美國“毅力”號火星車成功着陸火星 傳回照片

美國東部時間2月18日，美國“毅力”號火星車在火星成功着陸，將尋找火星上可能存在過的生命跡象。此次登陸是爲2030年後人類探索火星做準備。

NASA has unveiled the first pictures from its fifth Mars rover, Perseverance, after a successful landing on the red planet's Jezero crater at approximately 3:55 pm Thursday.

“毅力”號火星車於本週四（2月18日）下午3點55分左右在火星的耶澤羅隕石坑成功着陸後，美國宇航局發佈了第一批由其傳回的照片。“毅力”號是美國宇航局的第五輛火星巡遊車。

"This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally – when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a press release. "The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration."

美國宇航局代理局長史蒂夫·尤爾奇克在一份新聞發佈稿中稱：“此次着陸是美國宇航局、美利堅合衆國和全球太空探索的關鍵時刻之一。我們正處於發現和磨練的時期，而這次着陸改寫了教科書。火星2020“毅力”號任務代表了美國在最具挑戰性的形勢下堅忍不拔的精神，啓發和推動了科學與探索。”

on the cusp: 介於兩個狀態之間；將要進入特定狀態

Perseverance, the most technologically advanced robot NASA has sent to date, traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Station on July 30. It will remain on Mars for nearly two years, searching for signs of ancient life and exploring the planet's surface.

“毅力”號是美國宇航局迄今爲止發射的技術最先進的遙控設備。去年7月30日從卡納維拉爾角空間站搭載聯合發射聯盟的阿特拉斯5號火箭發射升空後，“毅力”號在6個多月的時間裏飛行了2.93億英里（4.7億千米）纔到達了火星。“毅力”號將在火星上停留近兩年，尋找遠古生命跡象，探索火星表面。

The mission will help prepare the agency for future human exploration on Mars in the 2030s.

該任務將有助於美國宇航局爲2030年後人類探索火星做好準備。

The $2.7 billion rover, built in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide, seven feet tall and about 2,260 pounds, roughly 278 pounds heavier than its predecessor, Curiosity.

這個耗資27億美元（約合人民幣175億元）的火星車是在美國宇航局位於加州帕薩迪納市的噴氣推進實驗室製造的，車體長10英尺（約3米），寬9英尺，高7英尺，重2260磅（約1025千克），比它的前任“好奇”號火星車大約重278磅。

Perserverance is designed to drive an average of 650 feet per Martian day and features seven scientific instruments, a robotic arm that reaches about seven feet long, a rock drill. It is nuclear powered, using a plutonium generator provided by the US Department of Energy.

按照性能要求，“毅力”號平均每個火星日可以行駛650英尺，包含7個科學設備、一個能伸到7英尺長的機器手臂，還有一個鑿岩機。這個核動力火星車使用的是美國能源部提供的鈈發電機。

The scientific instruments on the rover include a camera designed to take high-definition video, panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface and features in the atmosphere with a zoom lens to magnify distant targets, a group of sensors to measure weather and monitor dust on the planet's surface, a system that will be used to produce oxygen from the Martian carbon-dioxide atmosphere, an x-ray and camera system that can measure the chemical makeup of rocks and analyze features as small as a grain of salt, a ground-penetrating radar system to analyze geologic features under Mars' surface, a group of cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals as well as take close up images of rock grains and surface textures, and a camera to identify the chemical composition of rocks and soils, including their atomic and molecular makeup.

火星車上的科研設備包括一臺可拍攝火星表面和大氣特徵的高清視頻、全景全色三維影像並配備放大遠處目標物體的變焦鏡頭攝像機，一組可以觀測天氣和監控火星表面塵土的傳感器，一個能用火星大氣中的二氧化碳製造氧氣的系統，一個可以測定岩石化學成分和分析細微特徵的X光攝像系統，一個分析火星表面下的地質特徵的地面穿透雷達系統，一組搜尋有機物、礦物質並給岩石顆粒和表面紋理近距離拍照的攝像機、光譜分析儀和激光器，以及一臺識別包括原子和分子成分在內的岩石泥土化學成分的攝像機。

In addition, the rover carries a commemorative plate to honor COVID-19 healthcare workers and has the names of 10.9 million people stenciled into three of its silicon chips with the words "Explore as one" written in Morse code.

此外，這輛火星車還攜帶了一塊致敬新冠肺炎醫護人員的紀念牌，把1090萬人的名字刻在了紀念牌的三塊硅晶片上，並用摩爾斯電報編碼寫上了“齊心探索”。

Scientists hope to find biosignatures embedded in samples of ancient sediments that Perseverance is designed to extract from Martian rock for future analysis back on Earth – the first such specimens ever collected by humankind from another planet.

科學家希望能在“毅力”號從火星岩石提取以供未來地球分析的古老沉積物樣本中找到生命信號，這是人類首次從其他星球採集到這種樣本。

Two subsequent Mars missions are planned to retrieve the samples and return them to Nasa in the next decade.

下一個十年計劃開展兩次火星任務，從火星取回樣本送到美國宇航局。

Apart from Nasa, missions from the UAE and China to Mars also kicked off last year. In 2023 the European Space Agency is expected to land on Mars its Rosalind Franklin rover, which will carry a drill capable of reaching metres below the surface, where biomolecules may survive protected from the harsh conditions above.

除了美國宇航局外，去年阿聯酋和中國也執行了太空任務。2023年歐洲航天局的羅莎琳·富蘭克林漫遊車將在火星着陸，這輛火星車上將搭載一個可鑽入地下數米的鑽孔機，那裏可能存活着遠離地表惡劣環境的生物分子。