What time is it on Mars? | Nagin Cox

翻译人员: Rui Shi 校对人员: Xu Junqing

So many of you have probably seen the movie "The Martian."

我估计在座很多人都看过 “火星救援”这部电影。

But for those of you who did not, it's a movie about an astronaut

对于没看过的人来说， 这是一部关于一名宇航员

who is stranded on Mars, and his efforts to stay alive

被困在火星，努力求生

until the Earth can send a rescue mission to bring him back to Earth.

直到地球派出了 一个救援小队把他带回地球。

Gladly, they do re-establish communication

幸运的是，他们与主角沃特尼

with the character, astronaut Watney, at some point

重新取得了联系。在某些方面来说，

so that he's not as alone on Mars until he can be rescued.

直到获救前，他在火星上还不算太孤独。

So while you're watching the movie, or even if you haven't,

当你在看电影的时候，即便你没看过，

when you think about Mars,

当你想像火星的时候，

you're probably thinking about how far away it is and how distant.

你可能会思考它距离我们有多远。

And, what might not have occurred to you is,

不过，你可能不会去想

what are the logistics really like of working on another planet --

工作或是生活在另一个星球，

of living on two planets

后勤是如何得到保障的，

when there are people on the Earth and there are rovers or people on Mars?

毕竟有一部分人在地球，还有一部分 漫游者或是人类在火星。

So think about when you have friends, families and co-workers

可以这么想象，当你的朋友， 家人还有同事

in California, on the West Coast or in other parts of the world.

在西海岸的加利福尼亚， 或是世界上其他一些地方。

When you're trying to communicate with them,

当你尝试去联系他们

one of the things you probably first think about is:

你可能想的第一件事是：

wait, what time is it in California?

等会，现在是加利福尼亚几点？

Will I wake them up? Is it OK to call?

我会不会打扰他们？现在能不能打电话？

So even if you're interacting with colleagues who are in Europe,

即便你联系在欧洲的同事，

you're immediately thinking about:

你也直接会想到

What does it take to coordinate communication when people are far away?

怎样才能顺利的进行远距离沟通？

So we don't have people on Mars right now, but we do have rovers.

我们现在并没有人类生活在火星， 但是我们有漫游者探测器。

And actually right now, on Curiosity, it is 6:10 in the morning.

现在，好奇号漫游者的时间 是早上6点10分。

So, 6:10 in the morning on Mars.

也就是说火星时间是早上6点10分。

We have four rovers on Mars.

我们有四个漫游者在火星。

The United States has put four rovers on Mars since the mid-1990s,

自90年代中期，美国就发送了 四个漫游者到火星上，

and I have been privileged enough to work on three of them.

而且我有幸和其中 三个漫游者一起工作过。

So, I am a spacecraft engineer, a spacecraft operations engineer,

所以，我是一名航天器工程师， 准确说是操纵航天器的工程师，

at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles, California.

工作于加州洛杉矶的 美国宇航局推进技术实验室。

And these rovers are our robotic emissaries.

而这些漫游者是我们的机器使者。

So, they are our eyes and our ears, and they see the planet for us

所以，他们就是我们的眼睛和耳朵。 他们能为我们观察火星，

until we can send people.

直到我们有能力把人送到那里。

So we learn how to operate on other planets through these rovers.

所以，我们可以通过这些漫游者 来了解在其他星球的环境状况。

So before we send people, we send robots.

所以，在我们把宇航员送到那里之前， 我们先派了一批机器人去。

So the reason there's a time difference on Mars right now,

火星上的时间和我们现在的时间

from the time that we're at

是不一样的，

is because the Martian day is longer than the Earth day.

因为火星的一天比地球要长。

Our Earth day is 24 hours,

我们的地球一天是24个小时，

because that's how long it takes the Earth to rotate,

那是因为地球自身转动，

how long it takes to go around once.

刚好旋转一周的时间

So our day is 24 hours.

就是我们一天的24小时。

It takes Mars 24 hours and approximately 40 minutes to rotate once.

火星自转一周需要24小时零40分钟。

So that means that the Martian day is 40 minutes longer than the Earth day.

这就是说，火星的一天比地球长40分钟。

So teams of people who are operating the rovers on Mars, like this one,

屏幕里这群操纵着火星漫游者的人，

what we are doing is we are living on Earth, but working on Mars.

我们生活在地球，但是工作在火星。

So we have to think as if we are actually on Mars with the rover.

所以，我们不得不认为我们就是 和漫游者一起呆在火星上。

Our job, the job of this team, of which I'm a part of,

我们团队中我参与的一部分工作，

is to send commands to the rover to tell it what to do the next day.

