NASA的好奇號火星車在火星上慶祝7周年

NASA的好奇號火星車在火星上慶祝7周年

Earlier this year, NASA was forced to finally say goodbye to the Opportunity rover. It was a sad time for the space agency since the rover had exceeded expectations in every imaginable way, but thankfully it’s not the only rover on the Red Planet. Curiosity, which was launched back in 2011, is still alive and well and today marks its seventh year of an already impressive campaign.

今年早些時候，美國國家航空航天局不得不向“機遇號”探測器道別。對航天局來說，這是一個可悲的時刻，因為月球車在所有可能的方面都超過了預期，但謝天謝地，它并不是唯一一個在紅色星球上的月球車。好奇號在2011年發(fā)射，至今仍保持著活力和良好的狀態(tài)，今天是這場難忘行動的第七年。

The rover spent months cruising through space before eventually plummeting to the surface of Mars where it safely landed on Aug. 6, 2012, and it’s been revealing countless Mars secrets ever since.

在2012年8月6日，好奇號經(jīng)過數(shù)月的時間在太空中巡游，并最終安全著陸在火星表面，從此揭開了無數(shù)的火星秘密。

（NASA's Curiosity rover）

Never one to ignore an opportunity to celebrate, NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are taking a look back on the rover’s incredible life today and doing their best to get us hyped for the future.

從來沒有人會忽視慶祝的機會，美國國家航空航天局和噴氣推進實驗室今天正在回顧羅孚令人難以置信的生活，并盡最大努力讓我們?yōu)槲磥矶d奮。

In a new blog post, NASA’s JPL offers a glimpse at where Curiosity is now and what it’s up to. The rover is currently exploring parts of the Gale Crater in a spot known as the “clay-bearing unit,” where it is using its drills to gather samples of the Martian soil where water once flowed.

在一篇新的博客文章中，NASA的噴氣推進實驗室讓我們得以一窺“好奇號”現(xiàn)在在哪里，以及它在做什么?；鹦擒嚹壳罢谏w爾隕石坑的一個被稱為“粘土軸承單元”的地方進行探測，它正在那里用鉆頭收集火星土壤的樣本，那里曾經(jīng)有水流過。

The resulting clay is now teaching scientists what conditions were like within the crater and hinting at what Mars was like long ago.

由此產(chǎn)生的粘土現(xiàn)在正在向科學家們展示隕石坑內(nèi)的情況，并暗示很久以前的火星是什么樣的。

JPL also published a timely 360-degree video showing what Curiosity can see from its location within the crater. The images were captured back in June and show the rocky outcropping known as “Teal Ridge.”

噴氣推進實驗室還及時發(fā)布了一段360度的視頻，展示了“好奇號”從火山口內(nèi)的位置可以看到什么。這些照片是在6月份拍攝的，展示了被稱為“藍綠色山脊”的巖石。

Scientists know that Mars was once a much wetter place than it is today, but whether all that moisture was supporting life on the Red Planet is still anyone’s guess. Samples gathered by Curiosity have shown that the soil may have been suitable for microbial life, but scientists can’t say for certain whether any bacteria or microscopic life was (or still is) present on the planet.

科學家們知道，火星曾經(jīng)是一個比現(xiàn)在潮濕得多的地方，但所有這些水分是否支持了這顆紅色星球上的生命，仍然是所有人的猜測。“好奇號”收集的樣本顯示，火星土壤可能適合微生物生存，但科學家不能確定火星上是否存在細菌或微生物。

NASA says Curiosity’s nuclear power source still has plenty of juice for the rover to continue working well into the future, so we can expect plenty of additional discoveries while we wait for the eventual launch of the Mars 2020 rover mission.

美國宇航局表示，“好奇號”的核動力來源仍然有足夠的能量讓“好奇號”在未來繼續(xù)良好運轉，因此，在我們等待“火星2020”探測器最終發(fā)射任務之前，我們可以期待更多的發(fā)現(xiàn)。