宇宙（2007）

In the beginning, there was darkness,
最初 宇宙是一片黑暗
and then, bang, giving birth
紧接着一声巨响 混沌初开
to an endless, expanding existence
时间 空间和物质
of time,space and matter.
开始不断膨胀
Every day, new discoveries are unlocking the mysterious,
每天 我们都在解密这神秘莫测
the mind-blowing, the deadly secrets
令人疯狂的极端之地
of a place we call the universe.
宇宙
Where are the Martians?
火星人在哪里
On the red planet's, poison-packed surface
在毒气笼罩的红色星球表面
or in newly found sources of water?
抑或是新发现的水源中
Did Martian life survive an apocalyptic attack?
火星生命从致命大碰撞中生存下来了吗
Are Martians like microbial or monstrous?
它们是微生物 还是大怪物
at last, the answers are here
最终答案即将揭晓
In Mars: the new evidence.
就在《火星新证据》
I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars
我相信我们能将人类送入火星轨道
and return them safely to Earth.
并让他们安全返航
And a landing on Mars will follow.
紧接着实现在火星登陆的计划
When we land on Mars,
当我们降落在火星时
there may be billions of Martians waiting for us.
也许会看到成千上万的火星人
Only they probably won't t look like this
他们的长相可能不是这样
or this,
也不是这样
but like this.
而是这样
Microbes, bacteria evolved to survive on a planet
微生物 细菌进化到在此星球上生存生长
with 1% of Earth's atmospheric pressure,
这里的大气压力只有地球的1%
an arid world where temperatures can plunge
还是个温度能从220摄氏度
to 220 degrees below zero.
骤降至零下的干旱之地
Now, even if that upper-surface is so nasty,
尽管表层环境看起来如此恶劣
that doesn't t mean
但并不意味着
that just a little ways under the surface,
掩藏在下面的境况也如此
Wouldn't be a much happier place for microbial life on Mars.
这里是火星上微生物的极乐天堂
Is there life on Mars?
火星上有生命存在吗
Just a decade ago, my answer would have been very different than it is today
十年前 我的答案和现在迥然不同
because we've learnt so much.
因为这些年获取了大量信息
A few decades ago,
数十年前
it would have seemed like science fiction.
这看起来像是科幻剧
But we now know that on Earth,
然而现在我们知道 在地球上
some bacteria cluster around thermal vents at the bottom of the sea;
一些微生物聚集在海底的热泉周围
others thrive in pockets of liquid water
另一些生长在南极地区冰层下
inside 12 feet of antarctic ice.
12英尺中的少量液态水里
Our knowledge of microbial life on Earth has increased so much
我们对于地球微生物的了解已经很深入了
that, I think, you know, there's still a good chance that some kind of
有时我想 某些原始微生物是不是可能
primitive life may have formed on Mars and existed there at some point.
在火星形成并存在的呢
How could life have first formed on Mars?
生命是如何在火星上形成的呢
Maybe with a flash of lightning.
也许是由于一个闪电
The spring of 2006.
2006年的春天
Even as some scientists are
尽管当时一些科学家
claiming Mars doesn't t have lightning,
声称火星上没有闪电
Earth-based microwave detectors find it
地球上的微波探测器发现
in friction-filled storms of red dust.
火星上有充满静电的红色尘暴
But it's not lightning like we know it,
这并不是我们所熟知的
associated with rainstorms.
暴风雨前的闪电
Well, it doesn't rain on Mars.
火星上没有雨
It's what's called dry lightning.
我们称之为干闪电
And this dry lightning, or static electricity,
这种干闪电 或者说静电
could have been the trigger for Martian life.
可能就是火星生命起源的契机
Once you have lightning, you've got a new source of energy
一旦闪电 就能够产生一种
that can affect your chemistry and alter things in the atmosphere,
改变大气中化学成分的新能量
even on the surface, at some level.
一定程度上来说 即使表面也是这样
A famous experiment seeking to replicate
一个著名的实验试图复♥制♥
the creation of life on Earth.
地球生命的起源
Ran an electric current through a mix of water and common gases,
在水和普通气体的混合物中通上电流
creating a soup,
产生一种溶液
containing organic compounds
包含有机化合物
and the building blocks of life: amino acids.
和生命基本组成物 氨基酸
By hitting things, with electrical discharges,
通过电流刺♥激♥
you could not necessarily generate life,
虽然不能创造生命
but maybe make the preconditions for life.
