Inside the world's deepest caves | Bill Stone

翻译人员: Eva Sun 校对人员: Ray Yang

First place I'd like to take you

我要带大家去的第一个地方

is what many believe will be the world's deepest natural abyss.

是一个天然的深渊，许多人相信它将会被证明为世界最深之渊。

And I say believe because this process is still ongoing.

我说相信是因为这个探索过程还未结束。

Right now there are major expeditions being planned for next year

明年有几个很大的探险活动正在策划中

that I'll talk a little bit about.

关于这个我会做些介绍

One of the things that's changed here,

现在,变化之一是

in the last 150 years since Jules Verne

自从儒勒•凡尔纳

had great science-fiction concepts of what the underworld was like,

在科幻小说里描绘了地底世界的样子后,

is that technology has enabled us to go to these places

在过去的150年里，科技已使我们能够到达一些地方

that were previously completely unknown and speculated about.

这些地方是我们先前完全不知且不能想象的。

We can now descend thousands of meters into the Earth with relative impunity.

而我们现在能相对安全得深入地球几千米。

Along the way we've discovered fantastic abysses and chambers so large

沿途我们发现了奇异的深渊和岩洞。

that you can see for hundreds of meters

那些岩洞大得异乎寻常，

without a break in the line of sight.

一眼望去能看到几百米。

When you go on a thing like this, we can usually be in the field

当我们到了这样的岩洞时，我们经常会在那

for anywhere from two to four months,

待二至四个月，

with a team as small as 20 or 30, to as big as 150.

我们的队伍规模小时二三十人，大时有一百五十人。

And a lot of people ask me, you know,

许多人问我

what kind of people do you get for a project like this?

你们选什么样的人参加这样的项目？

While our selection process

我们的筛选过程

is not as rigorous as NASA, it's nonetheless thorough.

不是像NASA(美国航空航天局)那么严格，但它又是周详的。

We're looking for competence, discipline, endurance, and strength.

我们寻找的是有能力胜任此工作，能严格约束自己，耐力长久而且体力充沛的人。

In case you're wondering, this is our strength test.

如果你想知道的话，这是我们的体能测试。

(Laughter)

（笑）

But we also value esprit de corps

但我们也重视团队精神

and the ability to diplomatically resolve inter-personal conflict

和善于解决人际矛盾的能力。

while under great stress in remote locations.

这些能力， 在人们身处僻壤

We have already gone far beyond the limits of human endurance.

压力巨大到远远超过人类耐力极限的时候尤其重要。

From the entrance, this is nothing like a commercial cave.

从洞口看，这绝不像个商业旅游的山洞。

You're looking at Camp Two in a place called J2, not K2, but J2.

你看到的是二号营地，它搭在J2,不是K2(世界第二高峰）,而是J2.

We're roughly two days from the entrance at that point.

在那里我们大约距出口两天路程。

And it's kind of like a high altitude mountaineering trip in reverse,

它就像一场反方向的高海拔登山之旅，

except that you're now running a string of these things down.

不同的是你用绳子往下走

The idea is to try to provide some measure of physical comfort

这是让人们在这种地下环境中稍微觉得舒服些

while you're down there, otherwise in damp, moist, cold conditions in utterly dark places.

要不然周围就是完全潮湿，寒冷而且漆黑的地方了。

I should mention that everything you're seeing here, by the way,

我应该提一下，你在这儿看着的每一件东西

is artificially illuminated at great effort.

都是费了很大劲儿人为照亮的。

Otherwise it is completely dark in these places.

否则，在这些地方全都是黑的。

The deeper you go, the more you run into a conflict with water.

你越深入，就越要费力气抵抗地下水问题。

It's basically like a tree collecting water coming down.

它基本上就像是一棵向下吸水的树。

And eventually you get to places where it is formidable and dangerous

最终你会到达了一个可怕的危险的地方

and unfortunately slides just don't do justice.

不幸的是这些幻灯片并不能充分显示（这些地方有多么可怕）。

So I've got a very brief clip here that was taken in the late 1980s.

所以我找了一个1980年代末拍的小短片。

So descend into Huautla Plateau in Mexico.

这是在墨西哥瓦乌拉特高原。

(Video)

（视频）

Now I have to tell you that the techniques being shown here

现在我要提醒你们这里所用的技术

are obsolete and dangerous.

