宇宙（2007）

The Universe S01E02

Part 2 April 22, 2021, 8:10 p.m.

大气层的丧失剥夺了火星的温暖和压力,
and since water needs both warmth and pressure to remain in liquid form,
因为水需要温度和压力才能保持液态,
water is no longer stable on the martian surface.
在火星表面水无法保持稳定.
If we put a pan of water out there on Mars it's gonna
如果把一盘水放在火星上,
evaporate very fast and try to freeze at the same time.
会很快蒸发,同时也会结冰.
One or the other will win out, but you won't have a nice liquid pan of water.
不管是蒸发还是结冰,你都不会有液态的水了.
That's not to say however that there's no water on the planet at all.
不是说火星上一点没有水.
While liquid water is no longer stable on Mars,
虽然火星上不存在液态的水,
frozen water, ice, is a different story.
但冰冻的水,冰,就是另一个故事了.
And evidence suggests that still today
有证据证明直到今天
tons of water ice might lie just below the martian polar caps.
大量的水结的冰可能就在火星极地下面.
Locked within that ice might just be
锁定在那里的冰可能就是
the Holy Grail of space exploration.
太空探险的圣杯.
They're visible through simple telescopes on Earth
可以通过地球上望远镜看到它的存在,
and they are inquestionably the first planetary features noticeable
在经过太空接近火星时,
during an approach to Mars through space,
这被清楚地表明为它的第一特征,
the martian polar caps.
在火星的极地.
Mysterious snowy white ice worlds,
神秘的白色冰雪世界,
sheathing the top and bottom of the red planet.
覆盖在红色星球的顶部和底部.
Actually what we call dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide
事实上我们叫做干冰的是二氧化碳,
the atmosphere is very thin and it's nearly all carbon dioxide,
大气层非常干燥,几乎都是二氧化碳,
so when it gets very cold what condenses out
所以在非常寒冷的情况下会结晶,
is carbon dioxide snow, carbon dioxide ice.
是二氧化碳的雪,二氧化碳的冰.
But while the white caps are certainly a colorful planetary feature,
虽然白色的冰帽的确是火星多彩的特征,
it's not the frozen concentrations of CO2 themselves
但不是二氧化碳自身的结晶体,
that are of most interest to scientists.
那是科学家最感兴趣的.
It's what's thought to be hidden beneath the polar caps
认为隐藏在极帽下的东西
that could have massive significance.
具有重要的意义.
Lurking just below the top soil,
潜伏在覆土下的,
may be millions of tons of frozen water.
可能是数百万吨♥的冰冻水.
Water ice hidden from view
隐藏的水的冰看上去
appears to radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions from the poles
从极地向四面八方放射出去数百英里,
and leading scientists think it could be the residue
让科学家认为那可能是过去海洋
of once vast oceans.
的残留物.
Likely the water's now frozen, in a kind of permafrost beneath the surface,
可能水现在冻结在地表下面的冻土层里,
but maybe there are pressures and temperatures in various areas of Mars
但是火星不同的地方可能会有压力和温度
that have liquified the ice and created perhaps
融化冰,可能会
aqua forms.
产生液体的水.
We can see craters in an impact. This up an asteroid that's hit Mars
我们可以看到撞击产生的坑.是一颗小行星撞击火星形成的,
blown up a lot of stuff, it doesn't blow out
溅起大量物质,
dry powder like on the Moon and make rays and rubble,
没有象在月亮上那样溅飞干燥的粉尘,产生闪光和碎石,
it turns out kind of a muddy slurry of stuff.
变成泥泞的泥浆.
So the conclusion is that you're actually impacting into ice
所以结论是实际上撞击到了冰,
like northern Canada permafrost layers, a tundra kind of stuff.
就象加拿大北方的永冻层,冻土带土层.
Orbiting spacecrafts have picked up strong indicators
轨道太空船已经看到了很强的指标
for the existence of water ice at the martian poles.
