方法

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)使火星宜居的新方法

As far as anyone knows, Mars is totally devoid of life. We don’t know if that was always the case, but we know that modern-day Mars is a rather hostile place to be thanks to frigid temperatures and deadly radiation.

大家都知道，火星上完全沒(méi)有生命。我們不知道是不是一直是這樣，但由于寒冷的溫度和致命的輻射，現(xiàn)代火星是一個(gè)相當(dāng)危險(xiǎn)的地方。

But when humans eventually arrive on the Red Planet, we might be able to change that, and a new study offers a hint as to how that could happen.

但當(dāng)人類(lèi)最終到達(dá)這顆紅色星球時(shí)，我們或許能夠改變這一狀況，一項(xiàng)新的研究為這一可能提供了線索。

In a new paper published in Nature Astronomy, researchers explain how a thin layer of aerogel — a highly porous, virtually weightless material — could make huge regions of Mars more habitable.

在《自然天文學(xué)》雜志上發(fā)表的一篇新論文中，研究人員解釋了一層薄薄的氣凝膠——一種高度多孔、幾乎沒(méi)有重量的材料——是如何使火星的大片區(qū)域適于居住的。

Scientists have imagined what it would take to terraform Mars in the past, and the general consensus is that raising the surface temperature to above the freezing point of water needs to be the first major step.

過(guò)去，科學(xué)家們?cè)?jīng)設(shè)想過(guò)，將火星變成地球需要哪些條件，普遍的共識(shí)是，把火星地表溫度提高到水的冰點(diǎn)以上，這是第一步。

Once there’s flowing water on Mars, we could begin to truly modify the environment and perhaps even make it livable in the future, but it’s easier said than done.

一旦火星上有了流動(dòng)的水，我們就可以開(kāi)始真正地改變環(huán)境，甚至可能在未來(lái)使其適宜居住，但說(shuō)起來(lái)容易做起來(lái)難。

The researchers in the latest study considered how aerogel might play a role. They designed an experiment to simulate how sunlight passing through an aerogel “shield” could change the conditions of the surface below, discovering that using a layer of silica aerogel just 2 to 3 centimeters thick allowed enough light to pass through for plants to use for photosynthesis while also blocking harmful UV radiation.

在最新的研究中，研究人員考慮了氣凝膠可能發(fā)揮的作用。他們?cè)O(shè)計(jì)了一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)，來(lái)模擬陽(yáng)光穿過(guò)氣凝膠“屏蔽層”改變表面條件的過(guò)程,他們發(fā)現(xiàn)使用一層二氧化硅氣凝膠——只需要2到3厘米厚——這樣既能保證有足夠的光用于植物光合作用,同時(shí)還能阻止有害的紫外線輻射。

On Earth, we’re concerned with the greenhouse effect because it pushes the temperature of our planet’s surface to dangerous highs.

在地球上，我們擔(dān)心溫室效應(yīng)，因?yàn)樗训厍虮砻娴臏囟韧频轿ｋU(xiǎn)的高點(diǎn)。

On Mars, a layer of aerogel could serve the same purpose. Layers of the incredibly lightweight material could raise the temperature over large regions, allowing water to flow and plant life to thrive.

在火星上，一層氣凝膠也可以起到同樣的作用。這種難以置信的輕質(zhì)材料可以提高大面積地區(qū)的溫度，使水得以流動(dòng)，植物得以茁壯成長(zhǎng)。

At this point, of course, this is all very much theoretical. Aerogel is real and, it seems, could be used to solve a major problem for future settlers of Mars, but producing it on the Red Planet (or bringing it all the way from Earth) is barely worth dreaming about at this point.

當(dāng)然，這些都只是建立在理論基礎(chǔ)上的。雖然氣凝膠真實(shí)存在，它似乎可以用來(lái)解決未來(lái)火星宜居的一個(gè)主要問(wèn)題，但要在火星上生產(chǎn)氣凝膠(或從地球上送過(guò)去)，這一點(diǎn)幾乎想都不用想。