美国宇航局发现火星上有神秘洞，可能有外星生命

美国宇航局发现火星上有神秘洞，可能有外星生命

Alien life may be lurking within a mysterious caver under the surface of Mars, scientists claim.

科学家声称，外星人可能潜伏在火星表面下一个神秘的洞穴里。

An eerie crater on the dusty slopes of Mars’ Pavonis Mons volcano was picked out by two space scientists as a prime spot for extraterrestrials.

两位太空科学家在火星帕沃尼斯蒙斯火山尘土飞扬的山坡上，发现了一个诡异的陨石坑，这是外星人的首选地点。

NASA says the “unusual” feature “appears to be an opening to an underground cavern.”

美国航天局说，这个“不寻常的”特征，“似乎是一个地下洞穴的入口”。

An image of the hole was first snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2011, and scientists have studied it ever since.

火星勘测轨道飞行器(Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter)在2011年首次拍摄到这个洞的照片，科学家们从那时起就一直在研究它。

That first photo featured on NASA’s website over the weekend as the agency’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

上周末，美国宇航局的网站上刊登了第一张照片，作为该局当天的天文照片。

“Analysis and follow-up images revealed the opening to be about 35 meters across,” NASA scientists Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell wrote in the post.

美国宇航局科学家罗伯特·尼米罗夫和杰里·邦内尔在帖子中写道：“分析和后续图像显示，这个洞大约有35米宽。”。

“The interior shadow angle indicates that the underlying cavern is roughly 20 meters deep.”

“从内部阴影角度看，地下洞穴大约有20米深。”

The scientists went on to say that alien life may be lurking in the strange opening.

科学家们接着说，外星生命可能潜伏在这个奇怪的开口处。

Pits like the one in Pavonis Mons will likely be the target of alien-hunting missions to the Red Planet in future.

像帕沃尼斯山这样的深坑很可能是未来到这颗红色星球寻找外星人任务的目标。

“Why there is a circular crater surrounding this hole remains a topic of speculation, as is the full extent of the underlying cavern,” NASA said.

美国宇航局说：“为什么在这个洞周围会有一个圆形的陨石坑，地下洞穴的完整范围也是一个猜测的话题。”。

“Holes such as this are of particular interest because their interior caves are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars.

“像这样的洞特别有趣，因为它们的内部洞穴相对来说受到保护，不受火星粗糙表面的影响。

“This makes them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life.”

“这使它们成为比较适合容纳火星生命的候选地。”

Future missions to explore Martian pits could be conducted by spacecraft, robots, or even human explorers, they added.

他们补充说，未来探索火星坑的任务可能由航天器、机器人，甚至人类探险家来执行。