说明火星极地固态水的存在.
Remote measurements of soil composition have detected high levels of hydrogen.
远距离的土壤测量已经发现高级别的氢.
Water of course is one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen,
水当然是一份氧和两份氢组成的,
so the possibility of ice hiding below the surface in those areas is overwhelming.
所以冰可能覆盖在那些区域的地表之下是无可辩驳的.
But while strong evidence of ice at the martian poles may be relatively new
而在火星极地有冰存在的明显证据,
speculation that water existed there became common more than a century ago,
那里存在着水,会联想到一个世纪前普遍认为的
and its implication that intelligent life could also exist on the red planet,
红色星球上也存在着智能生命,
elicited wide spread anxiety on Earth
在地球上引起广泛的盼望,
for much of the first half of the twentieth century.
特别是在20世纪前半个世纪.
Astronomers pointed the first telescope towards Mars in 1610.
天文学家在1610年首次将望远镜指向火星.
As spyglass technology steadily improved,
随着望远镜技术的不断改进,
a blurred image of the red planet
红色星球模糊的印象
drew ever closer to the eyes of earthly observers.
比过去任何时候更靠近地球观察员的眼睛.
By 1877 telescopes could enlarge the image of the distant planet,
在1877年,望远镜能够放大远方行星的映象,
so that it appeared roughly the size of a dime held at harm's length.
所以能够大致看清远方的东西.
Certainly not impressive by modern standards,
当然按现代标准算不得什么,
but it was enough for the director of the Milano observatory,
但对米兰天文台台长来说已经足够了.
Giovanni Schiaparelli,
乔伐尼?齐亚巴雷利,
to attempt to sketch the martian surface and name its geological features.
努力勾勒火星表面,对其地貌进行命名.
Schiaparelli peered at the hazy shifty visage
齐亚巴雷利窥视那朦胧多变的映象,
night after night for months.
几个月里一晚接着一晚.
And he sees what he thinks are criss-cross lines on the surface of Mars.
他看到了火星表面他认为的十字交叉线.
It turns out later, what he saw isn't exactly
后来证明,他看到的不完全是那里有什么,
what's up there, but still through his crude telescope that's what he could see.
但是通过他那粗糙的望远镜还是能看到什么的.
Respected italian astronomers sketched these lines
尊敬的意大利天文学家勾画了这些线条
and gave them a name.
并给它们取了名字.
Schiaparelli interpreted these lines as
齐亚巴雷利认为那些线条象
channels of some sort, he didn't really know.
某种河床,他并不真的了解.
Well, the italian word that he applied to them was "canali",
在这,他用意大利语称它们是"canali",
that word, translated to english should have been translated as "channels",
那个词,翻译成英语应该译成"河床"(channels),
but instead it got mistranslated as "canals".
但是相反被误译成"运河"(canals).
Since straight lines do not normally appear in nature,
由于自然界没有看到过直线,
Schiaparelli sketches gave birth to the idea
齐亚巴雷利勾画的时候产生了念头
that some form of intelligent life must exist on Mars.
即火星上应该存在智能生命的某种形态.
It was an arresting notion,
这是一个引人瞩目的想法,
widely debated among the astronomers of the day.
天文学家一直为之广泛辩论.
Later in 1♥8♥9♥4,
后来在1♥8♥9♥4年,
a wealthy Bostonian named Percival Lowell
一个叫帕西瓦尔.罗威尔的波士顿富人
was so intrigued by this possibility
竟然被这个想法吸引,
that he paid to have a large telescope constructed on a mountain side
买♥♥了大望远镜安放在
in Flagstaff, Arizona.
亚利桑那州Flagstaff的山旁.
He spent the next two decades observing, sketching
他化了接下来的20年对红色星球进行观察,
and speculating about the red planet.
勾画和推测.
