Ted英语演讲： Why we need to go back to Mars 人类为什么要重返火星
TED Technology, Entertainment, Design在英语中的缩写，美国的一家私有非营利机构，以它组织的TED大会著称；将”用思想的力量来改变世界”作为宗旨。事实上，除了科技、娱乐、设计的主题，这场盛会涉及的领域还在不断扩展，展现着涉及几乎各个领域的各种见解，TED的演讲简短且深刻，参加者们称它为 “超级大脑SPA”。
I want to talk about 4.6 billion years of history in 18 minutes. That’s 300 million years per minute. Let’s start with the first photograph NASA obtained of planet Mars. This is fly-by, Mariner IV. It was taken in 1965. When this picture appeared, that well-known scientific journal, The New York Times, wrote in its editorial, “Mars is uninteresting. It’s a dead world. NASA should not spend any time or effort studying Mars anymore.” Fortunately, our leaders in Washington at NASA headquarters knew better and we began a very extensive study of the red planet.
我要谈一下46亿年的历史， 仅用18分钟。 也就是每分钟3亿年。 让我们从NASA获得的第一幅 火星图片开始。 这是Mariner IV从火星飞过拍下的照片。 拍摄于1965年。(为第一张火星的近距离照片-摄于1965年7月14日) 当这幅照片公开时， 著名的科学杂志， 《纽约时代》，在编者栏中写道： “火星毫无吸引力, 一片死寂。NASA不应该在火星探索中 浪费更多时间了。” 幸运的，我们在NASA华盛顿总部的领导们 更有眼光。 我们开始了对这颗红色星球的 大规模研究。
One of the key questions in all of science, “Is there life outside of Earth?” I believe that Mars is the most likely target for life outside the Earth. I’m going to show you in a few minutes some amazing measurements that suggest there may be life on Mars. But let me start with a Viking photograph. This is a composite taken by Viking in 1976. Viking was developed and managed at the NASA Langley Research Center. We sent two orbiters and two landers in the summer of 1976. We had four spacecraft, two around Mars, two on the surface — an amazing accomplishment.
在所有自然科学中，核心问题之一是， “地球之外是否存在生命？” 我相信火星是最有可能存在地外生命 的地方。 我将在几分钟为大家呈现 一些令人惊异的数据，这些在表明着 火星上可能存在生命。 不过还是让我们先从一张海盗号(Viking)火星探测器拍到的照片开始吧。 这是一张由海盗号(Viking)火星探测器所拍到的照片拼接而成的照片。 海盗号(Viking)火星探测器由NASA Langley研究中心 研制并维护。 1976年夏天我们发射了2个卫星和2个着陆探测器。 我们共计有4个航天器，其中2个绕火星飞行， 2个着陆于火星表面， 是一个令人惊叹的成果。
This is the first photograph taken from the surface of any planet. This is a Viking Lander photograph of the surface of Mars. And yes, the red planet is red. Mars is half the size of the Earth, but because two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the land area on Mars is comparable to the land area on Earth. So, Mars is a pretty big place even though it’s half the size. We have obtained topographic measurements of the surface of Mars. We understand the elevation differences.
这张照片是(人类)在所有地球外的其他行星的地表 拍摄的第一张。 这是由海盗号(Viking)火星登陆探测器 在火星表面拍摄的一张照片。 是的，火星(the red planet)确实是红的。 火星的大小是地球的一半。 但是由于地球的2/3被水覆盖， 火星的陆地面积 和地球陆地面积相当。 所以，火星是非常大的地方，虽然它只有地球的一半大小。 我们已经拥有火星表面的 地形测量数据，知晓 海拔的差异。
We know a lot about Mars. Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons. Mars has the Grand Canyon of the solar system, Valles Marineris. Very, very interesting planet. Mars has the largest impact crater in the solar system, Hellas Basin. This is 2,000 miles across. If you happened to be on Mars when this impactor hit, it was a really bad day on Mars. (Laughter) This is Olympus Mons. This is bigger than the state of Arizona.