就是把指令发送给漫游者， 让她知道明天需要做些什么。

To tell it to drive or drill or tell her whatever she's supposed to do.

告诉她是要行驶，还是开采些岩土样本， 或是其他应该做的事情。

So while she's sleeping -- and the rover does sleep at night

当然，在她睡觉的时候， 她晚上确实是在睡觉，

because she needs to recharge her batteries

因为她需要给电池充电，

and she needs to weather the cold Martian night.

而且她需要抵抗住火星晚上的低温。

And so she sleeps.

所以她需要休息。

So while she sleeps, we work on her program for the next day.

在她休息的时候， 我们会为她计划好第二天的工作。

So I work the Martian night shift.

所以我在火星上夜班。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So in order to come to work on the Earth at the same time every day on Mars --

为了在火星上每天的同一时间工作，

like, let's say I need to be at work at 5:00 p.m.,

或句话说，我需要每天下午5点上班，

this team needs to be at work at 5:00 p.m. Mars time every day,

这个团队需要在火星时间下午5点上班。

then we have to come to work on the Earth 40 minutes later every day,

在地球上，我们每天则 需要晚40分钟开始工作，

in order to stay in sync with Mars.

这都是为了和火星同步。

That's like moving a time zone every day.

就像每天都在换时区。

So one day you come in at 8:00, the next day 40 minutes later at 8:40,

所以今天你8点来， 明天就要晚40分钟，8:40来，

the next day 40 minutes later at 9:20,

后天又要晚40分钟，就是9:20来。

the next day at 10:00.

大后天就是10点。

So you keep moving 40 minutes every day,

每天都要随着这40分钟变，

until soon you're coming to work in the middle of the night --

直到你要半夜来上班——

the middle of the Earth night.

是地球时间的半夜哦。

Right? So you can imagine how confusing that is.

没错吧？现在你能想象有多复杂了吧。

Hence, the Mars watch.

这就是我的火星手表。

(Laughter)

（笑）

This weights in this watch have been mechanically adjusted

这只手表的砝码用机械的方法调整过了，

so that it runs more slowly.

所以它走的相对慢一些。

Right? And we didn't start out --

但是我们还没开始——

I got this watch in 2004

我在2004年得到这只表，

when Spirit and Opportunity, the rovers back then.

当机遇号和勇气号探测器都到位后，

We didn't start out thinking

我们并没有想到

that we were going to need Mars watches.

我们需要一只火星时间的表，

Right? We thought, OK, we'll just have the time on our computers

我们想我们仅仅需要在电脑上有个时间，

and on the mission control screens, and that would be enough.

还有在任务监控屏幕上 显示时间，这就够了。

Yeah, not so much.

其实，还不够。

Because we weren't just working on Mars time,

因为我们不仅仅要按火星时间工作，

we were actually living on Mars time.

其实我们是按火星时间生活。

And we got just instantaneously confused about what time it was.

瞬间我们就把时间搞混了。

So you really needed something on your wrist to tell you:

所以你需要一些东西在你手腕上：

What time is it on the Earth? What time is it on Mars?

随时提醒你在地球上是几点？ 在火星上是几点？

And it wasn't just the time on Mars that was confusing;

而且，不仅仅是火星的 时间让我们感到混乱，

we also needed to be able to talk to each other about it.

我们还要在谈话中区别它。

So a "sol" is a Martian day -- again, 24 hours and 40 minutes.

所以一个“Sol“代表火星的一天， 24小时40分钟。

So when we're talking about something that's happening on the Earth,

当我们谈论在地球上发生的一些事情，

we will say, today.

我们会说今天。

So, for Mars, we say, "tosol."

换成火星的话，我们就说，“Tosol“

(Laughter)

（笑）

Yesterday became "yestersol" for Mars.

“昨天”成为了火星的“yestersol”。

Again, we didn't start out thinking, "Oh, let's invent a language."

我们开始想：“对了， 我们干脆发明一种语言吧。”

It was just very confusing.

刚开始真的非常的混乱。

I remember somebody walked up to me and said,

我记得有人走过来对我说：

"I would like to do this activity on the vehicle tomorrow, on the rover."

“我明天要在漫游者上做这个任务。”

And I said, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, or Mars, tomorrow?"

我就问：“明天，地球的明天 还是火星的明天？”

We started this terminology because we needed a way to talk to each other.

我们开始想一些专有术语， 否则我们都没法交谈了。

(Laughter)

（笑）

Tomorrow became "nextersol" or "solorrow."

于是“明天”变成了 “nextersol“ 或是 ”solorrow“。

Because people have different preferences for the words they use.

毕竟人们用词各有所好，

Some of you might say "soda" and some of you might say "pop."

