演讲MP3+双语文稿:一个微型化的原子钟如何能彻底改变太空探索

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听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:一个微型化的原子钟如何能彻底改变太空探索，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】Jill Seubert

吉尔·休伯特——星际航海家吉尔·休伯特(Jill Seubert)驾驶着宇宙飞船穿越太阳系，用机器人探索人类还无法到达的地方。

【演讲主题】一个微型化的原子钟如何能彻底改变太空探索

【演讲文稿-中英文】

翻译者 Lixing Tan

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Six months ago, I watched with bated breath as NASA's InSight lander descended towards the surface of Mars. Two hundred meters, 80 meters, 60, 40, 20, 17 meters. Receiving confirmation of successful touchdown was one of the most ecstatic moments of my life. And hearing that news was possible because of two small cube sets that went along to Mars with InSight. Those two cube sets essentially livestreamed InSight's telemetry back to Earth, so that we could watch in near-real time as that InSight lander went screaming towards the surface of the red planet, hitting the atmosphere of Mars at a top speed of about 12,000 miles per hour. Now, that event was livestreamed to us from over 90 million miles away. It was livestreamed from Mars.

六个月前，我屏住呼吸，激动的目睹了美国宇航局（NASA）洞察号探测器（InSight）在火星表面着陆的过程。200米，80米，60，40，20，17米…… 接收成功触地确认的一瞬，是我人生中最为欣喜的时刻。正是跟随洞察号抵达火星的两个立方星系统让我们得以聆听这则新闻。这两个立方星系统把洞察号的遥感勘测直播传送回地球，这才让我们能几乎实时地观看到 洞察号探测器呼啸着冲向这红色星球的表面，以12000英里的最高时速冲击火星大气层。是的，这一盛况竟然是从远在九千万英里之外向我们直播。 这是来自火星的直播。

01：05

Meanwhile, the two Voyager spacecraft -- now, these are these two almost unbelievably intrepid explorers. They were launched the same year that all of us here were being introduced to Han Solo for the first time. And they are still sending back data from interstellar space over 40 years later.

与此同时， 两架旅行者号（Voyager）航天器—— 这简直是两位勇猛惊人的探险家。它们发射升空时，正是我们初次知晓韩·索罗（Han Solo）（1977版《星球大战》主角） 的那一年。 如今，40 多年过去了， 它们仍然在星际间向我们传回信息。

01：28

We are sending more spacecraft further into deep space than ever before. But every one of those spacecraft out there depends on its navigation being performed right here at Earth to tell it where it is and, far more importantly, where it is going. And we have to do that navigation here on Earth for one simple reason: spacecraft are really bad at telling the time. But if we can change that, we can revolutionize the way we explore deep space.

现在，我们已向更远的深空发送了比以往任何时候都多的航天器。但是每一架冲向太空的航天器，都依赖于它所执行的、来自地球的导航，来告知它正身处何处，以及更重要的，它将去向何方。我们不得不在地球上进行导航的 一个简单的原因是：航天器不擅长计时。然而，如果能改变这一点，我们就能颠覆探索深空的方式。

02：00

Now, I am a deep space navigator, and I know you're probably thinking, "What is that job?" Well, it is an extremely unique and also very fun job. I steer spacecraft, from the moment they separate from their launch vehicle to when they reach their destination in space. And these destinations -- say Mars for example, or Jupiter -- they are really far away. To put my job in context for you: it's like me standing here in Los Angeles and shooting an arrow, and with that arrow, I hit a target that's the size of a quarter, and that target the size of a quarter is sitting in Times Square, New York.

我是一个深空导航者。我知道你们现在大概在想 “这是个什么工作？” 事实上，这是一个十分独特也非常有趣的工作。从航天器与运载工具分离那一刻起，我就会一直操纵着航天器，直到它抵达太空中的目的地。这些目的地，例如火星，又或者木星，它们真的很遥远。这样来介绍我的工作吧：就好比我现在站在洛杉矶开始射箭，我要用这支箭射中扎在纽约时代广场上一个 25 美分硬币大小的靶子。

02：40

Now, I have the opportunity to adjust the course of my spacecraft a few times along that trajectory, but in order to do that, I need to know where it is. And tracking a spacecraft as it travels through deep space is fundamentally a problem of measuring time. You see, I can't just pull out my ruler and measure how far away my spacecraft is. But I can measure how long it takes a signal to get there and back again. And the concept is exactly the same as an echo. If I stand in front of a mountain and I shout, the longer it takes for me to hear my echo back at me, the further away that mountain is. So we measure that signal time very, very accurately, because getting it wrong by just a tiny fraction of a second might mean the difference between your spacecraft safely and gently landing on the surface of another planet or creating yet another crater on that surface. Just a tiny fraction of a second, and it can be the difference between a mission's life or death.

接下来，沿着它的轨迹，我有几次机会来调整航天器航道；可是，为了做调整，我需要知道它的位置。其实，跟踪航天器在深空中的飞行，这本质上是一个时间测量的问题。要知道，我不可能掏出一把尺子，来丈量航天器离我有多远。但是，我可以测量的是，一个信号往返所花费的时间。这个概念与回声完全相同：如果我面对一座山大喊，我听到回声所需的时间越长，那座山就越远。那么，我们必须非常非常准确地测量信号时间，因为仅是弄错微小的、 几分之一秒钟的时间， 就可能意味着航天器是可以安全平稳地着陆在另一个星球的表面，还是会在那上面撞出个陨石坑。仅仅是微小的、几分之一秒钟， 就事关任务的生死成败。

【碍于字符限制，讲稿无法全部呈现。剩余字幕较长，建议大家：点击播放界面上的“词”按钮就能看到同步的完整版中英文字幕哦~】