已经过时而且危险。

We would not do this today unless we were doing it for film.

现今除非是为了拍电影，否则我们不会这样做。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Along that same line, I have to tell you

同样地，我还要说

that with the spate of Hollywood movies that came out last year,

我们在底下从未见过

we have never seen monsters underground --

象去年新出的大量好莱坞电影中的怪兽，

at least the kind that eat you.

至少没见到吃人的怪兽。

If there is a monster underground,

如果有地下怪兽，

it is the crushing psychological remoteness

那一定是心中的能致命的孤寂

that begins to hit every member of the team

一旦你从最近的洞口深入三天，

once you cross about three days inbound from the nearest entrance.

这种孤寂感就开始侵袭队中的成员

Next year I'll be leading an international team to J2.

明年我要带领一支国际队伍去J2.

We're going to be shooting from minus 2,600 meters --

我们要从地下2600米处

that's a little over 8,600 feet down --

大约8600多英尺之下--开始拍摄。

at 30 kilometers from the entrance.

那个地方离洞口30千米处。

The lead crews will be underground for pushing 30 days straight.

先头部队将会在地下向前不停地推进30天。

I don't think there's been a mission like that in a long time.

我想已经很久没有象这样的探险活动了。

Eventually, if you keep going down in these things,

最后，如果你一直向下深入这些洞穴，

probability says that you're going to run into a place like this.

概率上说你很可能进入一个

It's a place where there's a fold in the geologic stratum

有褶皱的

that collects water and fills to the roof.

充满水的地方

And when you used to find these things,

当以前找这些地方时

they would put a label on a map that said terminal siphon.

人们会在地图上标注其为吸管终端。

Now I remember that term really well for two reasons.

这个词我记得很清楚。因为有两个原因

Number one, it's the name of my rock band, and second,

第一，它是我摇滚乐队的名字，第二，

is because the confrontation of these things

是因为这些地方的挑战

forced me to become an inventor.

迫使我变成了一个发明者。

And we've since gone on to develop

而且从那以后，我们研发了好几代

many generations of gadgets for exploring places like this.

许多用于探索类似地方的小仪器。

This is some life-support equipment closed-cycle.

这是某种闭合的维持生命的仪器

And you can use that now to go for many kilometers horizontally

你现在可以用它在水下水平前行几千米

underwater and to depths of 200 meters straight down underwater.

其应用范围深至水下200米处。

When you do this kind of stuff it's like doing EVA.

当你在水下行走时，感觉有点儿像EVA(太空行走)，

It's like doing extra-vehicular activity in space,

像是进行太空行走，

but at much greater distances, and at much greater physical peril.

但是要走的更远，冒的风险也更大。

So it makes you think about how to design your equipment

这让你想办法如何设计你的器械

for long range, away from a safe haven.

使它安全地走得更远。

Here's a clip from a National Geographic movie

这是国家地理电影1999年拍的

that came out in 1999.

一些片段

(Video) Narrator: Exploration is a physical process

（视频）旁白：探索是一个物理过程

of putting your foot in places where humans have never stepped before.

它让你涉足人类从未涉及的地方。

This is where the last little nugget of totally unknown territory remains on this planet.

这是地球上完全不为人知的最后一点儿金地。

To experience it is a privilege.

只有极少的人能够亲历。

Bill Stone: That was taken in Wakulla Springs, Florida.

比尔•斯通：那电影取景于佛罗里达的瓦库拉泉。

Couple of things to note about that movie. Every piece of equipment

这部电影有几件事值得注意：你所见的每种设备

that you saw in there did not exist before 1999.

1999年前都不存在。

It was developed within a two-year period and used on actual exploratory projects.

它们是在两年内发明的，并且用于实际探索项目。

This gadget you see right here was called the digital wall mapper,

你们在这里见到的这个是电子墙体测绘仪--

and it produced the first three-dimensional map anybody has ever done

它制出了世界上第一个山洞的三维地图，

of a cave, and it happened to be underwater in Wakulla Springs.

那是在瓦库拉泉水下

It was that gadget that serendipitously opened a door

正是这小仪器不经意地开启了

to another unexplored world.

通往另一个世界的门。

This is Europa.