有些人说“苏打”，有些人说“饮料”。

So we have people who say "nextersol" or "solorrow."

所以我们有人说“ nextersol“ ， 有人说 ” solorrow“。

And then something that I noticed after a few years of working on these missions,

在这个项目工作几年后，我发现

was that the people who work on the rovers, we say "tosol."

运行漫游者的人说“tosol”。

The people who work on the landed missions that don't rove around,

处理陆地工作的，不接触漫游者的人，

they say "tosoul."

他们说“tosoul”。

So I could actually tell what mission you worked on from your Martian accent.

所以我都能从工作人员的 “火星口音”中推断出他的工作。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So we have the watches and the language, and you're detecting a theme here, right?

我们有特制的手表和专门的语言， 现在你们明白了吧？

So that we don't get confused.

这样我们不再搞混了。

But even the Earth daylight could confuse us.

但是连地球的阳光， 也会使我们感到困扰。

If you think that right now, you've come to work

试想，你现在要来上班，

and it's the middle of the Martian night

现在是火星的午夜。

and there's light streaming in from the windows

但是窗外却有很多阳光，

that's going to be confusing as well.

这也会使你感到困惑。

So you can see from this image of the control room

你能从这张控制室的照片看出，

that all of the blinds are down.

所有的百叶窗全落了下来，

So that there's no light to distract us.

所以就没有阳光来干扰我们。

The blinds went down all over the building about a week before landing,

在登陆前，百叶窗会持续落下来一周。

and they didn't go up until we went off Mars time.

直到我们不再用火星时间， 它们才会被拉起来。

So this also works for the house, for at home.

在家里也如此。

I've been on Mars time three times, and my husband is like,

我这样依照火星时间工作了三次， 每次我丈夫就说：

OK, we're getting ready for Mars time.

“”好吧，我们准备好要过火星时间咯。”

And so he'll put foil all over the windows and dark curtains and shades

于是他会在窗户上贴上锡纸， 换上暗的窗帘和百叶窗，

because it also affects your families.

因为它同时也会影响你的家庭成员们。

And so here I was living in kind of this darkened environment, but so was he.

他只能陪着我一起生活在 这种黑暗的环境下。

And he'd gotten used to it.

他也渐渐习惯了。

But then I would get these plaintive emails from him when he was at work.

但是当他在工作时， 会发给我一些可怜兮兮的邮件。

Should I come home? Are you awake?

我能回家么？你醒了么？

What time is it on Mars?

现在是火星几点？

And I decided, OK, so he needs a Mars watch.

然后我觉得他也需要 一只火星时间的手表。

(Laughter)

（笑）

But of course, it's 2016, so there's an app for that.

当然，到了2016年， 已经有手机软件可以替代手表了。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So now instead of the watches, we can also use our phones.

现在我们可以用手机来代替手表。

But the impact on families was just across the board;

但这对家庭的影响的确是非常大的；

it wasn't just those of us who were working on the rovers

不仅仅是我们这些操控漫游者的人，

but our families as well.

还有我们的家人。

This is David Oh, one of our flight directors,

这是大卫，我们的飞行指挥官之一，

and he's at the beach in Los Angeles with his family at 1:00 in the morning.

这是他在洛杉矶的沙滩上，凌晨1点。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So because we landed in August

因为我们的探测器8月份就要着陆，

and his kids didn't have to go back to school until September,

他的孩子直到9月份才会开学，

they actually went on to Mars time with him for one month.

他们就随着他过了一个月火星时间，

They got up 40 minutes later every day.

他们的作息每天都会推迟40分钟。

And they were on dad's work schedule.

全家都随着父亲的日程表。

So they lived on Mars time for a month and had these great adventures,

他们过了一个月火星时间， 现在想来还真是一个大挑战，

like going bowling in the middle of the night

像是在午夜去打保龄球，

or going to the beach.

或是去沙滩。

And one of the things that we all discovered

而且我们都发现了一件事，

is you can get anywhere in Los Angeles

你可以在凌晨3点去洛杉矶的任何地方，

at 3:00 in the morning when there's no traffic.

大街上空荡荡的，一辆车也没有。

(Laughter)

（笑）

So we would get off work,

所以我们下班后，

and we didn't want to go home and bother our families,

并不想回家去打扰家人，

and we were hungry, so instead of going locally to eat something,

饿的时候，往往就近找些吃的。

we'd go, "Wait, there's this great all-night deli in Long Beach,

我们会说：“等等，长滩有一家 通宵营业的熟食店，

and we can get there in 10 minutes!"

我们到那只要10分钟！”

So we would drive down -- it was like the 60s, no traffic.

