宇宙（2007）

It was far harder to control than I originally anticipated.
我很难控制它 比我预期的难太多了
And control is a real problem,
控制真是个难题
Because science says
因为科学认为
a warp ship just can't make its own warp field.
一艘曲速太空船无法制♥造♥自己的次元护盾
One of the often cited problems
有个常常被引用的问题
with the warp drive model is the ship would be
在曲速驾驶模型中
what we call causally disconnected from the bubble.
我们可随意将太空船从泡中分离
That is, it could never find a way to communicate with the bubble.
就是说 船无法跟泡联♥系♥
And so it could never turn the bubble off once it had started.
所以一旦启动 它将无法关闭曲速泡
But what would happen if the starship
但是如果一艘星际飞船不必担心
did not have to worry about turning its bubble on and off?
它的曲线泡开关的话 会发生什么事呢
What you might imagine,
你也许可以想象
for a sufficiently advanced civilization
一个足够先进的文明
and given sufficient new laws of physics,
并且已知足够多的物理学新原理
would be some kind of warp-drive escalator
将会有某种曲速动力的电动扶梯
or corridor, and then when you would drop a ship
或者走廊 当你将太空船停入
into the prearranged warp tube, if you will,
预定的曲速管道 如果你愿意
it might be able to ride some wave along to the end.
它也许可以驾驭某种波浪直到最后
It would be like a bullet train to the stars.
它就像高速列车一样驶向其他星球
Its passenger cars might travel faster than light,
它的乘用车也许比光速更快
But whoever invents it would need thousands of years
但是无论是谁要发明它都需要几千年
at sub-light speeds to build it
以亚光速建造它
and use more energy than we can imagine.
要耗费超过我们想象的巨大能量
We would probably need to harness
我们也许需要使用
at least the energy output from an entire star,
至少整个星球的能量输出
if not a lot more than that.
或者更多
So these are things we can talk about hypothetically,
这些就是我们可以假设讨论的
But no one has an engineering program to make it happen.
但是还没人可以实现它
When astronomers recently discovered
天文学家最近发现
that the expansion Of the universe is accelerating,
宇宙膨胀加速了
They reasoned it was driven by a mysterious dark energy
他们推断这是由于一种神秘的暗能量推动的
That is part of space everywhere.
它在太空中无处不在
A few people have suggested that dark energy
一些人暗示说新的机器
can be harnessed as a power source
比如星际飞船或者时光机器
for exotic devices like starships or time machines.
可以把暗能量被当作能源来使用
We don't really know what the dark energy is.
我们并不确切地知道暗能量是什么
So it's not clear that we will never be able to harness it.
所以我们还不知道能否使用它
However, the leading models suggest
无论如何 前导模型让人想到
that it's either a property of space itself
暗能量是空间的另一种性质
that can't be changed or some sort of an energy field
无法被转换 或者是某种
which is of such low density,
密度很低的能量场
There's so little of it per unit volume,
每单位容积含量非常少
that harnessing interesting amounts of it
使用足够的暗能量
will essentially be impossible.
是根本不可能的
The bottom line when it comes to warp drives.
曲速驾驶的基本要求
wormholes or time machines,
虫洞或者时光机器
leads many scientists to reject them out of hand.
导致了很多科学家的坚决反对
Can we be sure that they're right?
我们能保证他们是对的吗
Though we think we know a lot about the universe right now,
尽管我们认为现在对宇宙已经了解很多
and we do.
并且确实如此
There have been many times in the history of physics
在物理学史上 我们有很多次
when we've been burned
由于自以为什么都知道
by having too much of a self-assured sense of knowing it all.
过分自信而焦头烂额
There really are laws of physics that we can't violate,
确实有我们不能违背的物理学原理
But there's also technology.
但还有技术
You say, well, this is just too hard.
你说 这太难了
We'll never be able to do it.
我们无法做到
And there, when scientists say things like that,
当科学家们这样说话的时候
they're almost always wrong.
他们永远是错的
It's much safer for us to say,
对我们来说更正确的说法是
here are what the laws of physics allow us to imagine doing.
现有的物理学原理允许我们充满希望地
hopefully. Someday in the future
想象做某事 未来的某一天
we'll build the technology that makes it happen.
我们将建立实现它的技术
And as we've seen,
就像我们看到的
that future may confront us very soon,
那样的未来也许很快就到了
As astronomers search for planets around stars
当天文学家们搜索太阳系外
outside the solar system,
围绕恒星的行星时
the closest star system to earth has a binary pair of stars.