这是木卫二。

Carolyn Porco mentioned another one called Enceladus the other day.

卡罗琳•波科尔前几天提到另一个叫做恩克拉多斯的行星。

This is one of the places where planetary scientists

研究行星的科学家

believe there is a highest probability of the detection

相信那里是最有可能探索到

of the first life off earth in the ocean that exists below there.

有地球之外的初级生命的地方之一，生命就存在在恩克拉多斯行星的大洋之下。

For those who have never seen this story,

对于那些从未看过这个故事的人来说，

Jim Cameron produced a really wonderful IMAX movie

几年前吉姆•卡梅隆（泰坦尼克，阿凡达导演）拍出过精彩的IMAX(巨幕)电影

couple of years ago, called "Aliens of the Deep."

名叫《深海异形》

There was a brief clip --

这是片中的一个小片段--

(Video) Narrator: A mission to explore under the ice of Europa

（视频）旁白：探索木卫二冰底的任务

would be the ultimate robotic challenge.

将会成为机器人的终极挑战。

Europa is so far away that even at the speed of light,

木卫二很远，即使用光速

it would take more than an hour for the command just to reach the vehicle.

指令到达飞行器也要花一个多小时。

It has to be smart enough to avoid terrain hazards

必须非常聪明才能避免各种冒险

and to find a good landing site on the ice.

找到一个好的冰面降落

Now we have to get through the ice.

现在我们还得穿过冰层。

You need a melt probe.

需要一个融化器。

It's basically a nuclear-heated torpedo.

它基本上就是一个核能加热鱼雷。

The ice could be anywhere from three to 16 miles deep.

冰层可能有3至16英里 (5 到 26 公里）深。

Week after week, the melt probe will sink of its own weight

一周接一周，融化探头靠着自身重量下沉

through the ancient ice, until finally --

穿过远古的冰层，直至最后……

Now, what are you going to do when you reach the surface of that ocean?

当你到达洋面你将要做什么？

You need an AUV, an autonomous underwater vehicle.

你需要个AUV，一个自行式水下航行器。

It needs to be one smart puppy, able to navigate

它必须很聪明，能够自己导航

and make decisions on its own in an alien ocean.

在陌生的外星球的大洋里能够自己做决定。

BS: What Jim didn't know when he released that movie

比尔•斯通：吉姆公映这部电影时并不知道

was that six months earlier NASA had funded a team I assembled

六个月前NASA(美国宇航局)已拨款给我集合的一个团队

to develop a prototype for the Europa AUV.

去研发木卫二自行式水下航行器的原型。

I mean, I cut through three years of engineering meetings, design

我花了三年的工程会议，设计

and system integration, and introduced DEPTHX --

和系统整合，设计了DEPTHX--

Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer.

深水热源探索仪。

And as the movie says, this is one smart puppy.

就像电影描述的，这是一个灵敏的小东西

It's got 96 sensors, 36 onboard computers,

它有96个传感器，36台车携式电脑

100,000 lines of behavioral autonomy code,

十万条自主行为指令，

packs more than 10 kilos of TNT in electrical onboard equivalent.

携带着十多公斤的炸药。

This is the target site,

这是目的地，

the world's deepest hydrothermal spring at Cenote Zacaton in northern Mexico.

墨西哥北部萨卡通石灰岩洞的世界最深温泉。

It's been explored to a depth of 292 meters

有人曾经探索到292米深处。

and beyond that nobody knows anything.

再深就没人知道是什么样了。

This is part of DEPTHX's mission.

探索它是深水热源探测仪的任务之一。

There are two primary targets we're doing here.

我们有两个正在研究的主要方向。

One is, how do you do science autonomy underground?

一个是如何在地下自动地做科学实验？

How do you take a robot and turn it into a field microbiologist?

如何将机器人变成野外工作的生物学家？

There are more stages involved here

这个有更多的步骤

than I've got time to tell you about, but basically we drive

可惜我没有足够的时间细述，但是基本上我们操纵机器人

through the space, we populate it with environmental variables --

穿过这个空间，我们让它探测环境变量--

sulphide, halide, things like that.

硫化物，卤化物，这样的东西。

We calculate gradient surfaces, and drive the bot over to a wall

我们计算倾斜的表面，操纵机器人爬上墙体

where there's a high probability of life.

