VOA常速英语:ESA’s Mars Rover Undergoes Testing

Slowly rolling across specially dried sand, at the Airbuses testing site in Stevenage north of London, the ExoMars Rover is proving that its wheels can easily conform to the shape of rocks.
在伦敦以北斯蒂夫尼奇的空客试验场，火星漫步正慢慢地滚动在特制的干沙上，证明了它的轮子可以轻易通过各种形状的岩石。
There’s a good reason why they are not made of rubber, says eases mechanical engineer Abbie Hutty.
机械工程师阿比·赫蒂说，他们有充分的理由说明为什么不用橡胶制造这些轮子。
We don’t want to take anything that’s organic from earth with us. So we’ve managed to create this wheel that’s fully flexible but made out of effectively a membranous spring of metal.
我们不想携带地球上的任何有机物质。所以我们成功用一种金属膜弹簧制成了这种十分灵活的轮子。
The ExoMars Rover project developed by ESA in the Russian space agency Roscosmos will be the first specifically dedicated to search for signs of life.
由欧洲航天局在俄罗斯宇航局研发的火星漫步者将成为第一个专门致力于搜寻生命迹象的项目。
All missions up to now have only dug the top 5 centimeters of the surface and we will go down to 2 meters. This is very important.
到目前为止，所有的机器只能挖到地表5厘米处，我们将挖到地下2米。这是至关重要的一部。
Because it is in the subsurface and at depth, we have the best chance of finding evidence for the possible past presence of life on Mars.
因为是在地下和更深的地方，所以我们有最好的机会找到证据，以证明过去火星上可能存在生命。
Mars has almost no atmosphere to shield it from extreme temperatures, ranging from minus 100 degrees centigrade at night to plus 90 degrees at noon.
火星几乎没有大气层来保护它不受极端温度的影响，气温变化可从晚上的零下100摄氏度到中午的90度。
It also does not have a magnetic field like Earth’s which blocks cosmic radiation. So life as we know it couldn’t survive on its surface.
它也没有像地球一样阻挡宇宙辐射的磁场，所以据我们所知，生命无法在其表面生存。
Down below different layers of rocks maybe in the surface between three different layers of rocks where there’s water deposits and that kind of thing. That could be a nice place for that life to still be surviving.
在岩石的不同的层面下，可能在三层不同的岩石之间存有水的沉积物和类似的物质。这儿可能是生命能够继续存活的理想的地方。
The lack of a magnetic field presents another challenge. A compass does not work on Mars. At a distance of 54 million kilometers from Earth combined with the planets rotation that makes driving the rover remotely a fairly complex task.
磁场的缺乏是另一个挑战。指南针在上面起不了作用。火星距离地球5400万公里，再加上行星的自转，使得远距离驱动漫步者是一项相当复杂的任务。
So it’s just on its own on the planet’s surface, if it can look at what’s in front of it, decide where it’s got to go, how it’s going to pick it, pass safely through that and drive all by itself. You can a lot more science during the lifetime of the rover.
因此，它只是在行星表面上的时候，像如何使它能看前面的物体，决定要去哪里，将怎样捡起来那个物体，并能够自行安全地通过。你就需要对漫步者做大量的科研工作。
Scientists say once it lands safely on Mars, the ExoMars Rover will be able to travel up to 100 meters per day, drilling soil and looking for signs of life.
科学家称，一旦在火星上安全着陆，火星漫步者将能够每天前进100米去钻探土壤和寻找生命的迹象。
George Putic VOA news
乔治·普蒂奇美国之音为您报道