美國“毅力”號(hào)火星探測器于2020年7月30日發(fā)射升空，2021年2月18日成功著陸火星?！耙懔Α碧?hào)的使命是在火星上收集地質(zhì)樣品，尋找生命的跡象。在疫情之下，這些科學(xué)家們精誠合作，在人類探索宇宙的漫漫征途上又向前邁進(jìn)了一步，難能可貴。當(dāng)我們仰望星空之時(shí)，感覺火星真的并不遙遠(yuǎn)了。本篇以中英文寫成，希望啟發(fā)學(xué)生們對(duì)火星世界的好奇。
Mars is a familiar sight to observers of the night sky. Not as bright as Venus or Jupiter, its distinctive red glow makes it noticeable. Scientists have long known that Mars is the only other planet in the solar system whose conditions would make it possible for humans to visit. As a result, Mars has been the destination of many missions through the years.
璀璨的夜空中，火星是星空仰望者熟悉的景象。它雖不如金星或木星那么明亮，但它獨(dú)一無二的紅色熒光使它格外引人注目?？茖W(xué)家們早就知道，火星是太陽系中唯一能使人類得以探訪的行星。因此，許多年來，火星一直是許多使命的目的地。
（圖片來源NASA）
The Soviet Union was the first country to attempt to send a spacecraft to Mars, with five launches between 1960 and 1962. The most successful of these was on its way to a flyby of Mars when communication was lost. The United States began launching missions to Mars in 1964. The Mariner 4 mission conducted a successful flyby of the red planet in July, 1965, almost eight months after launch. It was the first space probe ever to send pictures from another planet.
蘇聯(lián)是第一個(gè)嘗試向火星發(fā)射航天器的國家，在1960年至1962年之間進(jìn)行了五次發(fā)射，其中最成功的一次是在通訊中斷的情況下掠過火星。美國于1964年開始了向火星的發(fā)射任務(wù)。1965年7月，美國“水手4”號(hào)探測器成功發(fā)射升空，距發(fā)射大約8個(gè)月，掠過火星上空。這是有史以來第一枚從另一個(gè)星球發(fā)回照片的太空探測器。
The Soviets were first to land a craft on Mars, in 1971, but communication was lost too quickly to allow an opportunity to deploy the intended rover. The United States' Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers were much more successful after their arrival in 1976. Viking 1 was operational for more than six years, conducting chemical analysis of Martian soil. In 2006, the lander was photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
1971年，蘇聯(lián)于首次在火星上軟著陸了一艘飛船，但由于通訊中斷太快，因此沒有機(jī)會(huì)部署預(yù)定的火星車。1976年，美國的“海盜1”號(hào)和“海盜2”號(hào)著陸器更為成功?！昂１I1”號(hào)運(yùn)行超過了六年，對(duì)火星土壤進(jìn)行了化學(xué)分析。2006年，火星勘測軌道飛行器拍攝到了該著陸器的照片。
1976年8月20日 火星日落 Sunset on Mars （圖片來源NASA）
Most missions over the next twenty years ended in failure, but Phobos 2, the last space probe designed by the Soviet Union, was able to orbit the moon Phobos for a short time. The biggest success of the 1990's was the United States' Mars Pathfinder mission, which landed on the planet on July 4, 1997. A rover named Sojourner was deployed, the first successful use of a rover on another planet. Sojourner analyzed rocks near the landing site and determined that some were volcanic in origin. The goal for the mission duration was one month, but the rover operated for three months before communication was lost. Pathfinder was lost, but not forgotten. The lander was spotted by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007, and made an appearance in the novel and movie The Martian, in which the stranded main character travels to the site in an attempt to communicate with earth.
在接下來的20年中，大多數(shù)飛行任務(wù)都以失敗告終，但是由蘇聯(lián)設(shè)計(jì)的最后一個(gè)太空探測器 “火衛(wèi)一2” 號(hào)能夠在短時(shí)間內(nèi)圍繞著火衛(wèi)飛行。1990年代最大的成功是美國的“火星探路者”任務(wù)，飛行器于1997年7月4日降落在火星上，并部署了名為“旅居者” 的火星漫游車，這是首次在另一個(gè)星球上成功使用漫游車。“旅居者” 分析了著陸點(diǎn)附近的巖石，并確定其中一些是火山爆發(fā)的。任務(wù)時(shí)間原為一個(gè)月，但漫游車持續(xù)運(yùn)行了三個(gè)月之后，通訊才中斷。探路者迷路了，但未被忘記。該著陸器于2007年被火星勘測軌道飛行器發(fā)現(xiàn)，并在小說和電影《火星人》中露了面，其中被困在火星上的主角前往該地點(diǎn)試圖與地球聯(lián)系。
The 21st century brought visits from a series of orbiters, some of which are still operational. NASA's Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency's Mars Express have both been orbiting the planet since 2001. The U.S. added the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2006 and MAVEN in 2013. Other countries have also added craft to the Martian skies. India's Mangalyaan mission arrived in 2014. This was followed by the ExoMars 2016 orbiter, a joint venture of the European Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos agency. And just this month, the United Arab Emirates added their Hope orbiter and China's Tianwen-1 craft arrived. The near-simultaneous arrival of these orbiters this month, along with the landing of NASA's Perseverance rover, is not a coincidence. The timing is due to a launch window in July 2020, a period that occurs approximately every two years and two months when the relative positions of earth and Mars make launches to the red planet most efficient.