那里很有可能存在生命。

We move along the wall, in what's called proximity operations,

我们沿墙移动，这就是所谓的近距离操做

looking for changes in color.

寻找颜色的变化。

If we see something that looks interesting, we pull it into a microscope.

如果我们遇到什么有趣的东西，我们把它放到显微镜下。

If it passes the microscopic test, we go for a collection.

如果它通过了显微镜测试，我们就收集样本。

We either draw in a liquid sample,

我们收集液体样本，

or we can actually take a solid core from the wall.

或者我们从墙体上直接采集固体岩芯标本。

No hands at the wheel.

这一过程无需人来遥控

This is all behavioral autonomy here

这全都由机器人

that's being conducted by the robot on its own.

自己执行。

The real hat trick for this vehicle, though,

这台机器最大的创新

is a disruptive new navigation system we've developed,

是一种我们研发的与众不同的导航系统，

known as 3D SLAM, for simultaneous localization and mapping.

被称作3D SLAM, 用于同时定位和画图。

DEPTHX is an all-seeing eyeball.

深水热源探测仪是一种全视角眼球。

Its sensor beams look both forward and backward at the same time,

它的感应光源可以同时向前向后，

allowing it to do new exploration

允许它做新的探索

while it's still achieving geometric sensor-lock

同时它能将感应到的它所经过的地方地

on what it's gone through already.

几何图形锁定。

What I'm going to show you next

我接下来要给你展示的

is the first fully autonomous robotic exploration underground

是有史以来第一个

that's ever been done.

全自动地下探索机器人

This May, we're going to go from minus 1,000 meters in Zacaton,

今年五月，我们准备从扎卡顿地下一千米处出发，

and if we're very lucky, DEPTHX will bring back the first

如果我们幸运，深水热源探测仪将会带回第一个

robotically-discovered division of bacteria.

机器人独立发现的细菌切片。

The next step after that is to test it in Antartica and then,

那之后的第二步是在南极洲对它做测试，然后

if the funding continues and NASA has the resolution to go,

如果资金许可，并且美国宇航局有决心，

we could potentially launch by 2016, and by 2019

我们可能在2016年前开始实施（探索外星）计划，在2019年

we may have the first evidence of life off this planet.

我们有可能得到证明地球外的生命存在第一个证据，

What then of manned space exploration?

那载人的空间探索呢？

The government recently announced plans to return to the moon by 2024.

美国政府最近宣布了2024重返月球的计划。

The successful conclusion of that mission will result

这项任务的成功将使少数的

in infrequent visitation of the moon by a small number

政府雇佣的科学家和飞行员

of government scientists and pilots.

的探访月球活动

It will leave us no further along in the general expansion

和五十年前相比，从人类探索宇宙的整体来看，

of humanity into space than we were 50 years ago.

并没有什么起步

Something fundamental has to change

如果我们想要在有生之年让太空飞行变得习以为然

if we are to see common access to space in our lifetime.

必须有根本的改变，

What I'm going to show you next are a couple of controversial ideas.

我下面要展示的是一些有争论的观点。

And I hope you'll bear with me and have some faith

我希望大家耐心听我讲并且相信

that there's credibility behind what we're going to say here.

我们这里所说的是确实可信的。

There are three underpinnings of working in space privately.

私人探索太空工作有三大支柱。

One of them is the requirement

其一是

for economical earth-to-space transport.

经济的地球到太空的交通运输

The Bert Rutans and Richard Bransons of this world

创业家们象伯特•鲁坦斯和理查德•布兰特（维珍航空公司的创始人）

have got this in their sights and I salute them.

已经开始在这方面努力,我向他们致敬。

Go, go, go.

加油，加油，加油

The next thing we need are places to stay on orbit.

我们需要的另一件事是轨道上的停留处。

Orbital hotels to start with, but workshops for the rest of us later on.

先以做太空酒店（旅游业）开始，之后可以我们的工作站。

The final missing piece, the real paradigm-buster, is this:

最后一点，真正能扭转乾坤的是：

a gas station on orbit.

太空轨道加油站。

It's not going to look like that.

它不会是图上这样的。

If it existed, it would change all future spacecraft design and space mission planning.