He convinced himself that he was seeing networks of straight lines on Mars,
他自信已经看到火星上直线组成的网络,
which he thought were canals,
他认为那就是运河,
what was the big news at the day with the Panama canal,
在那些日子里和巴拿马运河一起成为大新闻,
that's what great planetary civilisations do, they build canals.
那是伟大的行星文明创造的,他们建造了运河.
So this was canals to bring the water down from the polar ice caps on Mars,
所以这是火星上从极地冰帽引水的运河,
which are cold and far from the Sun and dry,
由于是寒冷,远离太阳,还是干燥,
so he knew that and so he thought,
所以他知道,所以他认为,
well, they have to move the water to live on Mars.
好了,在火星上他们必须为了生活运水.
That idea just electrified everybody, that there was a civilisation on Mars.
那个想法♥正♥好刺♥激♥了每个人,火星上有个文明.
Against this backdrop on Halloween night 1938
在此背景下,1938年万圣节的晚上,
A young actor named Orson Wells
一个名叫奥森.威尔斯的年轻播音员
broadcasted a dramatisazion of War of the Worlds
推出了的广播剧.
A novella by british author H. G. Wells
一部英国作家H. G. 威尔斯的小说,
In which sinister martians land on Earth and wreak havoc
描写险恶的火星人登陆地球,并进行肆虐.
We now return you to Carl Phillips at Grovers Mill.
我们把你带回Grovers磨房♥的Carl Phillips那里.
ladies and gentlemen, here I am wait a minute, something's happening
女士们,先生们,我在这里等一会儿,发生了一些情况
There's a plane springing from that mirror and it leaps right at the advancing men
有一架飞机从那镜子弹出,跳在那路人的右边
Good Lord, they're turning into flame!
好家伙,他们变成了火焰!
Thousands of citizens believed the invasion was real.
成千上万的市民认为这是真的入侵.
I'm deeply shocked and deeply regret for,
我对此深深地感到震惊和哀悼.
The misunderstanding was short lived.
误会是短暂的.
But even so the broadcast only served to fuel public speculation
然而即便如此,广播只是给大众关于火星上
about potential intelligent life on Mars.
可能存在智能生命的猜想添油加醋.
Mars: it has intrigued human kind for thousands of years.
火星:吸引着人类数千年.
20世纪中期,
And in mid 20th century
humans finally got a closer look at the mysterious planet.
人类终于近距离地观察神秘的行星.
196♥4♥年,美国航♥空♥航♥天♥局,NASA,
In 196♥4♥ the National Aeronautic and Space Admininstration, NASA,
launched the small exploration spacecraft toward the red planet
向红色星球发射了小探险飞船.
Its name was Mariner 4, it had a television camera
它的名字叫做水手4号♥,带有一个电视摄像机,
and its mission was to fly past Mars and send back pictures.
它的使命是飞过火星,传回图象.
It could only make one pass.
它只能经过一次.
Scientists were filled with anxious excitement
科学家伴随着激动,
at the prospect of what they might see.
充满了期待.
Well it is gonna see cities, is it gonna see canals, is it gonna see forests?
将会看到城市?将会看到运河?将会看到森林?
But all of what it saw it was craters.
然而所有能看到的都是弹坑.
It sent back pictures which just were very fuzzy and showed craters like on the moon.
飞船发回的图象只是非常模糊,弹坑看上去就象月亮上的一样.
It was a huge let down.
这是一个巨大的失望.
The Mariner 4 images revealed a dry cratered desert like
水手4号♥的图象显示了一个干燥多坑的沙漠的情景,
and seemingly dead planet.
表面死寂的行星.
Sort of like the moon with a little air to blow the dust around.
有点象月亮,一点空气吹着周围的沙尘.
But the enthusiasm for exploring Mars was only tempered.
但是探索火星的热情只是被降温.
6年后,在1971年,
And 6 years later, in 1971,
NASA sent another spacecraft to the red planet: Mariner 9.