了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S10E02

Part 3 Aug. 5, 2022, 5:04 p.m.

that are transparent.
当宇宙射线穿过这些细胞时
Well, when a cosmic ray
travels through them,
它会破坏这些细胞，使它们浑浊
it can damage those cells
and make them cloudy,
最终导致白内障
causing cataracts.
当NASA检查宇航员的头盔时
When NASA examines
the astronauts' helmets,
他们发现了蚀刻在头盔上的微小痕迹
they find tiny tracks etched
through them,
这是宇宙射线撞击的证据
evidence of cosmic ray impacts.
当我们说宇宙射线就像微小的子弹时
When we say that cosmic rays
are like tiny little bullets,
我们不是在开玩笑
we're not joking around.
其中一些穿透了头盔
And some of these burrowed all
the way through the helmet,
这意味着它最终进入了宇航员的大脑
which means it ended up
in the astronaut's brain,
这让我觉得很奇怪
which just makes me feel weird
to think about.
达特内尔:长♥期♥的辐射会对你的大脑
DARTNELL: What might that
long-term radiation
对人类在有史以来最危险的环境中
do to your brain,
to your ability to reason
思考和解决问题的能力
and problem solve in one of
the most dangerous environments
产生什么影响？
that humanity has ever
placed itself?
我们离地球越远
The farther we venture
from our home planet,
面临的危险就越大
the more danger we face.
宇宙射线，高能的空间粒子
Cosmic rays, highly
energetic space particles,
可能是人类太空探索的最严重威胁
may be the most serious threat
to human space exploration.
达特纳尔:好莱坞对外太空的概念是
DARTNELL: The Hollywood
conception of outer space is
充满了危险，比如外星人
it's full of dangers like aliens
挥舞着射线枪、黑洞
wielding ray guns or black holes
或小行星阵雨等
or asteroid showers.
但实际上
But in reality, the biggest
宇航员面临的最大危险是无形的
danger facing astronauts
is invisible.
就是宇宙射线
It's the cosmic radiation.
暴露于宇宙射线的几天后
Cosmic rays damaged
Apollo astronauts' eyes
就损坏了阿波罗号♥宇航员的眼睛
after just a few days' exposure.
去火星的单程旅行需要九个月
A one-way trip to Mars takes
nine months.
未来的任务
Future missions are going to be
将在太空中花费更长的时间
spending much longer times
in space,
这意味着我们真的需要
which means we really need to
考虑宇宙射线对我们的影响
consider how cosmic rays will
impact us.
克里斯蒂安:我们不知道持续不断的宇宙射线雨的
CHRISTIAN: We don't understand
all the long-term effects
所有长♥期♥影响
from a steady rain of
cosmic rays,
但宇航员们必须要处理它
but the astronauts are gonna
have to deal with it.
为了进一步研究，科学家们
To find out more,
scientists bombarded
用人造宇宙射线粒子轰击人类细胞
human cells with manmade
cosmic ray particles.
他们发现宇宙射线从物理上切割DNA
They discovered cosmic rays
physically cut through DNA,
将其分解
chopping it apart.
到目前为止，细胞内的DNA损伤
Damage to DNA in your cell is
是最严重的一种伤害，因为你的DNA
by far the worst kind,
because your DNA
是细胞的操作手册
is the cell's operating
manuals, the blueprints
是细胞知道如何正常运作的蓝图
so the cell knows how it
should be functioning normally.
它可以触发细胞
You can trigger that cell to
变成肿瘤，并开始产生癌症
turn tumorous,
to start producing cancer.
2019年，科学家们进一步进行了实验
In 2019, scientists
took the experiment
模拟了一次火星之旅……
further and simulated
a trip to Mars...
在六个月的时间里
for mice --
For six months,
他们用实验室制♥造♥的宇宙射线粒子
they blasted the rodents with
a steady
持续不断地攻击这些啮齿动物
<可怜的啮齿动物>
stream of lab-made
cosmic ray particles.
实验发现老鼠的正常行为
The experiment found
profound alterations
发生了深刻的变化
to the mice's normal behavior.
他们学习新任务的速度会变慢很多
They learned new tasks
much more slowly.
他们的记忆受到影响
Their memory was affected,
and they
他们会忘记已经学过的东西
forgot things they had
already learned.
他们更焦虑
They were more anxious
and prone to
更容易放弃他们通常会完成的任务
giving up on tasks
they'd normally complete.
如果你把一些受辐射的老鼠
If you put some of these
irradiated mice into
放到游泳测试中，发现它们并没有试图游到安全的地方
a swimming test, rather than
trying to swim to safety,
许多老鼠只是简单地放弃了
many of them just simply
gave up.
克里斯蒂安:这很重要，因为我们需要
CHRISTIAN: This is important,
because we need
我们的宇航员在任务中能够充分发挥
our astronauts to be
fully functioning.
为什么一定要执行载人任务
The reason why you do
crewed missions is because
是因为人类的大脑比任何计算机都要好得多
the human brain is much better
than any computer.
普莱特:如果他们中有一个人出了问题
PLAIT: If even one of them
has a problem,
这甚至会使任务和他们的生命处于危险之中
it can even put the mission
and their lives in jeopardy.
其他研究发现，宇宙射线会加速衰老
Other studies discover
cosmic rays can accelerate
改变基因，并导致心血管疾病
aging, alter genes, and cause
cardiovascular disease.
这听起来已经够糟糕的了
That sounds bad enough,
但还有一个更迫在眉睫的危险
but there's
a more immediate danger.
当宇宙射线穿透宇宙飞船时
When cosmic rays
penetrate spaceships,
它们会烧毁电子系统
they can fry electronic
systems, and that's enough to
这足以危及任务
jeopardize a mission.
我们在太空的运作依赖电子设备，依赖计算机
Our operations in space depend
on electronics, on computers.
最坏的情况是错误的宇宙射线
And the worst case scenario is
that the wrong cosmic ray comes
在错误的时间
at the wrong time and hits
到达错误的电路，并导致一系列的故障
the wrong circuit, and it leads
to a cascading series of
最终完全危及任务
failures that can totally
jeopardize a mission.
我们在摄像机中看到了这次袭击的证据
We see evidence of this
onslaught in mission cameras.
即使我们在太空中有一个探测器
Even when we have
a detector in space
比如哈勃太空望远镜
like on
the Hubble Space Telescope,
如果你看到的是原始图像
if you saw a raw image,
它看起来并不像那些向公众展示的
it doesn't look like
the beautiful images
非常美丽的图像
that are shown to the public.
这些图像受到宇宙射线干扰
They're just crossed with
cosmic rays, and those
并且这些宇宙射线会随着时间的推移慢慢摧毁探测器
cosmic rays are destroying
that detector slowly over time.
那么我们如何保护宇航员和他们的设备呢？
So how can we protect
astronauts and their equipment?
显而易见的答案是增加屏蔽
The obvious answer is to
add shielding.
萨特:这事说得容易，比如说，哦，再加些东西就好了
SUTTER: It's one thing to say
like, oh, just add more stuff.
但是你见过火箭发射吗？
But have you seen rocket
launches and how hard they are,
火箭发射有多困难，把东西送上太空有多贵？
how expensive it is to get
stuff up into space?
NASA确实有一个计划
NASA does have a plan.
用于阿尔忒弥斯登月任务的宇宙飞船