美国“毅力”号火星车成功着陆火星 传回照片

美国东部时间2月18日，美国“毅力”号火星车在火星成功着陆，将寻找火星上可能存在过的生命迹象。此次登陆是为2030年后人类探索火星做准备。

NASA has unveiled the first pictures from its fifth Mars rover, Perseverance, after a successful landing on the red planet's Jezero crater at approximately 3:55 pm Thursday.

“毅力”号火星车于本周四（2月18日）下午3点55分左右在火星的耶泽罗陨石坑成功着陆后，美国宇航局发布了第一批由其传回的照片。“毅力”号是美国宇航局的第五辆火星巡游车。

"This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally – when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks," acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a press release. "The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration."

美国宇航局代理局长史蒂夫·尤尔奇克在一份新闻发布稿中称：“此次着陆是美国宇航局、美利坚合众国和全球太空探索的关键时刻之一。我们正处于发现和磨练的时期，而这次着陆改写了教科书。火星2020“毅力”号任务代表了美国在最具挑战性的形势下坚忍不拔的精神，启发和推动了科学与探索。”

on the cusp: 介于两个状态之间；将要进入特定状态

Perseverance, the most technologically advanced robot NASA has sent to date, traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Station on July 30. It will remain on Mars for nearly two years, searching for signs of ancient life and exploring the planet's surface.

“毅力”号是美国宇航局迄今为止发射的技术最先进的遥控设备。去年7月30日从卡纳维拉尔角空间站搭载联合发射联盟的阿特拉斯5号火箭发射升空后，“毅力”号在6个多月的时间里飞行了2.93亿英里（4.7亿千米）才到达了火星。“毅力”号将在火星上停留近两年，寻找远古生命迹象，探索火星表面。

The mission will help prepare the agency for future human exploration on Mars in the 2030s.

该任务将有助于美国宇航局为2030年后人类探索火星做好准备。

The $2.7 billion rover, built in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide, seven feet tall and about 2,260 pounds, roughly 278 pounds heavier than its predecessor, Curiosity.

这个耗资27亿美元（约合人民币175亿元）的火星车是在美国宇航局位于加州帕萨迪纳市的喷气推进实验室制造的，车体长10英尺（约3米），宽9英尺，高7英尺，重2260磅（约1025千克），比它的前任“好奇”号火星车大约重278磅。

Perserverance is designed to drive an average of 650 feet per Martian day and features seven scientific instruments, a robotic arm that reaches about seven feet long, a rock drill. It is nuclear powered, using a plutonium generator provided by the US Department of Energy.

按照性能要求，“毅力”号平均每个火星日可以行驶650英尺，包含7个科学设备、一个能伸到7英尺长的机器手臂，还有一个凿岩机。这个核动力火星车使用的是美国能源部提供的钚发电机。

The scientific instruments on the rover include a camera designed to take high-definition video, panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface and features in the atmosphere with a zoom lens to magnify distant targets, a group of sensors to measure weather and monitor dust on the planet's surface, a system that will be used to produce oxygen from the Martian carbon-dioxide atmosphere, an x-ray and camera system that can measure the chemical makeup of rocks and analyze features as small as a grain of salt, a ground-penetrating radar system to analyze geologic features under Mars' surface, a group of cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals as well as take close up images of rock grains and surface textures, and a camera to identify the chemical composition of rocks and soils, including their atomic and molecular makeup.

火星车上的科研设备包括一台可拍摄火星表面和大气特征的高清视频、全景全色三维影像并配备放大远处目标物体的变焦镜头摄像机，一组可以观测天气和监控火星表面尘土的传感器，一个能用火星大气中的二氧化碳制造氧气的系统，一个可以测定岩石化学成分和分析细微特征的X光摄像系统，一个分析火星表面下的地质特征的地面穿透雷达系统，一组搜寻有机物、矿物质并给岩石颗粒和表面纹理近距离拍照的摄像机、光谱分析仪和激光器，以及一台识别包括原子和分子成分在内的岩石泥土化学成分的摄像机。

In addition, the rover carries a commemorative plate to honor COVID-19 healthcare workers and has the names of 10.9 million people stenciled into three of its silicon chips with the words "Explore as one" written in Morse code.

此外，这辆火星车还携带了一块致敬新冠肺炎医护人员的纪念牌，把1090万人的名字刻在了纪念牌的三块硅晶片上，并用摩尔斯电报编码写上了“齐心探索”。

Scientists hope to find biosignatures embedded in samples of ancient sediments that Perseverance is designed to extract from Martian rock for future analysis back on Earth – the first such specimens ever collected by humankind from another planet.

科学家希望能在“毅力”号从火星岩石提取以供未来地球分析的古老沉积物样本中找到生命信号，这是人类首次从其他星球采集到这种样本。

Two subsequent Mars missions are planned to retrieve the samples and return them to Nasa in the next decade.

下一个十年计划开展两次火星任务，从火星取回样本送到美国宇航局。

Apart from Nasa, missions from the UAE and China to Mars also kicked off last year. In 2023 the European Space Agency is expected to land on Mars its Rosalind Franklin rover, which will carry a drill capable of reaching metres below the surface, where biomolecules may survive protected from the harsh conditions above.

除了美国宇航局外，去年阿联酋和中国也执行了太空任务。2023年欧洲航天局的罗莎琳·富兰克林漫游车将在火星着陆，这辆火星车上将搭载一个可钻入地下数米的钻孔机，那里可能存活着远离地表恶劣环境的生物分子。