如果它存在，它会改变所有未来宇宙飞船和宇宙空间探索计划的设计。

Now, to give you a chance to understand

现在，为了让大家明白

why there is power in that statement,

此断言的分量

I've got to give you the basics of Space 101.

我要教大家一点儿太空基础知识。

And the first thing is everything you do in space you pay by the kilogram.

首先，你要为在太空里所做的每一件事情按千克付费。

Anybody drink one of these here this week?

有人这周喝过一杯这个吗？

You'd pay 10,000 dollars for that in orbit.

在轨道上你要为其支付一万美元。

That's more than you pay for TED,

那比你要参加TED支付的费用还要多，

if Google dropped their sponsorship.

如果谷歌撤销他们的赞助的话。

(Laughter)

（笑）

The second is more than 90 percent of the weight of a vehicle is in propellant.

其次，推进剂占百分之九十多的飞船重量。

Thus, every time you'd want to do anything in space,

因此，每次你想要在宇宙空间里做任何事，

you are literally blowing away enormous sums of money

每次你踩加速器时，

every time you hit the accelerator.

你就是在大笔地烧钱

Not even the guys at Tesla can fight that physics.

即使是做Tesla(极品电动跑车)的家伙们也没法战胜那个物理现象。

So, what if you could get your gas at a 10th the price?

所以，如果你能都以十分之一的价钱得到燃料会怎样？

There is a place where you can.

有个地方可以让你这样做。

In fact, you can get it better -- you can get it at 14 times lower

事实上，可以更便宜--你能以十四分之一的价格得到

if you can find propellant on the moon.

如果你能够在月球上发现推进剂的话。

There is a little-known mission that was launched

美国国防部13年展开了一个鲜为人知的，

by the Pentagon, 13 years ago now, called Clementine.

称为克莱门汀的计划。

And the most amazing thing that came out of that mission

这项计划最令人称奇的发现

was a strong hydrogen signature at Shackleton crater

是在月球的南极沙克尔顿环形山

on the south pole of the moon.

探测到很强的氢气信号

That signal was so strong,

那信号非常强，

it could only have been produced by 10 trillion tons of water

只有沉淀地下的10万亿吨水才能生成它，

buried in the sediment, collected over millions and billions of years

那水是成百上千万年

by the impact of asteroids and comet material.

小行星和彗星撞击遗留物汇聚而成

If we're going to get that, and make that gas station possible,

如果我们要用这水使加油站的建造成为可能的话

we have to figure out ways to move large volumes of payload through space.

我们必须找到在在太空中移动大量物资的方法。

We can't do that right now.

我们现在还做不到。

The way you normally build a system right now is you have a tube stack

人们现在的做法是从地球

that has to be launched from the ground,

使用多级火箭

and resist all kinds of aerodynamic forces.

这种方法需要克服各种空气动力效应。

We have to beat that.

我们必须克服它。

We can do it because in space there are no aerodynamics.

我们能够这样做是因为太空里没有空气阻力。

We can go and use inflatable systems for almost everything.

我们几乎总是能够使用充气系统。

This is an idea that, again, came out of Livermore back in 1989,

这个设想又是出自1989年在利弗莫尔

with Dr. Lowell Wood's group.

洛厄尔伍德教授领导的团队。

And we can extend that now to just about everything.

我们现在可以把它扩展到几乎每个其他领域。

Bob Bigelow currently has a test article in the orbit.

鲍勃•比奇洛目前正在太空轨道上检测一个这样的装置。

We can go much further.

我们可以更近一步

We can build space tugs, orbiting platforms for holding cryogens and water.

我们可以建立太空拖船，装载冷冻机和水的轨道平台。

There's another thing.

还有另一件事情。

When you're coming back from the moon,

当你从月球回来时，

you have to deal with orbital mechanics.

轨道力学告诉我们

It says you're moving 10,000 feet per second faster

你需要减每秒10000英尺的速度

than you really want to be to get back to your gas station.

慢到回加油站时所需的速度。

You got two choices.

你有两个选择。

You can burn rocket fuel to get there, or you can do something really incredible.

你可以燃烧火箭燃料，或者你可以做些很不可思议的事情。

You can dive into the stratosphere,

你可以扎入平流层，

and precisely dissipate that velocity, and come back out to the space station.

恰好抵消高速，再回到空间站。

It has never been done.

