VOA常速英语2013--开普勒望远镜危在旦夕（在线收听）

Kepler Telescope's Planet-hunting Days End 开普勒望远镜危在旦夕

NASA is ending its attempts to restore the Kepler Space Telescope to full working order. The US space agency will now focus on analyzing the data collected over the past four years as the spacecraft searched for Earth-like planets around other stars in our galaxy.

美国国家航空航天局正打算放弃对开普勒天文望远镜的修复。美国宇航局将致力于分析在过去四年间在我们银河系寻找类地行星收集到的数据。

Launched in 2009, Kepler’s mission was to find Earth-sized planets in or near the habitable zone, the region around a sun-like star where liquid water can exist on the surface of the planet. The mission’s principal investigator said Kepler has been spectacularly successful.

开普勒是2009年升空的，它的任务是在适合居住区里或附近找到类地行星。这个区域要围绕在类似太阳的行星，在星球的表面存在水。这个任务的首要调查员说开普勒真的是非常成功。

“At the beginning of the mission, no one knew whether Earth-sized planets were abundant or rare in our galaxy. Now at the completion of the Kepler observations, we know that our galaxy is filled to the brim with planets," William Borucki said. "It’s likely when you look up at the sky at night and see the sky covered with stars, most of the stars have planets."

“在任务开始之初，没有知道在我们银河系地球大小的星球是多还是少。现在，开普勒的观测任务已经完成，我们知道我们银河系里有数之不尽的行星。”William Borucki说“这是可能的，夜晚当你抬头仰望天际，满天繁星，大部分天体函有行星。”

Kepler discovered 135 planets and over 3,500 planet candidates with a wide range of sizes and orbital distances. Most of these planets are small, like the Earth. 

开普勒发现了135个行星和超过3500个的类地行星候选，这些星球幅员辽阔有足够的绕行距离。这些行星大部分和地球一般大小。

The four-year mission was extended in 2012, but ended last week after engineers failed to repair two broken reaction wheels necessary to precisely point the spacecraft. Deputy project manager Charles Sobeck says the decision was obvious.

4年任务在2012年时被延长了，但是在上周结束了，工程师无法成功修复两个坏了的反作用轮，反作用轮能够使望远镜精确定位。该项目的副负责人Charles Sobeck说该决定是对的。

“The wheels are sufficiently damaged that they cannot sustain spacecraft pointing control for any extended period of time,” said Sobeck.  

“反作用轮严重受损，它们再也不能控制航天器的转向。”

With its observational capability compromised, the Kepler team is looking into whether the space telescope can conduct a different type of mission, potentially including an exoplanet search, using the two operational reaction wheels and thrusters. NASA has called on the science community for ideas.

因为它的观测能力受限，开普勒工作小组正试图寻找望远镜能够胜任的其他任务。可能是利用两个能够工作的反作用轮和推进器进行外太空搜寻工作。美国航空航天局已经向科学界寻求意见。

“They are not proposals. They are not asking for funds," Borucki said. "They are suggesting ideas and we look at them [and ask], 'Which of these would be practical? Which of these could we do at a reasonable cost?'”

“它们不是提议，它们不需要经费，”Borucki说“它们是一些想法，我们会看看这些想法是否可行，这些想法的开销是否在合理范围内”

Kepler’s scientific mission is not over. The scientific team is now focusing on data collected by the spacecraft over the past four years, which Borucki expects will yield hundreds if not thousands of new discoveries.

开普勒的科学任务没有结束，科学团队正致力于航天器在过去4年收集到的数据的分析，Borucki期望是即使没有上千类地行星的发现也有上百收获。

“And so basically in the next few years when we complete this analysis we will be able to answer the questions that inspired the Kepler mission: Are Earths common or rare in our galaxy?” he said.

“在未来的几年，当我们完成数据的分析我们可以肯定的回答一直激励着开普勒任务的问题，地球是否是银河系的唯一”

Borucki sees Kepler’s journey is a “critical first step in the exploration of our galaxy.” NASA is scheduled to launch a follow-up mission to Kepler in 2017. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will look for larger, brighter planets closer to our solar system than Kepler did.

Borucki把开普勒望远镜的工作历程看作是一个重要的迈向探索银河系的第一步。美国国家航空航天局计划着在2017年发射一个继承者继续着开普勒的任务。过境的系外行星探测卫星将会寻找更大的更亮的靠近我们太阳系的行星。