地平线系列：火星旅行者指南（2017）

Horizon: Mars - A Traveller's Guide

Part 9 April 23, 2021, 1:53 p.m.

我们把这些微生物放在
We've subjected these microbes to similar sorts of environments
与火星环境相似的条件下没有氧气
that you might find on Mars - so no oxygen,
非常少量的能量
very low amounts of energy,
非常少量的营养
very low concentrations of nutrients -
在这种环境下
and in those sorts of environments,
这些微生物不仅能存活还能生长
these microbes can not only survive, they can also grow.
这些结果向我们表明
What these results show us
火星上某些盐矿环境
is that some of these salty environments
也是适宜生存的
on Mars may well have been habitable.
或许看起来不太像
It may not look like much,
但这是目前所见的最接近火星生命的物质
but this is the closest thing to life on Mars anyone has seen.
我经常开玩笑说如果你把我送到萨瑞南高地
I often joke that, if you send me to Terra Sirenum
只需要一台显微镜和一把铁铲
with a microscope and a shovel,
几小时之内我就能告诉你火星上是否存在生命
I can tell you within a few hours whether there's life on Mars.
我认为最简单的做法就是去采集样品
I think the simplest thing to do is to collect samples.
如果你能从火星采集来的样品中培养出东西
If you could grow something from a sample taken from Mars
然后在显微镜下观察你的那些微生物
and just look at your microbes under a microscope,
很可能看起来就和这个有点像
it would probably look a bit like this.
考克尔教授等天体生物学家正在试图证实
Astrobiologists like Professor Cockell are building a case
火星上的盐化平原可能是适宜生存的
that the salt plains on Mars are potentially habitable.
准备深挖地面的好奇旅行者
The inquisitive traveller prepared to dig deep
可能会发现隐藏于火星表面之下的
might just find some of the local wildlife
当地野生生物
sheltered beneath the subsurface.
这可能会是本世纪最大的发现
It would be the discovery of the century
而且证实在宇宙其它角落
and prove that life probably exists
也很可能存在着生命
elsewhere in the universe, too.
这可能是这场史无前例之旅的完美终点
And it would be the perfect end to an epic journey.
火星这颗红色星球
Mars, the Red Planet.
一个很多地方像地球但也完全不同的世界
A world similar to ours in so many ways, yet also totally alien.
一个等待被探索的世界
A world waiting to be explored.
很多科学家相信第一个踏上火星的人
Many scientists believe that the first person
就在你我之中
to set foot on its surface is alive today.
某个人在某处
Someone, somewhere,
仰望着夜空
looking up into the night sky
瞥见到那颗小小的铁锈色的行星
and glimpsing the small, rusty planet
或许有一天会踏上火星之旅
may one day make the journey there.
他们甚至会发现第一个外星生命
They may even discover the first alien life.
或许就是正在看这段影片的某个人
Perhaps it's someone watching this film.
或许就是你
Perhaps it's you.