此举从未有人做过。

It's risky and it's going to be one hell of a ride --

这很冒险，会比迪士尼的过山车

better than Disney.

还惊险

The traditional approach to space exploration

传统的太空探索方法

has been that you carry all the fuel you need

是你载着所有所需燃料

to get everybody back in case of an emergency.

燃料足够确保每个人安全往返并且能应对紧急状况。

If you try to do that for the moon,

如果你试着为了登月这么做，

you're going to burn a billion dollars in fuel alone sending a crew out there.

送出一名宇航员光燃料就要花费十亿美元。

But if you send a mining team there,

但是如果你派遣一支采矿小队到那里，

without the return propellant, first --

前提是不带返程燃料--

(Laughter)

（笑）

Did any of you guys hear the story of Cortez?

有人听过科尔特兹的故事吗？

This is not like that. I'm much more like Scotty.

这不像那个故事。我更像是司各特。

I like this equipment, you know, and I really value it

我喜欢推进剂，我真的很看重它

so we're not going to burn the gear.

所以我们不准备烧掉它。

But, if you were truly bold you could get it there, manufacture it,

但是，如果你真的很大胆你可以在那里（月球上）得到并制造它，

and it would be the most dramatic demonstration

而且这会变成最激动人心的演示

that you could do something worthwhile off this planet

证明你离开地球也能做一些前所未有的

that has ever been done.

有价值的事情。

There's a myth that you can't do anything in space

人们都说没有亿万美元和20年时间的话

for less than a trillion dollars and 20 years.

在太空里不可能做成任何事情。

That's not true.

这是错的。

In seven years, we could pull off

七年之内，我们能够胜利完成

an industrial mission to Shackleton and demonstrate

一项去沙克尔顿（有水的月球环形山）的工业计划

that you could provide commercial reality out of this in low-earth orbit.

显示人类能利用月球能源在近地轨道上提供商业活动

We're living in one of the most exciting times in history.

我们正处在人类历史上最令人兴奋的时代之一。

We're at a magical confluence where private wealth

我们处在一个魔幻般的交汇口，这里个人财富

and imagination are driving the demand for access to space.

和想象力正推动着人们进入太空的需求。

The orbital refueling stations I've just described

我刚才描述的太空轨道加油站

could create an entirely new industry and provide the final key

能够创建一种全新的工业而且提供一把

for opening space to the general exploration.

开启全面探索太空之门的钥匙。

To bust the paradigm a radically different approach is needed.

打破固有模式需要一种全新的方法。

We can do it by jump-starting with an industrial

我们可以发起一次象路易斯和克拉克穿越美国一样具有历史意义的

Lewis and Clark expedition to Shackleton crater,

对沙克尔顿环形山的工业探索，

to mine the moon for resources, and demonstrate

以开采月球资源，证明

they can form the basis for a profitable business on orbit.

它们可以成为在轨道上可盈利的商业活动的基础。

Talk about space always seems to be hung on ambiguities

当人们讨论太空探险时，似乎总是故意把目的和时限

of purpose and timing.

定得模模糊糊

I would like to close here by putting a stake in the sand at TED.

作为结束，我现在就在TED作出承诺

I intend to lead that expedition.

我志在领导这项太空远征。

(Applause)

(掌声)

It can be done in seven years with the right backing.

有合适的支持，这件事可以在七年内完成。

Those who join me in making it happen will become a part of history

加入我完成此事的人将会

and join other bold individuals from time past

和那些历史上其他用于探索的人一起，永垂史册

who, had they been here today, would have heartily approved.

他们今天如果在这里，也定会诚心赞同。

There was once a time when people did bold things to open the frontier.

人们曾经勇敢地开启边疆之门。

We have collectively forgotten that lesson.

我们做为一个整体已忘记那一课。

Now we're at a time when boldness is required to move forward.

100年前欧内斯特沙克尔顿先生（英国南极探险家）说过“我们需要的是胆气才能前进”，

100 years after Sir Ernest Shackleton wrote these words,

现在也是一样

I intend to plant an industrial flag on the moon

我要在月球表面插一面工业的旗帜

and complete the final piece

在我们的时代,为我们所有人,

that will open the space frontier, in our time, for all of us.

完成将会开启航天边疆之门的最后一项任务

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

掌声