我们知道很多火星的信息。 火星拥有太阳系中最大的火山– Olympus Mons。 火星拥有太阳系中 的大峡谷–Valles Marineris。 非常非常吸引人的星球。 火星有太阳系 最大的环形山– Hellas Basin。 足足2000英里宽。 如果在撞击物撞击到火星时， 你刚好在火星上， 那真是在火星上度过的悲惨的一天。 （笑声） 这是Olympus Mons。 它比Arizona州大。
Volcanoes are important, because volcanoes produce atmospheres and they produce oceans. We’re looking at Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system, superimposed on a map of the United States, 3,000 miles across. One of the most intriguing features about Mars, the National Academy of Science says one of the 10 major mysteries of the space age, is why certain areas of Mars are so highly magnetized. We call this crustal magnetism. There are regions on Mars, where, for some reason — we don’t understand why at this point — the surface is very, very highly magnetized.
火山非常重要，因为 火山产生大气和海洋。 我们现在看到的是Valles Marineris， 这个太阳系最大的峡谷， 足以把美国版图覆盖在上面， 3000英里长。 火星最迷人的特性之一， 美国科学院所说的， 宇宙年龄十大神秘之一 是火星的特定区域具有 如此之强的磁场。 (这个磁场)我们称之为地壳磁场。 火星上的一些区域，或许有什么原因， 但我们不知为何会达到此种程度， 其地表具有非常非常强烈的磁性。
Is there water on Mars? The answer is no, there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars today. But there is intriguing evidence that suggests that the early history of Mars there may have been rivers and fast flowing water. Today Mars is very very dry. We believe there’s some water in the polar caps, there are polar caps of North Pole and South Pole. Here are some recent images. This is from Spirit and Opportunity. These images that show at one time, there was very fast flowing water on the surface of Mars. Why is water important? Water is important because if you want life you have to have water. Water is the key ingredient in the evolution, the origin of life on a planet.
火星上有水吗？ 答案是没有，现在没有液态水存在于 火星表面上。 但有一些有意思的证据 显示火星早期 可能曾经有河流和 快速流动的水。 目前火星非常非常干燥。 我们认为在极冠下存在一些水。 这是北极和南极极冠。 这是一些近期的照片。 来自勇气号(Spirit)和机遇号(Opportunity)。 这些照片显示曾经 火星表面存在流动非常迅速的水。 为什么水很重要？水很重要 在于生命离不开水。 水是在进化中的 关键因素，是一个星球上的生命起源。
Here is some picture of Antarctica and a picture of Olympus Mons, very similar features, glaciers. So, this is frozen water. This is ice water on Mars. This is my favorite picture. This was just taken a few weeks ago. It has not been seen publicly. This is European space agency Mars Express, image of a crater on Mars and in the middle of the crater we have liquid water, we have ice. Very intriguing photograph.
这是南极和 Olympus Mons的一些照片， 非常相似的特性，冰川。 这是固态水。 这是火星的冰水。 这是我最喜爱的照片，刚刚拍摄于几周前。 目前还没有公开发表。 这是欧洲宇航局。 火星快车号(Mars Express )探测器拍摄的一个环形山， 在环形山的中心 我们发现了液态水，我们发现了冰。 非常有意思的照片。
We now believe that in the early history of Mars, which is 4.6 billion years ago, 4.6 billion years ago, Mars was very Earth-like. Mars had rivers, Mars had lakes, but more important Mars had planetary-scale oceans. We believe that the oceans were in the northern hemisphere, and this area in blue, which shows a depression of about four miles, was the ancient ocean area on the surface of Mars. Where did the ocean’s worth of water on Mars go? Well, we have an idea. This is a measurement we obtained a few years ago from a Mars-orbiting satellite called Odyssey. Sub-surface water on Mars, frozen in the form of ice. And this shows the percent. If it’s a blueish color, it means 16 percent by weight. Sixteen percent, by weight, of the interior contains frozen water, or ice. So, there is a lot of water below the surface.
目前我们认为火星早期， 大概46亿年前， 46亿年前火星和地球非常相似。 火星曾有河流，火星曾有湖泊， 更重要的是火星曾有星球大小的海洋。 我们认为海洋曾经位于北半球。 这些蓝色区域 显示的是约4英里的深度， 曾经是火星表面的 古海洋区域。 火星上海洋大小的水究竟去哪儿了？ 那么，我们有一个猜想。 这是几年前我们通过一个名叫奥德赛号(Odyssey)的 绕火星卫星探测到的数据。 火星表层下的水， 固体化为冰的形式。 这里显示的是百分比。如果是蓝色， 表示这里比重达16%。 内部按重量计算的16% 包含冷冻水，或者冰。 所以，在表层下存在大量的水。
The most intriguing and puzzling measurement, in my opinion, we’ve obtained of Mars, was released earlier this year in the magazine Science. And what we’re looking at is the presence of the gas methane, CH4, in the atmosphere of Mars. And you can see there are three distinct regions of methane. Why is methane important? Because on Earth, almost all — 99.9 percent — of the methane is produced by living systems, not little green men, but microscopic life below the surface or at the surface. We now have evidence that methane is in the atmosphere of Mars, a gas that, on Earth, is biogenic in origin, produced by living systems. These are the three plumes: A, B1, B2.