然后我们就开了过去， 畅通无阻，就像是60秒。

We would drive down there, and the restaurant owners would go,

当我们到那时，餐馆老板会说，

"Who are you people?

“你们是什么人？

And why are you at my restaurant at 3:00 in the morning?"

为什么凌晨3点来我的餐馆？“

So they came to realize that there were these packs of Martians,

然后他们慢慢知道有一群火星人

roaming the LA freeways, in the middle of the night --

在午夜的洛杉矶游荡——

in the middle of the Earth night.

地球的午夜。

And we did actually start calling ourselves Martians.

我们确实开始管自己叫火星人。

So those of us who were on Mars time would refer to ourselves as Martians,

我们之中按火星时间工作的 喜欢称自己为火星人，

and everyone else as Earthlings.

其他人叫地球同胞。

(Laughter)

（笑）

And that's because when you're moving a time-zone every day,

这是因为当你每天 都在改你自己的时区，

you start to really feel separated from everyone else.

你就会开始觉得和其他人疏远了。

You're literally in your own world.

准确的说你活在自己的世界中。

So I have this button on that says, "I survived Mars time. Sol 0-90."

所以我有这个胸牌， “我在火星生存的时间：0－90天”。

And there's a picture of it up on the screen.

屏幕上显示的就是这个胸牌。

So the reason we got these buttons is because we work on Mars time

我们带这个胸牌是为了 表明我们依据火星时间工作，

in order to be as efficient as possible with the rover on Mars,

为了尽可能方便的 和火星的漫游者工作，

to make the best use of our time.

来合理利用我们的时间。

But we don't stay on Mars time for more than three to four months.

但是我们从不在火星时间下 工作超过3-4个月。

Eventually, we'll move to a modified Mars time, which is what we're working now.

最终，我们得作息会依照修改过的 火星的时间，这就是我们现在在做的。

And that's because it's hard on your bodies, it's hard on your families.

因为这对你的身体和家庭都是个负担。

In fact, there were sleep researchers who actually were studying us

实际上，有睡眠专家一直在 拿我们做实验观察对象。

because it was so unusual for humans to try to extend their day.

因为人类很难有机会去 试图延长自己的一天。

And they had about 30 of us

我们有30人被观察，

that they would do sleep deprivation experiments on.

他们会在我们身上 做一些缺觉的实验。

So I would come in and take the test and I fell asleep in each one.

我就会参与实验， 在每个实验中去睡觉。

And that was because, again, this eventually becomes hard on your body.

这种情况最终还是会 对身体造成一些负担。

Even though it was a blast.

即使只是一时的损害。

It was a huge bonding experience with the other members on the team,

这段经历让团队的所有人同舟共济

but it is difficult to sustain.

但是很难持续。

So these rover missions are our first steps out into the solar system.

所以这个漫游者任务 是我们迈向宇宙的第一步。

We are learning how to live on more than one planet.

我们正在学习 如何生活在另外一个星球上，

We are changing our perspective to become multi-planetary.

我们正在改变原有的观点， 逐渐适应多星球生活。

So the next time you see a Star Wars movie,

所以下次你去看星球大战的时候，

and there are people going from the Dagobah system to Tatooine,

一些人从荻克巴星到塔图因，

think about what it really means to have people spread out so far.

想像一下，那真的是条很远的道路。

What it means in terms of the distances between them,

他们之间到底距离有多远，

how they will start to feel separate from each other

他们离开彼此会有什么感觉，

and just the logistics of the time.

还有时间差的问题。

We have not sent people to Mars yet, but we hope to.

我们还没有把人类送到火星上， 但是我想我们总有一天会做到。

And between companies like SpaceX and NASA

例如美国太空探索技术公司， 和美国国家航空航天局，

and all of the international space agencies of the world,

或是有国际空间站的国家，

we hope to do that in the next few decades.

我们希望可以在未来的几十年里实现。

So soon we will have people on Mars, and we truly will be multi-planetary.

所以不久，我们将有人生活在火星， 那时我们就是真的多星球人了。

And the young boy or the young girl

未来将会前往火星的少男少女们，

who will be going to Mars could be in this audience or listening today.

今天可能恰巧就坐在这里听我的演讲。

I have wanted to work at JPL on these missions since I was 14 years old

我自打14岁起，就想工作在 喷气推进实验室来研究这个项目，

and I am privileged to be a part of it.

如今我有幸成为了其中的一员。

And this is a remarkable time in the space program,

现在对于宇宙探索是个重要的时间，

and we are all in this journey together.

我们在一起经历了这些。

So the next time you think you don't have enough time in your day,

所以下次你觉得自己时间不够的话，

just remember, it's all a matter of your Earthly perspective.

记住，这只是你在地球时的观点。

Thank you.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（掌声）