21世紀(jì)帶來了一系列軌道飛行器對(duì)火星的訪問，其中一些仍在運(yùn)行。自2001年以來，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的火星“奧德賽”號(hào)和歐洲航天局的 “火星快車” 號(hào)都在圍繞著火星軌道飛行。美國在2006年增加了火星勘測軌道飛行器，在2013年增加了火星偵察器。其他國家也為火星上空添加了飛行器。印度的“火星飛船”計(jì)劃已于2014年實(shí)施。緊隨其后的是2016年ExoMars軌道飛行器，這是歐洲航天局和俄羅斯Roscosmos機(jī)構(gòu)的合資計(jì)劃。就在本月，阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長國增加了他們的“希望”軌道飛行器，中國的“天問一號(hào)”飛船也到達(dá)了。這些來自地球的軌道器幾乎同時(shí)到達(dá)，再加上NASA的“毅力”號(hào)漫游器降落，并不是巧合。該時(shí)間是由2020年7月的發(fā)射窗口而定，大約每兩年零兩個(gè)月發(fā)生一次，這期間地球和火星的相對(duì)位置使得向紅色星球的發(fā)射效率最高。
The Curiosity rover “好奇” 號(hào)漫游車
The Tianwen-1 craft contains a rover, which the CNSA expects to deploy in May or June of this year. For now, the United States is the only country to have successfully deployed a rover on Mars. After the success of the Sojourner rover in 1997, NASA landed twins Spirit and Opportunity on opposite sides of the planet in 2004. These rovers operated far longer than planned, with Spirit communicating with earth for six years and Opportunity transmitting until 2018. Over its lifetime on Mars, Opportunity traveled more than 45 kilometers (28 miles). The Curiosity rover has been operating since 2012 and now the Perseverance rover has landed, with deployment of the Ingenuity helicopter to follow.
“天問一號(hào)”飛船上有一輛漫游車，中國國家宇航局預(yù)計(jì)將在今年5月或6月部署該車。目前，美國是唯一在火星上成功部署漫游車的國家。在1997年“旅居者” 漫游車獲得成功之后，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）于2004年將雙胞胎“勇氣”號(hào)和“機(jī)遇”號(hào)降落在火星的相對(duì)兩側(cè)。這些漫游車的運(yùn)行時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過了計(jì)劃，“勇氣”號(hào)與地球通信長達(dá)六年之久，“機(jī)遇”號(hào)一直傳送到2018年。在火星上，“機(jī)遇” 號(hào)行駛了超過45公里（28英里）。自2012年以來，“好奇”號(hào)漫游車一直在運(yùn)行，現(xiàn)在“毅力”號(hào)漫游車已經(jīng)著陸，還部署了一架名為“機(jī)智”號(hào)的無人直升機(jī)配合研究。
（圖片來源NASA/BBC）
“機(jī)智”號(hào)無人直升機(jī)/ Ingenuity helicopter （圖片來源NASA）
All of this is just a prelude to future missions when some brave space traveler will be the first human to set foot on another planet. Mars is just a rocky, dusty red ball in space. It can not rival earth in beauty, but the idea of traveling to a world that at its closest approach is more than 33 million miles (54 million kilometers) from earth, where no one has ever been, is fascinating. Science fiction writers have long speculated on the nature of Mars and what it would be like for humans to visit and attempt to live there. The progress of science has enabled us to determine what plot points in fiction are invalid, but we also see that many ideas from the best books are quite plausible. Orbiters and rovers have been improving our understanding of Mars, but it will take the arrival of human explorers for us to really know what is there.
所有這些都只是未來使命的序幕，直至勇敢的太空旅行者成為首批踏上另一個(gè)星球的人類。火星在太空中只是一個(gè)多巖石的塵土飛揚(yáng)的紅色星球。它不能與地球媲美，但是，到最接近地球的、距離地球超過3300萬英里（5400萬公里）的宇宙去旅行的想法令人著迷。科幻小說家長期以來一直在猜測火星的本性以及人類旅居火星的感受?？茖W(xué)的進(jìn)步使我們能夠判斷小說中哪些情節(jié)是異想天開，不過，我們也看到，來自最佳書籍中的許多想法都是合情合理的。軌道探測器和漫游火星車一直在增進(jìn)我們對(duì)火星的了解，然而，人類探險(xiǎn)家的登陸才能使我們真正地了解火星。
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