宇宙（2007）

bacteria actually used to eat toxic waste.
这些细菌以有毒废料为食
And in terms of life, it's a good news, bad news thing.
就生存而言 它是一把双刃剑
While microbes might feed on the toxic soil,
这些微生物能以有毒土壤为食
It could be deadly for humans on Mars.
这些土壤对火星上的人类来说却是致命的
We don't know how that perchlorate compound
我们不清楚这些高氯酸盐化合物
might be changing the surface.
能否改变地表环境
The surface might be in some kind of a super-oxidated state
火星的地表处于高度氧化的状态
That could ultimately prove to be, for example,
最后可能会导致 比如
corrosive to astronaut suits.
宇航员的航♥天♥服被腐蚀
One thing is certain, after five months of exploration,
可以确定的是 经历了5个月的探测
Phoenix's mission is threatened by a dust storm,
一股沙尘暴对凤♥凰♥号♥完成使命造成了威胁
sweeping across the Martian plains,
它正席卷火星平原
burying everything in its path.
所到之处 皆成沙海
In a storm so fierce, the Phoenix lander is doomed.
在如此猛烈的风暴下 凤♥凰♥号♥探测器死定了
When NASA's Phoenix lander
美国宇航局的凤♥凰♥号♥探测器
digs into frozen water on Mars,
在火星上挖掘出的凝结水
it finds new evidence
是一条新的证据
that the red planet could once have harbored life.
表明这个红色星球可能曾经孕育着生命
But in the autumn of 2008,
可在2008年的秋天
Phoenix's own life is about to end.
凤♥凰♥号♥自己的生命就要结束了
On Mars, the wind comes along and whips up
在火星上 风一吹过 就会卷起
the dust, which is very, very fine-grain like flower,
像花粉粒一般的微粒尘埃
extremely fine-grained material,
它们都是十分微小的物质
whips it up into the atmosphere and it
被吹到大气中
slowly settles out, blanketing everything.
然后慢慢沉积下来 淹没一切
Red dust coats the solar panels of the Phoenix lander.
红色尘埃覆盖了凤♥凰♥号♥探测器的太阳能板
sunlight, its only source of power,
日光 它唯一的能量来源
can't get through.
无法穿透这层尘衣
The Phoenix lander has to spend a lot of time recharging its batteries
凤♥凰♥号♥探测器须花很长的时间充电
Because we know that it's gonna get very cold at night,
因为夜晚温度很低
and it's going to have to run those heaters at night
必须运行加热器
to stay alive.
才能保证运行
on November 2, 2008,
2008年 11月2号♥
Phoenix shuts down for the last time.
凤♥凰♥号♥最后一次关闭 再也没能启动
As the Martian winter deepens,
随着火星上冬意渐浓
frozen carbon dioxide piles up and imprisons the probe in a tomb of dry ice.
凤♥凰♥号♥探头也被♥干♥冰所冻结
But Phoenix's data continues to be analyzed.
但是人们继续分♥析♥着凤♥凰♥号♥搜集的数据
Going to Mars and taking measurements on the surface,
到火星表面去采样
getting detailed data about chemistry of Mars
取得更详细的化学数据
and Mars' chemistry of the surface
火星表面的化学成分
was an essential piece to determining
是决定其是否存在水的
for sure that water existed on Mars.
一个重要因素
Water is essential to life.
水是生命之源
But according to the latest evidence,
但是根据最新的证据
it's only one of many forces that shaped Mars.
那仅仅只是火星形成的众多因素之一
You can kinda break down our thinking of Mars now
你可以将火星分成四个历史时期来思考
into maybe like four quarters of a football game.
就像一场球赛分为四节一样
The first quarter,
第一个历史时期
from about 4.6 to 3.2 billion years ago, is action packed.
大约46至32亿年前 大量陨石聚合
Mars forms along with the other planets
火星与其他星球一道
as swirling gas and debris combine and cool into a rocky world.
由气体和碎石聚合冷却形成
Then Mars is bombarded and scarred by meteoroids.
紧接着 流星撞击火星 留下疮疤
There was a lot of cratering going on.
形成了很多坑洞
And then towards the end of that period,
在这段时间的末期
there was a lot of geologic features that suggest
非常多的地表特征暗示
that there was water flowing on the surface.
火星表层曾有过流动水存在
That new evidence includes
新证据包含有
this series of ridges, photographed in 2009
美国宇航局的火星侦察轨道器
by NASA's MarsReconnaissance Orbiter.
于2009年拍摄的一系列山脊照片
It's the first definitive lakeshore discovered on Mars,
这是第一次明确地发现火星上有湖岸
The remains of a lake the size of North America's Lake Champlain.
