VOA常速英语2014--Ten Years of Roving Around Mars 十年的火星游荡（在线收听）

Ten Years of Roving Around Mars 十年的火星游荡

WASHINGTON — The U.S. space agency, NASA, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER), which began with the arrival of its robotic vehicles Spirit and Opportunity on the red planet in 2004. The anniversary event, held at the National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, featured a panel of NASA scientists discussing the achievements of the vehicles that have landed on Mars so far, and the future plans for exploring the planet.

美国航空航天局庆祝其火星探测漫游者计划10周年。这个计划始于勇气号和机遇号两部火星探测器2004年对这颗红色行星的考察。10周年庆祝活动在首都华盛顿特区的国家航空航天博物院举行，航空航天局的科学家们讨论了迄今登陆火星的探测器所取得的进展以及未来的计划。

A golf-cart sized vehicle named Spirit landed on Mars on January 4, 2004, while its twin, Opportunity, touched down three weeks later on the opposite side of the planet.

像高尔夫车大小的勇气号火星探测器2004年1月4号登陆火星，而同它一模一样的机遇号则于三个星期之后在火星的另一面登陆。

Although designed to operate for only 90 Martian days (Martian days are about 40 minutes longer than days on Earth), both rovers functioned much longer, and provided mission scientists huge amounts of information about Mars. Geologist John Grant, who was involved with the mission, said the rovers greatly enhanced scientists’ understanding of the planet’s geologic history.

地质学家格兰特说，这对双胞胎火星探测器的设计寿命是90个火星日，但实际工作时间远远超出预期，为科学家提供了大量信息：

“What we essentially get is a field geologist on Mars. Something that can move around on the surface, interrogate the rocks, tell us something about the geologic setting, the environments that were there in the past, but more specifically - what the role of water was in shaping those environments,” said Grant.

“可以说我们在火星有了一位地质学家，它可以在火星表面移动，考察岩石，告诉我们火星的地质情况，过去的环境，更具体点说，就是水在形成那些环境的过程中所发挥的作用。”

NASA lost communication with Spirit in March 2010, but Opportunity remains active, sending scientific data after traveling more than 38 kilometers around the Martian surface. The most significant discovery was evidence that Mars once had water, said Steve Squyres, the mission's principal investigator.

航空航天局2010年3月与勇气号失去联系，但机遇号继续工作，在绕火星表面移动超过38公里之后将科学数据传回地球。火星探测漫游计划首席研究员斯奎尔斯说，最重要的发现是找到了火星曾经有水的证据：

“I did not expect that the evidence for liquid water at and below the surface of Mars was going to be that compelling, that much in our face, you know, when we first landed,” recalled Squyres.

“当我们的探测器最早登陆火星时，我没想到火星表面和地下有液态水的证据会那么确凿，那么明显。”

David Lavery of NASA's Mars Exploration Program said the technologies developed for the Mars rovers are now making their way into everyday life here on Earth.

航空航天局火星探测项目的拉维里说，为火星探测器开发的技术现在已经应用在地球人的日常生活中了：

“I think we’ve all heard at this point about the Google autonomous cars that are now traversing the highways. The technology that is used onboard there, in fact some of the people who developed that technology, have common roots back in technologies that were actually flown on the Mars rovers,” said Lavery.

“我想现在大家都听说了正跑在高速公路上的谷歌自动驾驶汽车。这种汽车上使用的技术，事实上研发那种技术的人，都和火星探测器上使用的技术有共同的地方。”

In August 2012, NASA landed the rover Curiosity on Mars. The size of a small car, it is powered not by batteries but a small nuclear reactor, which should allow it to operate for years. Curiosity will be joined by another rover in 2020, as the U.S. space agency looks ahead to an eventual visit by humans.

2012年8月，航空航天局的好奇号火星探测器登陆火星。好奇号有一辆小汽车大小，不由电池驱动，而是装有一个小型核反应堆，使好奇号能连续工作几年。2020年将有另外一部探测器加盟好奇号，而美国航空航天局正在展望人类最终登陆火星的前景。