我认为最有趣并且最令人困惑的测量结果 是今年早些时候 在科学杂志上 发表的。 我们现在看到的火星大气层中天然气，甲烷， CH4的百分比。 可以看到有三个明显的甲烷区域。 为什么甲烷很重要？ 因为在地球上，几乎所有的， 99.9%的甲烷 是由生命系统产生的， 不是外星人，而是地表下面或者 地表的微生物。 目前我们拥有证据 表明甲烷存在于火星大气中， 而这种气体在地球上， 是生命起源之初 由生命系统产生的。 这是三个羽状物A,B1,B2。
And this is the terrain it appears over, and we know from geological studies that these regions are the oldest regions on Mars. In fact, the Earth and Mars are both 4.6 billion years old. The oldest rock on Earth is only 3.6 billion. The reason there is a billion-year gap in our geological understanding is because of plate tectonics, The crust of the Earth has been recycled. We have no geological record prior for the first billion years. That record exists on Mars. And this terrain that we’re looking at dates back to 4.6 billion years when Earth and Mars were formed. It was a Tuesday. (Laughter)
这是它的地形。 地质学的研究告诉我们： 这些区域是火星上最古老的区域。 事实上，地球和火星 都有46亿年了。 地球上最古老的岩石仅仅36亿年。 对于产生10亿年偏差的原因， 在我们地质学的理解上 是源于板块的构造。 地球的地壳曾被反复改变过。 我们没有早于前10亿年的 地质记录。 但相关记录在火星上存在。 我们现在看到的这个地形 可以追溯到46亿年前， 那是地球和火星形成的时候。 那是个星期二。 （笑声）
This is a map that shows where we’ve put our spacecraft on the surface of Mars. Here is Viking I, Viking II. This is Opportunity. This is Spirit. This is Mars Pathfinder. This is Phoenix, we just put two years ago. Notice all of our rovers and all of our landers have gone to the northern hemisphere. That’s because the northern hemisphere is the region of the ancient ocean basin. There aren’t many craters. And that’s because the water protected the basin from being impacted by asteroids and meteorites. But look in the southern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere there are impact craters, there are volcanic craters. Here’s Hellas Basin, a very very different place, geologically. Look where the methane is, the methane is in a very rough terrain area.
这个地图显示 火星表面我们曾经放置上宇航器的地方。 这是海盗一号(Viking I)，海盗二号(Viking II)。 这是幸运号(Opportunity)。这是勇气号(Spirit)。 这是火星探路者号(Mars Pathfinder)。这是凤凰号(Phoenix)， 我们两年前刚发射的。 注意，我们所有的漫步者和登陆者 都曾去过北半球。 那是因为北半球 是古海洋盆地 区域。 那里没有太多环形山。 那是因为水保护盆地 免受陨石的影响。 来吧，我们看看南半球。 南半球有著名的撞击坑， 还有火山坑。 这是Hellas Basin， 地质上非常奇特的地方。 看看甲烷所处的地方，甲烷在非常 粗糙的地形区域。
What is the best way to unravel the mysteries on Mars that exist? We asked this question 10 years ago. We invited 10 of the top Mars scientists to the Langley Research Center for two days. We addressed on the board the major questions that have not been answered. And we spent two days deciding how to best answer this question. And the result of our meeting was a robotic rocket-powered airplane we call ARES. It’s an Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Surveyor. There’s a model of ARES here. This is a 20-percent scale model.
解开火星上存在的秘密的 最好方法是什么？ 我们10年前提出了这个问题。 我们邀请了10位顶级火星科学家 到Langley研究中心做客两天。 在板子上我们重点提出了 目前没有解决的主要问题。 我们用了两天来 给出这个问题的最佳解答。 我们的会议结果是 火箭动力机器人飞船，我们称为ARES。 它是一个航天区域尺度级环境检测器。 这是ARES的模型。 这个是5：1的模型。
This airplane was designed at the Langley Research Center. If any place in the world can build an airplane to fly on Mars, it’s the Langley Research Center, for almost 100 years a leading center of aeronautics in the world. We fly about a mile above the surface. We cover hundreds of miles, and we fly about 450 miles an hour. We can do things that rovers can’t do and landers can’t do: We can fly above mountains, volcanoes, impact craters; we fly over valleys; we can fly over surface magnetism, the polar caps, subsurface water; and we can search for life on Mars.