但也许可以营造生命起源的先决条件
But did dry lightning,, help jumpstart life on Mars?
干闪电确是火星生命起源的助推器吗
Or did it kill the chance for any life at all?
还是彻底破坏任何生存可能的杀手
Lightning on Mars could create things like hydrogen peroxide,
火星上的闪电能创造过氧化氢等物质
which could then lead to other chemicals that would
这些物质将生成其他化学成分
destroy organic material and sterilize the surface.
摧毁火星表面的一切有机物质
Life-giving jumper cable or fatal electric chair.
是生之希望 还是死之深渊
The jury is still out on
我们仍然不清楚
what dust storm lightning has done to Mars.
尘暴闪电对火星有什么影响
Well, what always happens with Mars is about the time
我们总是刚以为已经了解
we think we understand it,
火星的时候
we discover new things that make us realize
又会有新的发现 让我们意识到
we still have a lot of mysteries to solve.
仍有很多谜题需要解开
So how do you find bacteria too small to be seen,
如何在4800万英里之外的
living under the surface of a planet, 48 million miles away?
星球表面之下找到极为微小的细菌呢
The life that's most likely to be prolific,
最可能繁殖的生命体
the life that you'd find the most number of organisms,
有机物含量最多的生命体
if they did exits, is the one that's hardest to find of all.
如果确实存在 会是最难以获取的
Like climbers, scientists look for life on Mars
就像攀岩者 科学家们在火星上
by making connections,
通过相互关联寻找生命
linking this observation to that deduction,
结合观察结果与推论
hoping the evidence leads in the right direction.
以期求得最后的正确答案
And if the facts aren't there,
但如果一个环节脱节
you start over.
只能重新开始
It's hard to look for life.
寻找生命很困难
So the mission designers have said,
这项课题的设计者曾经说过
well, let's s first figure out
我们先找到是否有
if there are habitable places,
适合生存之地
if there are places that would be friendly to life.
是否有适合生命延续之地
And the key element for life as we know it is water.
众所周知 生命所需的关键元素便是水
On Earth, liquid water is required for life.
地球上所有生命的延续都需要液态水
Even if it's a small pocket in the heart of a glacier,
即便处于冰川之中
you still need the fluid nature of water
仍需要液态水
for the processes of life to take place.
来维持生命
According to early space probe photos,
根据早期空间探测站的照片显示
Mars was just a dead red rock.
火星只是一个沉寂的红色岩石
Its thin atmosphere was mostly carbon dioxide,,,
稀薄的大气大部分由二氧化碳组成
and so it seemed, were the polar ice caps.
极地似乎有冰层覆盖
You know, in the seventies, we might have expected
在70年代 我们曾经想过
that there was no possible water or life on Mars.
火星上不存在生命和水
The picture is much different today.
现在所拍摄的照片却大不相同了
In the 21st century,
21世纪以来
more advanced space probes have revealed
更加先进的空间探测器已证明
that a lot of the earlier information was wrong.
之前的许多结论是错误的
It turns out, there's about 100 times as much H2O in Mars' polar caps
结果显示 火星极地覆盖冰川的含水量
as in all five of north America's great lakes.
是北美洲五大湖含水量的百倍
So even in the polar caps today, there's s probably
就算是现在 极地冰川的含水量
enough water to cover the surface,
也足够覆盖火星表面
about 20, 30 feet deep.
达20至30英尺深
But it's really not about
目前并不是证明
whether we think there's water on Mars,
火星上是否存在水
but whether there's liquid water on Mars.
而是要证实火星上是否存在液态水
That's the key question,
这是个关键的问题
because even microbial life could not have evolved on Mars
因为在早期的火星 微生物的进化
unless there was liquid water early in the planet's s history.
离不开液态水的存在
In order to find liquid water on Mars,
为了在火星上寻找液态水
we actually look in a whole variety of ways.
我们想尽了一切办法
From 1997 through 2006,
从1997年到2006年
NASA's s Mars Global Surveyor
美国宇航局火星全球勘探者号♥
searches for water-based minerals
用高敏感度的光谱仪
using a highly sensitive spectrometer.
探测含水基的矿物质
Every chemical element has a particular
每一种化学物质都有
signature associated with it,
其特有的标记
a sort of fingerprint
就如同指纹