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美国好奇号将登陆火星

The U.S. space agency is preparing for its newest Mars rover, Curiosity, to touch down on the Red Planet on August 6. The rover's entry and descent will be nerve-wracking for NASA engineers, compounded by a 14-minute delay as the rover's signals travel to Earth from Mars. If successful, Curiosity will be the seventh NASA spacecraft to land on the Red Planet.

美国宇航局正在为最新的火星探测车“好奇号”8月6日登陆火星做准备。宇航局的工程师们为好奇号在火星降落捏了一把汗，再加上信号从火星传到地球需要14分钟，更让工程师们倍感心焦。如果成功，好奇号将是美国宇航局成功送达火星的第六辆探测车。

Curiosity is the centerpiece of the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, launched in November aboard an Atlas¹ V rocket. It's traveled some 560 million kilometers toward its destination, the Red Planet.

好奇号是耗资25亿美元的火星科学试验室的王牌产品，于去年11月搭乘擎天神5号火箭升空。它要穿越5亿6千万公里太空，才能抵达红色的星球--火星。

Curiosity is a "Mars scientist's dream machine," said Deputy Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada ahead of its launch. "This rover is not only the most technically² capable rover ever sent to another planet, but it's actually the most capable scientific explorer we've ever sent out," he said.

火星探测项目负责人之一、科学家阿什维.瓦萨瓦达说，好奇号是火星科学家的“梦想之机”：“它不仅是我们送往其他星球的技术能力最强的探测车，也是最具科学探测能力的探测车。”

Curiosity will be traveling at about 20,000 kilometers per hour when it hits the Martian atmosphere. It will have only seven minutes to reduce its speed for a soft landing. NASA engineers will not be able to control or even witness the events in real time. They call this period "seven minutes of terror." (A NASA animation³ shows how the landing sequence works).

好奇号将以每小时两万公里的速度飞行，直到进入火星气层。为软着陆，好奇号只有7分钟时间减速。美国宇航局的科学家们不能控制这一切，甚至不能即时目睹这一切。他们把这叫作“恐怖7分钟”。

Ideally, after a parachute deploys⁴, engines will fire for a powered descent.

如果一切顺利，在好奇号的降落伞弹出后，引擎将为自身动力降落而起火发动。

Curiosity will be lowered to the Martian surface on cables and cut loose. Then the rocket pack will blast off.

火箭将用缆绳把好奇号降落在火星表面。割断缆绳后，运载火箭飞离。

Curiosity is the size of a small car and has 17 cameras. It's much larger than previous rovers and can travel as far as 200 meters per day.

好奇号大小如同一辆小型轿车，装有17个摄像机。它比以前的火星车都大，每天可以移动200米。

It's a nuclear-powered mobile laboratory.

实际上，它是一个可移动的核动力火星试验室。

The remote-controlled vehicle can gather samples of soil and rocks and analyze⁵ them using instruments onboard.

这辆远程控制火星车可以收集土壤和岩石样本，并使用机载仪器进行分析。

The goal is to see if the area ever had environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life, explains Vasavada. "This mission is really about looking for those habitable environments, and not detecting life itself," he said.

火星科学家瓦萨瓦达说，这次行动的目的是测试那里是否曾经有过可以让微生物生命生存的环境，而不是寻找生命本身。

A team of space agency scientists selected the landing site, the foot of a mountain within a deep, 150-kilometer-wide depression called Gale⁶ Crater⁷. Each layer of rock contains clues about the planet's evolution.

美国宇航局的太空科学家为好奇号选择了着陆地点，在位于150公里宽的深深盖尔陨石坑中的一个高地的脚下，那里的每一层岩石都隐藏着火星形成进化的线索。

Curiosity will investigate Martian geology, weather and radiation levels during the mission, which is expected to last about two Earth years. . .the equivalent of one Martian year.

好奇号将研究火星的地质、气候、幅射水平。这次行动预计将持续两年，而地球上的两年是火星上的一年。