演講MP3+雙語文稿:一個微型化的原子鐘如何能徹底改變太空探索

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聽力課堂TED音頻欄目主要包括TED演講的音頻MP3及中英雙語文稿，供各位英語愛好者學(xué)習(xí)使用。本文主要內(nèi)容為演講MP3+雙語文稿:一個微型化的原子鐘如何能徹底改變太空探索，希望你會喜歡！

【演講者及介紹】Jill Seubert

吉爾·休伯特——星際航海家吉爾·休伯特(Jill Seubert)駕駛著宇宙飛船穿越太陽系，用機器人探索人類還無法到達的地方。

【演講主題】一個微型化的原子鐘如何能徹底改變太空探索

【演講文稿-中英文】

翻譯者 Lixing Tan

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Six months ago, I watched with bated breath as NASA's InSight lander descended towards the surface of Mars. Two hundred meters, 80 meters, 60, 40, 20, 17 meters. Receiving confirmation of successful touchdown was one of the most ecstatic moments of my life. And hearing that news was possible because of two small cube sets that went along to Mars with InSight. Those two cube sets essentially livestreamed InSight's telemetry back to Earth, so that we could watch in near-real time as that InSight lander went screaming towards the surface of the red planet, hitting the atmosphere of Mars at a top speed of about 12,000 miles per hour. Now, that event was livestreamed to us from over 90 million miles away. It was livestreamed from Mars.

六個月前，我屏住呼吸，激動的目睹了美國宇航局（NASA）洞察號探測器（InSight）在火星表面著陸的過程。200米，80米，60，40，20，17米…… 接收成功觸地確認的一瞬，是我人生中最為欣喜的時刻。正是跟隨洞察號抵達火星的兩個立方星系統(tǒng)讓我們得以聆聽這則新聞。這兩個立方星系統(tǒng)把洞察號的遙感勘測直播傳送回地球，這才讓我們能幾乎實時地觀看到 洞察號探測器呼嘯著沖向這紅色星球的表面，以12000英里的最高時速沖擊火星大氣層。是的，這一盛況竟然是從遠在九千萬英里之外向我們直播。 這是來自火星的直播。

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Meanwhile, the two Voyager spacecraft -- now, these are these two almost unbelievably intrepid explorers. They were launched the same year that all of us here were being introduced to Han Solo for the first time. And they are still sending back data from interstellar space over 40 years later.

與此同時， 兩架旅行者號（Voyager）航天器—— 這簡直是兩位勇猛驚人的探險家。它們發(fā)射升空時，正是我們初次知曉韓·索羅（Han Solo）（1977版《星球大戰(zhàn)》主角） 的那一年。 如今，40 多年過去了， 它們?nèi)匀辉谛请H間向我們傳回信息。

01：28

We are sending more spacecraft further into deep space than ever before. But every one of those spacecraft out there depends on its navigation being performed right here at Earth to tell it where it is and, far more importantly, where it is going. And we have to do that navigation here on Earth for one simple reason: spacecraft are really bad at telling the time. But if we can change that, we can revolutionize the way we explore deep space.

現(xiàn)在，我們已向更遠的深空發(fā)送了比以往任何時候都多的航天器。但是每一架沖向太空的航天器，都依賴于它所執(zhí)行的、來自地球的導(dǎo)航，來告知它正身處何處，以及更重要的，它將去向何方。我們不得不在地球上進行導(dǎo)航的 一個簡單的原因是：航天器不擅長計時。然而，如果能改變這一點，我們就能顛覆探索深空的方式。

02：00

Now, I am a deep space navigator, and I know you're probably thinking, "What is that job?" Well, it is an extremely unique and also very fun job. I steer spacecraft, from the moment they separate from their launch vehicle to when they reach their destination in space. And these destinations -- say Mars for example, or Jupiter -- they are really far away. To put my job in context for you: it's like me standing here in Los Angeles and shooting an arrow, and with that arrow, I hit a target that's the size of a quarter, and that target the size of a quarter is sitting in Times Square, New York.

我是一個深空導(dǎo)航者。我知道你們現(xiàn)在大概在想 “這是個什么工作？” 事實上，這是一個十分獨特也非常有趣的工作。從航天器與運載工具分離那一刻起，我就會一直操縱著航天器，直到它抵達太空中的目的地。這些目的地，例如火星，又或者木星，它們真的很遙遠。這樣來介紹我的工作吧：就好比我現(xiàn)在站在洛杉磯開始射箭，我要用這支箭射中扎在紐約時代廣場上一個 25 美分硬幣大小的靶子。

02：40

Now, I have the opportunity to adjust the course of my spacecraft a few times along that trajectory, but in order to do that, I need to know where it is. And tracking a spacecraft as it travels through deep space is fundamentally a problem of measuring time. You see, I can't just pull out my ruler and measure how far away my spacecraft is. But I can measure how long it takes a signal to get there and back again. And the concept is exactly the same as an echo. If I stand in front of a mountain and I shout, the longer it takes for me to hear my echo back at me, the further away that mountain is. So we measure that signal time very, very accurately, because getting it wrong by just a tiny fraction of a second might mean the difference between your spacecraft safely and gently landing on the surface of another planet or creating yet another crater on that surface. Just a tiny fraction of a second, and it can be the difference between a mission's life or death.

接下來，沿著它的軌跡，我有幾次機會來調(diào)整航天器航道；可是，為了做調(diào)整，我需要知道它的位置。其實，跟蹤航天器在深空中的飛行，這本質(zhì)上是一個時間測量的問題。要知道，我不可能掏出一把尺子，來丈量航天器離我有多遠。但是，我可以測量的是，一個信號往返所花費的時間。這個概念與回聲完全相同：如果我面對一座山大喊，我聽到回聲所需的時間越長，那座山就越遠。那么，我們必須非常非常準確地測量信號時間，因為僅是弄錯微小的、 幾分之一秒鐘的時間， 就可能意味著航天器是可以安全平穩(wěn)地著陸在另一個星球的表面，還是會在那上面撞出個隕石坑。僅僅是微小的、幾分之一秒鐘， 就事關(guān)任務(wù)的生死成敗。

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