飞船由兰利研究中心设计。 如果说世界上有一个地方 能够建造一架能够在火星上飞行的飞机， 那就是Langley研究中心， 它有近100年的历史， 是顶级世界宇航中心 我们在表面飞行了大概一英里。 我们覆盖了几百英里， 以每小时450英里的速度。 我们可以为漫步者所不能为 做登陆者所不能做。 我们可以从山脉，火山，环形山上方飞过。 我们从峡谷上上方飞过。 我们能够从表面磁场， 极冠，地表下隐藏的水上方飞过。 并且我们能够在火星上寻找生命。
But, of equal importance, as we fly through the atmosphere of Mars, we transmit that journey, the first flight of an airplane outside of the Earth, we transmit those images back to Earth. And our goal is to inspire the American public who is paying for this mission through tax dollars. But more important we will inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. And that’s a critical area of national security and economic vitality, to make sure we produce the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists.
但是，同样重要的是， 当我们在火星的大气层中飞行时， 我们传输旅途的数据， 这场地球外的第一次飞机飞行的旅途， 并且将那些图像传回地球。 我们的目的是鼓舞美国民众， 那些正通过纳税为此行动付钱的人们。 更重要的是我们将 激发下一代的科学家， 科技人员，工程师和数学家。 那是国家安全和经济复苏的 重要领域，确保 我们培养出下一代的 科学家，工程师，数学家和科技工作者。
This is what ARES looks like as it flies over Mars. We preprogram it. We will fly where the methane is. We will have instruments aboard the plane that will sample, every three minutes, the atmosphere of Mars. We will look for methane as well as other gasses produced by living systems. We will pinpoint where these gases emanate from, because we can measure the gradient where it comes from, and there, we can direct the next mission to land right in that area.
这是ARES 飞跃火星时的样子。 我们事先对它进行编程。 我们将飞跃这些甲烷存在的区域。 我们将为飞船装备设备， 每三分钟对火星大气进行采样。 我们将寻找甲烷 以及其他由生物系统产生的 气体 我们将明确定位天然气从何处释放。 因为我们能够测量产生甲烷的地区的梯度。 这样我们能够指导下次任务 在正确的区域着陆。
How do we transport an airplane to Mars? In two words, very carefully. The problem is we don’t fly it to Mars, we put it in a spacecraft and we send it to Mars. The problem is the spacecraft’s largest diameter is nine feet; ARES is 21-foot wingspan, 17 feet long. How do we get it to Mars? We fold it, and we transport it in a spacecraft. And we have it in something called an aeroshell. This is how we do it. And we have a little video that describes the sequence.
我们怎样将飞船运送到火星的呢？ 用两个字来说，谨慎。 问题在于，我们并非驾驶它去火星， 而是将它放入宇宙飞船， 然后发射到火星。 宇宙飞船的 最大直径是九英尺。 ARES翼展21英尺，17英尺长。 那么我们怎么把它运到火星？ 我们把它折叠， 然后放入宇宙飞船。 我们将它放入叫做减速伞的一个东西中。 这就是我们的办法。 我们有一段视频，可以表现这个过程。
Video: Seven, six. Green board. Five, four, three, two, one. Main engine start, and liftoff.
视频：Green board. 5,4,3,2,1. 主引擎启动。起飞。
Joel Levine: This is a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the spacecraft taking nine months to get to Mars. It enters the atmosphere of Mars. A lot of heating, frictional heating. It’s going 18 thousand miles an hour. A parachute opens up to slow it down. The thermal tiles fall off. The airplane is exposed to the atmosphere for the first time. It unfolds. The rocket engine begins.
Joel Levine：福罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心报告。 宇宙飞船将花费9个月 才能到达火星。 它进入火星大气层。 大量热量。 摩擦发热。时速为每小时1万8千英里。 减速伞打开，用来减速。 隔热瓦脱落。 飞船首次进入大气层。 展开。 火箭引擎启动。
We believe that in a one-hour flight we can rewrite the textbook on Mars by making high-resolution measurements of the atmosphere, looking for gases of biogenic origin, looking for gases of volcanic origin, studying the surface, studying the magnetism on the surface, which we don’t understand, as well as about a dozen other areas.
