旅行者2号克服了故障，返回星际空间收集科学数据
旅行者2号克服了故障，返回星际空间收集科学数据
On January 25, interstellar spacecraft Voyager 2 encountered a problem during a maneuver that led to some of its science instruments being turned off. Now the engineering team has restored its operation – despite it being the most distant human-made object in space – and this veteran of space exploration is back collecting science data.
星际飞船旅行者2号1月25日,在操作时遇到了一个问题,导致一些科学仪器被关闭。现在工程团队已经恢复了其操作——尽管它是在太空和太空探索的经验中收集科学数据的最遥远的人造物体。
Alfredo Carpineti
The mishap happened when Voyager 2 failed to do a barrel roll. This 360-degree rotation is used regularly to recalibrate the magnetic field instrument on board but for some reason, the maneuver did not start. This delay left two systems to consume a high level of power, causing the craft to overdraw its power supply, so the fault protection software kicked in and shut down the science instruments to make sure nothing would be damaged.
不幸的是，旅行者2号没有“滚桶”。这种360度旋转是用来定期重新校准船上的磁场仪器，但由于某种原因，机动没有开始。这一延迟导致两个系统消耗了大量电力，导致飞船的电力供应透支，于是故障保护软件启动并关闭了科学仪器，以确保没有任何东西会被损坏。
Voyager 2 is located 18.5 billion kilometers (11 billion miles) away. It takes light 17 hours to reach the spacecraft, so any communication back and forth has a delay of almost a day and a half. But thanks to the prompt intervention of the mission team, by January 28 one of the high-power systems was shut off, and regular work had resumed by February 5.
旅行者2号位于185亿公里(110亿英里)之外。光到达航天器需要17个小时，所以任何来回的通信都有将近一天半的延迟。但由于特派团的迅速干预，1月28日一个大功率系统被关闭，2月5日恢复正常工作。
Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 on a trip that took it to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. After that, it continued to travel faster and faster towards the edge of the Solar System, finally crossing the boundary into interstellar space in December 2018, becoming only the second spacecraft ever to do so after its twin Voyager 1.
旅行者2号是在1977年发射的，当时它访问了木星、土星、天王星和海王星。在那之后，它继续以越来越快的速度向太阳系边缘移动，最终在2018年12月越过边界进入星际空间，成为继孪生旅行者1号之后第二艘这样做的航天器。
The Voyager probes' power supply comes from a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). When a radioactive element decays, it releases heat and this can be turned into electricity to power a spacecraft, or a rover like NASA’s Curiosity on Mars. And while it is a pretty durable power source, it is not designed to last forever.
旅行者号探测器的电源来自一个放射性同位素热电发生器(RTG)。当一种放射性元素衰变时，它会释放热量，这些热量可以转化为电能，为宇宙飞船或美国宇航局(NASA)的“好奇号”(Curiosity)火星探测器提供动力。虽然它是一种相当耐用的能源，但并不是设计来永久使用的。
The RTG is used to power instruments and keep the craft warm enough that it can continue to maneuver and communicate with Earth, but every year it loses a bit more power – roughly 4 watts per year. As the power begins to dwindle, sacrifices have been made to keep the mission going. Last year, the primary heater for the cosmic ray subsystem instrument was turned off to compensate for this power loss, although the instrument continues to operate. The same goes for the ultraviolet spectrometer, the heater of which was turned off in 2012 to reduce power consumption, and yet it is still extremely sturdy.
轮胎式龙门吊用于电力设备和工艺保暖,可以继续操作,与地球通信,但每年会失去更多的电力——大约每年4瓦。随着电力开始减少,为继续完成任务，只能做出一定的牺牲。去年,宇宙射线子系统的主要加热仪器处于关机状态,以弥补这个功率损耗,虽然仪器继续操作。同样适用于紫外分光计,2012年关闭的加热器减少电力消耗,然而它仍然是非常坚固的。
Although it's thought the Voyagers' power sources will run out by the mid-2020s, Voyager 2 wasn't going to let a little setback like this glitch stop it from continuing to explore the space between the stars until then.
尽管人们认为旅行者2号的能源将在21世纪20年代中期耗尽，但旅行者2号在此之前不会让像这个小故障这样的小挫折阻止它继续探索星际空间。