从湖的遗迹看 其约有北美尚普兰湖大小
Every piece of evidence about
每一条关于火星上
the presence and the history of water on Mars
水存在的证据和历史遗迹
is so important
对于宇宙中是否
to determining whether we might be alone in the universe.
只有地球存在生命都是非常重要的
Some scientists even say 5 billion years ago,
一些科学家甚至说 50亿年前
an ocean the size of the atlantic
曾有一个大西洋大小的海洋
covered 1/3 of Mars.
覆盖了1/3的火星表面
Maybe with enough time anand enough water,
如果有足够的时间和水源
life formed on Mars as well.
火星上也会形成生命
As the first quarter of Mars' history ends,
随着火星第一个历史时期的结束
the second starts with a bang.
第二个时期随着一声巨响来到
as volcanoes reshape the planet.
由于火山爆发 重塑了火星
There was significant Volcanic activity.
此时火山活动异常壮观
Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the solar system.
火星奥林帕斯山是太阳系最大的火山
so we know there were big volcanoes in the past.
由此得知 过去这里存在大火山
Mars is blanketed with black volcanic basalt,
火星被黑色火山玄武岩所覆盖
Like the basalt found around Hawaiian volcanoes.
就像夏威夷火山周围发现的玄武岩一样
And the chemicals rereleased from volcanoes,
火山爆发释放出的化学物质
including sulfur, mix with the water.
包含硫 并混合了水
That was left and make things acidic,
从而降下酸性物质
kind of like acid rain on Earth and that sort of thing.
就像地球上的酸雨一类的物质
At the same time, the atmosphere seems to be
同时 大气层似乎在收缩
shrinking and water becoming more scarce
水资源变得越来越稀少
and less stable on the surface.
在地表也更加不稳定
The loss of Mars' atmosphere
火星大气层的稀薄
meant that liquid water could no longer exist on its surface.
意味着火星地表的液态水不复存在
Water exists on the surface of the Earth
地球水源的存在
only because of the atmospheric pressure pushing down on it.
仅仅是因为大气压力使之降于地球表面
Whatever water is on Mars evaporates or freezes.
火星上的水要么蒸发 要么冻结
In the third quarter of its history,
在火星的第三个历史时期
Mars probably begins turning red from ferrous oxide.
氧化亚铁在沙土中锈蚀
Rust in the dust.
火星逐渐变红
take a fresh volcanic rock in Hawaii or Iceland
在夏威夷或冰岛取一块刚形成的火山岩
and let it sit out in the Earth's atmosphere
让它在地球大气环境中静置
and it's gonna turn red and brown over time.
它也会逐渐变成红色 褐色
It's gonna oxidize.
火山岩会氧化
Same kind of thing could have happened on Mars.
同样的事情也可能发生在火星上
In its final quarter,
在最后一个历史时期
Mars goes into a deep freeze.
火星进入了冰河时期
from around 100 million until 2 million years ago,
从1亿多年前到200万年前
large glaciers form
大冰川的形成
and carve out new patterns in basins and craters.
塑造了新的盆地和环形山
From a warmer, wetter planet to a cold, dry world.
温暖湿润的星球变得寒冷干燥
Mars in a nutshell, according to recent evidence.
最新证据显示 当时火星被坚冰包裹
It had a thicker atmosphere.
大气层较厚
It had water, it may have had rain, it had snow.
有水 有雨 有雪
Has all kinds of things that are familiar to us.
有我们所熟知的一切
And it's just fascinating to think
想象一下
that we can go back in time with
我们能随着任务的进行
these missions and study an early,
回到早期类似地球的
sort of Earth-like Mars that's now gone.
现已不复存在的火星
But while there's strong evidence for past water on Mars,
不过尽管有证据表明火星过去存在水源
these 2009 satellite pictures
2009年卫星照片
seemed to show something impossible:
显示出了一些不太可能的现象
Flowing liquid water on the surface.
火星表面存在流动的液态水
There could be events
这可能是由于
when water that has been kept subsurface or frozen
一直储存于地下或冻结了的水
comes gushing out and runs down the walls of these craters.
喷涌而出 流进了陨石坑
This is one of the most exciting things in the past decade
近十年最激动人心的事情
is seeing those pictures of the gullies,
就是见到这些沟渠的照片
because when I grew up,
在我的成长过程中
I was taught that
别人告诉我
there's no way liquid water could be stable on Mars today,
火星上不可能存在液态水
and this kind of flies in the face of the physics, right?
这有点像是对物理学的挑战 对吧
And that's kind of exciting
这让人很激动
because it means that we might have something wrong.
因为这意味着我们可能有一些错误
The initial announcement of finding them,
将此发现最初公布
proposed that ice was melting or an aquifer coming up,
称那是冰融化了或是含水层涌出的水之后
there's a whole different set of theories
出现了完全不同的一套理论