我们深信经过一小时飞行 我们将重新书写教科书上关于火星的部分 通过记录火星大气层的高精度测量数据， 在生物区寻找天然气， 在火山区寻找气体， 研究火星表面，研究表面的磁场， 那些都是目前我们未知的， 正如许多其他的区域。
Practice makes perfect. How do we know we can do it? Because we have tested ARES model, several models in a half a dozen wind tunnels at the NASA Langley Research Center for eight years, under Mars conditions. And, of equal importance is, we test ARES in the Earth’s atmosphere, at 100,000 feet, which is comparable to the density and pressure of the atmosphere on Mars where we’ll fly. Now, 100,000 feet, if you fly cross-country to Los Angeles, you fly 37,000 feet. We do our tests at 100,000 feet.
熟能生巧。 为什么我们说我们可以完成这项计划呢？ 因为我们已经测试了ARES模型， 八年中在NASA Langley 研究中心的十几个风洞 的半数中测试了数个模型， 在模拟火星条件下。 并且，同样重要的是 我们在地球大气层中测试了ARES， 在海拔一百万英尺的地方， 相当于火星上大气浓度和压力， 这个将来真正进行飞行的环境。 一百万英尺，如果你乘坐飞机飞到洛杉矶 你是在3万7千英尺。 我们的测试是在1百万英尺。
And I want to show you one of our tests. This is a half-scale model. This is a high-altitude helium balloon. This is over Tilamook, Oregon. We put the folded airplane on the balloon — it took about three hours to get up there — and then we released it on command at 103,000 feet, and we deploy the airplane and everything works perfectly. And we’ve done high-altitude and low-altitude tests, just to perfect this technique.
我将给你们展示我们的测试。 这是½大小的模型。 这是高海拔氦气气球。 这是在俄勒冈州Tilamook。 我们把折叠起来的飞船放到气球上。 升到那个地方需要大概三个小时。 在一百零三万英尺高度 根据指令释放它。 展开飞船，一切进行得很完美。 我们完成了 高海拔和低海拔测试， 全是为了使这项技术完美。
We’re ready to go. I have a scale model here. But we have a full-scale model in storage at the NASA Langley Research Center. We’re ready to go. All we need is a check from NASA headquarters (Laughter) to cover the costs. I’m prepared to donate my honorarium for today’s talk for this mission. There’s actually no honorarium for anyone for this thing. This is the ARES team; we have about 150 scientists, engineers; where we’re working with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center and half a dozen major universities and corporations in developing this.
我们整装待发。 这里有一个比例模型。 不过我们有一个全比例模型 保存在NASA兰利研究中心 我们整装待发，目前所需要的只有NASA总部的支票 （笑声） 来支付花销。 我打算捐献今天演讲的酬劳 来完成这项任务。 事实上在这项计划上每个人都没有任何酬劳。 我们是ARES团队。 我们拥有约150位科学家和工程师， 我们与 火箭推进实验室 戈达德宇宙飞行中心， Ames研究中心和6所相关大学 和一些企业一起开发这个计划。
It’s a large effort. It’s all at NASA Langley Research Center. And let me conclude by saying not too far from here, right down the road in Kittyhawk, North Carolina, a little more than 100 years ago history was made when we had the first powered flight of an airplane on Earth. We are on the verge right now to make the first flight of an airplane outside the Earth’s atmosphere. We are prepared to fly this on Mars, rewrite the textbook about Mars. If you’re interested in more information, we have a website that describes this exciting and intriguing mission, and why we want to do it. Thank you very much. (Applause)
这项计划是巨大的付出。这都在NASA Langley 研究中心内。 我总结如下： 离此处不远， 就在北卡罗莱纳州Kittyhawk大街， 略早于100年前 历史被创造于 当我们拥有了地球上第一架自有动力飞行的飞机时。 时至今日我们即将获得突破 去制造第一架飞行于 地球大气层之外的飞机。 我们准备在火星上起飞这架飞机， 重写教科书的关于火星章节。 如果你想知道更多信息， 我们的网站描述了这个令人激动 而迷人的任务，还有我们为什么想进行这个项目。 非常感谢。 （掌声）