2022年12月26日 VOA慢速英語：火星探測器開始為未來返回地球投放巖石樣本

 

The American space agency NASA's Mars explorer has begun dropping rock samples it collected on the planet's surface. A different spacecraft is to recover the samples at a future date and return them to Earth.
美國航天局 NASA 的火星探測器已開始將其收集到的巖石樣本投放到火星表面。另一艘航天器將在未來某個日期回收樣本并將它們送回地球。
 
The Perseverance explorer, or rover, landed on Mars in February 2021. It has been collecting rock, soil and atmospheric samples at Mars' Jezero Crater area since September 2021.
毅力號探索者號或漫游者號于 2021 年 2 月登陸火星。自 2021 年 9 月以來，它一直在火星的 Jezero 隕石坑地區(qū)收集巖石、土壤和大氣樣本。
 
NASA officials have said detailed study of the samples on Earth will be important to help scientists understand whether life ever existed on Mars.
NASA 官員表示，對地球樣本的詳細研究對于幫助科學家了解火星上是否曾經(jīng)存在生命非常重要。
 
NASA said Perseverance has collected 18 different samples. The space agency plans to pick up the collected materials during a Mars mission planned for 2028.
NASA 表示，毅力號已經(jīng)收集了 18 個不同的樣本。航天局計劃在計劃于 2028 年進行的火星任務中收集收集到的材料。
 
The joint mission with the European Space Agency would involve a lander spacecraft being sent to Mars along with a small rocket. The samples would be loaded onto the rocket to be transported to Earth. If the mission goes well, the samples could arrive on Earth in 2033.
與歐洲航天局的聯(lián)合任務將涉及將著陸器航天器與一枚小型火箭一起送往火星。樣本將被裝載到火箭上，運往地球。如果任務順利，樣本可能會在 2033 年到達地球。
 
The samples are kept inside a storage area inside the rover. They are kept inside air-tight titanium tubes to be protected from the severe conditions on Mars. Most of them will be kept inside a container on Perseverance until the return mission happens. But NASA decided to drop 10 of them on the planet's surface in case something goes wrong with the ones kept inside the rover.
樣品保存在流動站內(nèi)的存儲區(qū)域內(nèi)。它們被保存在氣密的鈦管內(nèi)，以免受火星上惡劣條件的影響。在返回任務發(fā)生之前，他們中的大多數(shù)將被保存在堅持不懈的容器內(nèi)。但美國宇航局決定將其中的 10 個投放到地球表面，以防火星車內(nèi)部的探測器出現(xiàn)問題。
 
NASA said the tubes dropped on the surface could be picked up by a helicopter-like vehicle and transported to the rocket to be brought to Earth. The space agency has already demonstrated that its Ingenuity helicopter can operate successfully on Mars.
美國國家航空航天局表示，落在地面上的管子可以由類似直升機的運載工具撿起，并運送到火箭上，然后運回地球。該航天局已經(jīng)證明其Ingenuity 直升機可以在火星上成功運行。
 
Perseverance collected the samples with robotic equipment attached to the rover. The collection operations are led by NASA mission controllers on Earth. Perseverance has a drill attached to a robotic arm it uses to collect small, circular rock samples from beneath the surface.
毅力號使用附在流動站上的機器人設備收集樣本。收集操作由地球上的 NASA 任務控制員領導。毅力號有一個連接到機械臂上的鉆頭，它用來從地表下收集小的圓形巖石樣本。
 
NASA said in a statement the first sample container was dropped on the Mars surface by Perseverance on December 21. The agency plans to drop the remaining nine containers over the next two months.
美國國家航空航天局在一份聲明中表示，第一個樣本容器于 12 月 21 日由毅力號降落在火星表面。該機構(gòu)計劃在接下來的兩個月內(nèi)投放其余九個容器。
 
Perseverance will be releasing the samples in an area of Jezero Crater known as "Three Forks." Scientists believe Jezero Crater contains the remains of an ancient river system. NASA considers the area a good place to find possible signs of microscopic life. Scientists believe if life ever existed on Mars, it would have been present 3 to 4 billion years ago, when water flowed on the planet.
毅力號將在 Jezero Crater 被稱為“三叉”的區(qū)域釋放樣本?？茖W家們認為 Jezero Crater 包含一個古老河流系統(tǒng)的遺跡。美國宇航局認為該地區(qū)是尋找微觀生命跡象的好地方?？茖W家們認為，如果火星上曾經(jīng)存在過生命，那么它應該在 3 到 40 億年前就已經(jīng)存在，當時地球上有水流動。
 
Meenakshi Wadhwa is a scientist from Arizona State University who helps lead the scientific team of the Mars Sample Return program. She said the samples collected so far represent a good mix of different kinds of rock and soil found in the area being explored by Perseverance. The rover still has more than 20 empty containers that can be used in the collection mission.
Meenakshi Wadhwa 是亞利桑那州立大學的科學家，他幫助領導火星樣本返回計劃的科學團隊。她說，到目前為止收集的樣本代表了毅力號正在探索的地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)的不同種類的巖石和土壤的良好組合?；鹦擒囘€有 20 多個空容器可用于收集任務。
 
NASA officials said the operation to drop samples on the surface of Mars has been complex. This is because the chosen sites must be reachable by both flying and driving vehicles.
NASA 官員表示，將樣本滴落到火星表面的操作非常復雜。這是因為飛行和駕駛車輛都必須可以到達所選地點。
 
Richard Cook is the Mars Sample Return program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
理查德·庫克 (Richard Cook) 是南加州美國宇航局噴氣推進實驗室的火星樣本返回項目經(jīng)理。
 
He said once the 10 drop areas were identified, the team then had to map out exactly how the rover could effectively get to those places to deploy the samples. "You can't simply drop them in a big pile because the recovery helicopters are designed to interact with only one tube at a time."
他說，一旦確定了 10 個放置區(qū)域，團隊就必須準確地繪制出漫游者如何有效地到達這些地方以部署樣本。“你不能簡單地把它們堆成一大堆，因為回收直升機被設計成一次只與一個管子相互作用。”
 
The team decided to create an "area of operation" stretching about 5.5 meters for each dropping point. The tubes are to be dropped about five to 15 meters apart from one another.
該團隊決定為每個滴點創(chuàng)建一個約 5.5 米的“操作區(qū)域”。這些管子彼此相距約 5 到 15 米。
 
NASA said mission controllers will be examining numerous images captured by the rover to assist them in deciding where to drop the samples. The images will also help the team identify exactly where the samples are in case they are covered in sand or dust before they are collected.
美國宇航局表示，任務控制員將檢查火星車拍攝的大量圖像，以幫助他們決定將樣本投放到哪里。這些圖像還將幫助團隊準確識別樣本的位置，以防樣本在收集前被沙子或灰塵覆蓋。