NASA的好奇号火星车在火星上庆祝7周年

NASA的好奇号火星车在火星上庆祝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.

今年早些时候，美国国家航空航天局不得不向“机遇号”探测器道别。对航天局来说，这是一个可悲的时刻，因为月球车在所有可能的方面都超过了预期，但谢天谢地，它并不是唯一一个在红色星球上的月球车。好奇号在2011年发射，至今仍保持着活力和良好的状态，今天是这场难忘行动的第七年。

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，好奇号经过数月的时间在太空中巡游，并最终安全着陆在火星表面，从此揭开了无数的火星秘密。

（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.

从来没有人会忽视庆祝的机会，美国国家航空航天局和喷气推进实验室今天正在回顾罗孚令人难以置信的生活，并尽最大努力让我们为未来而兴奋。

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的喷气推进实验室让我们得以一窥“好奇号”现在在哪里，以及它在做什么。火星车目前正在盖尔陨石坑的一个被称为“粘土轴承单元”的地方进行探测，它正在那里用钻头收集火星土壤的样本，那里曾经有水流过。

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

由此产生的粘土现在正在向科学家们展示陨石坑内的情况，并暗示很久以前的火星是什么样的。

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.”

喷气推进实验室还及时发布了一段360度的视频，展示了“好奇号”从火山口内的位置可以看到什么。这些照片是在6月份拍摄的，展示了被称为“蓝绿色山脊”的岩石。

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.

科学家们知道，火星曾经是一个比现在潮湿得多的地方，但所有这些水分是否支持了这颗红色星球上的生命，仍然是所有人的猜测。“好奇号”收集的样本显示，火星土壤可能适合微生物生存，但科学家不能确定火星上是否存在细菌或微生物。

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.

美国宇航局表示，“好奇号”的核动力来源仍然有足够的能量让“好奇号”在未来继续良好运转，因此，在我们等待“火星2020”探测器最终发射任务之前，我们可以期待更多的发现。