纪录片《火星任务》 第8期 火星任务

Adam Stelzner has spent years

亚当·施特尔茨纳花费数年

working out how to do it.

研究如何实现计划

He will take control of the rover

当火星车进入火星大气层后

as it begins to enter the Martian atmosphere.

将由他控制火星车

And he won't be able to rely

但让月球车

upon the systems that got the lunar rover down safely

安全降落在月球表面的系统

onto the surface of the moon.

无法满足他的要求

Mars is tough.

火星条件很恶劣

The moon,

而月球

where we've landed lunar modules¹ on the moon before,

登月舱曾经在此成功降落

does not have any atmosphere

没有大气层

and it makes the process of getting down to the surface kind of simple.

这使降落到月面的过程相对容易

You take a rocket engine,

只要有个火箭发动机

you turn it on and you slow yourself down

让它自己减速

until you touch down on the surface.

直到你抵达月面

Unlike the lunar rovers,

与月球车不同

Curiosity will have to battle an unpredictable atmosphere.

好奇号将与无法预测的大气战斗

Historically,

一直以来

Mars has been evil.

火星都很难对付

You don't know what the weather's going to be like,

我们无法预知登陆时的天气

you don't know whether the

我们没法知道

atmosphere's going to be dense² or diffuse³.

那时的大气是密是疏

Will it be a hot day and not so dense,

是空气较稀薄的大热天呢

or a cold and dense day?

还是空气稠密的大冷天

1 modules   

n.模块( module的名词复数 )；单元；（宇宙飞船上各个独立的）舱；组件

参考例句：

• The course consists of ten core modules and five optional modules. 这门课程包括十个必修单元和五个选修单元。
• Our English course is divided into modules on poetry, drama, and novels. 我们的英语课分为诗歌、戏剧和小说等单元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 diffuse   

v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的

参考例句：

• Direct light is better for reading than diffuse light.直射光比漫射光更有利于阅读。
• His talk was so diffuse that I missed his point.他的谈话漫无边际，我抓不住他的要点。