离地球最近的星级系统是一对双恒星
Is that a good place to search for planets?
那是搜寻行星的好地方吗
That's just what Nicole of Oklahoma city, Oklahoma,
那是俄克拉荷马州俄克拉荷马市的妮可
wanted to "ask the universe," When she wrote...
在"询问宇宙"栏目中提出的问题
Nicole 俄克拉荷马
行星可以存在在双恒星系统中吗
Nicole, that's a really cool question.
妮可 那真的是个好问题
It turns out that a planet in a binary system can orbit
行星在双恒星系统中可以紧密地围绕
either one of the two stars very closely
双恒星中的任何一个旋转
or it can orbit both of them from very far away,
或者可以从很远处围绕两颗恒星旋转
But it can't orbit among them.
但是它的轨道不可能在双星之间
It can't do a figure eight among them, for example.
例如它不可能在双星中间形成八字形轨道
That trajectory is unstable
那种轨道是不稳定的
And the planet Would quickly get ejected.
行星会很快偏离轨道
We may be on the verge of discovering
我们也许快要发现
an earth-size planet around one of the two stars
一颗地球大小的行星在围绕双星之一旋转
In the alpha centauri system,
离太阳最近的邻居
the sun's nearest neighbor,
半人马星系
it would be a more compelling reason than ever before
将会是一个从未有过的引人注目的原因
to explore the exotic science of high-speed space voyages
吸引人们去探索新的高速太空航行的科学
and the time travel that goes with them.
以及与之相伴的时间旅行
Alpha centauri is very exciting
半人马座很令人兴奋
Because it now appears
因为现在
from a variety of different computer simulations,
在各种不同的电脑模拟中
that it's quite possible
表现出很有可能
that there could be terrestrial mass planets
存在像地球一样大的行星
orbiting both components of the alpha centauri binary system.
在围绕半人马的双恒星系统旋转
Alpha centauri "A" And "B" are so distant.
半人马A和B相隔很远
They look like a single star from earth.
从地球上看它们好像互不相干
But they're actually a binary pair.
但是它们真的是一对双星系统
A third member of the system is proxima centauri,
这个系统的第三个成员是比邻星
a red dwarf loosely bound to the main pair.
一颗红矮星被松散地束缚于主双星
If you're sitting on a planet in the alpha centauri "A" system
如果你在半人马A或者
or the alpha centauri "B" system,
B系统中的一颗行星上
proxima centauri wouldn't even be visible in your night sky.
你的夜空中甚至见不到比邻星
It's that dim.
它太暗淡了
Alpha centauri "A" and "B" orbit around each other.
半人马A和B围绕彼此旋转
At their closest point,
在最近点
they're about 20% farther than the distance
它们的距离比
from the sun to Saturn.
从太阳到土星远20%
At their farthest,
最远的时候
They're 20% more distant than the sun is from Neptune.
它们之间比太阳到海王星的距离远20%
Each has a habitable zone similar to the sun,
它们和太阳一样都有适居带
where life-bearing planets could exist.
在那也许有孕育着生命的星球
And that, after all, is a holy grail in astronomy.
这也是人们梦寐以求的天文学圣杯
Well, a trip to the nearest stars,
能在生命周期以内
for example, Alpha Centauri,
去最近的星球旅行一次
that we can do within our lifetimes
比如 半人马座
would be immensely exciting.
无疑会令人激动不已
One of the great goals of science is to find life
科学最重要的任务之一就是
elsewhere in the universe.
在宇宙的其它角落发现生命
What better place to start,
要跨出第一步 除了我们的太阳系
other than our solar system,
还有哪能比离我们最近的星球
than the nearest star?
更加合适呢
But now space travel becomes time travel
现在太空旅行变成了时间旅行
as we set our sights on a mission that can be done
我们希望通过已知的物理定理
under the laws of physics we now know:
来解决这个难题
a mission that can cross
也就是在45天内
more than 4 light-years of space in just 45 days.
行驶4光年以上的距离
Our quest to unravel the mysteries of time
为了解开时间的秘密
now point us again to Alpha Centauri,
我们又回到了太阳最近的邻居
the sun's closest neighbor.
半人马座上
It is the most likely
它最有可能成为
first destination for a starship from earth,
地球星际飞船的第一个目的地