Fred Jansen: How to land on a comet

56,562 views ・ 2015-04-09

TED


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翻译人员: chunhua zhang 校对人员: Alan Wang
00:12
I'd like to take you on the epic quest of the Rosetta spacecraft.
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我想带你们进入罗塞塔号 史诗般的探险中去。
00:17
To escort and land the probe on a comet,
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护送这个探测器在一颗彗星上着陆,
00:21
this has been my passion for the past two years.
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是我过去两年以来的热情所在。
00:25
In order to do that,
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为了实现这个目标,
00:26
I need to explain to you something about the origin of the solar system.
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我需要向你们解释 关于太阳系起源的一些东西。
00:30
When we go back four and a half billion years,
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让我们回到45亿年前,
00:32
there was a cloud of gas and dust.
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有一个充满气体和灰尘的云团。
00:33
In the center of this cloud, our sun formed and ignited.
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在这个云团的中心, 我们的太阳在那里形成并燃烧。
00:38
Along with that, what we now know as planets, comets and asteroids formed.
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与此同时,那些现在被我们称为行星、 彗星和小行星的天体也形成了。
00:44
What then happened, according to theory,
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随后,根据理论,
00:47
is that when the Earth had cooled down a bit after its formation,
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在地球形成并且温度 开始降低了一些的时候,
00:51
comets massively impacted the Earth and delivered water to Earth.
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彗星极大地影响了地球, 并向地球输送了水分。
00:57
They probably also delivered complex organic material to Earth,
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它们可能还向地球输送了 复杂的有机物质,
01:01
and that may have bootstrapped the emergence of life.
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而那有可能诱导了生命的出现。
01:04
You can compare this to having to solve a 250-piece puzzle
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你们可以将这一过程与完成一个 250块的拼图相比,
01:08
and not a 2,000-piece puzzle.
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而不是完成一个2000块的拼图。
01:11
Afterwards, the big planets like Jupiter and Saturn,
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然后,像木星和土星这样的大行星,
01:15
they were not in their place where they are now,
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它们当时并不在今天所处的位置,
01:17
and they interacted gravitationally,
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它们会通过引力相互作用,
01:20
and they swept the whole interior of the solar system clean,
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并将整个太阳系内部打扫干净了,
01:23
and what we now know as comets
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而我们现在称为彗星的天体
01:25
ended up in something called the Kuiper Belt,
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最终到了一个叫做“柯伊伯带”的地方,
01:27
which is a belt of objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.
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这是一个海王星轨道以外的天体聚集带。
01:31
And sometimes these objects run into each other,
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有时这些天体会相互碰撞,
01:34
and they gravitationally deflect,
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并且发生了重力转移,
01:37
and then the gravity of Jupiter pulls them back into the solar system.
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木星的引力随后将它们拉回了太阳系。
01:42
And they then become the comets as we see them in the sky.
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然后它们就变成了 我们在天空中所见到的彗星。
01:46
The important thing here to note is that in the meantime,
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需要注意的重点是,在此期间,
01:49
the four and a half billion years,
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这45亿年间,
01:51
these comets have been sitting on the outside of the solar system,
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这些彗星一直安坐在太阳系之外,
01:54
and haven't changed --
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并且从没变过——
01:56
deep, frozen versions of our solar system.
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深沉、冻结版的太阳系。
01:59
In the sky, they look like this.
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在空中,它们看起来是这样的。
02:01
We know them for their tails.
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我们通过它们的尾巴认识它们。
02:03
There are actually two tails.
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这里事实上有两条尾巴。
02:04
One is a dust tail, which is blown away by the solar wind.
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一条是尘埃尾,是被太阳风吹出来的。
02:08
The other one is an ion tail, which is charged particles,
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另一条是离子尾,是带电粒子,
02:12
and they follow the magnetic field in the solar system.
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它们受太阳系磁场的影响。
02:15
There's the coma,
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可以看到慧发,
02:16
and then there is the nucleus, which here is too small to see,
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还有慧核,小到几乎看不见,
02:19
and you have to remember that in the case of Rosetta,
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但是你们要记住在罗塞塔号的案例中,
02:21
the spacecraft is in that center pixel.
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航天器就在那个中心像素上。
02:23
We are only 20, 30, 40 kilometers away from the comet.
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我们距离这颗彗星 只有20、30、40千米。
02:27
So what's important to remember?
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那么需要记住哪些关键点呢?
02:30
Comets contain the original material from which our solar system was formed,
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彗星中含有来自太阳系 形成时的原始物质,
02:35
so they're ideal to study the components
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因此它们是用来研究
02:37
that were present at the time when Earth, and life, started.
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地球和生命起源时 所出现的成份的理想对象。
02:41
Comets are also suspected
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彗星还很可能
02:43
of having brought the elements which may have bootstrapped life.
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带来了那些引发了生命起源的元素。
02:47
In 1983, ESA set up its long-term Horizon 2000 program,
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1983年,欧洲航天局开始了 长期的地平线2000计划,
02:52
which contained one cornerstone, which would be a mission to a comet.
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它包含了一个基础项目, 可能是一个造访彗星的任务。
02:56
In parallel, a small mission to a comet, what you see here, Giotto, was launched,
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同时,一个小的造访彗星的任务, 就是你们在这里看到的乔托号,启动了,
03:01
and in 1986, flew by the comet of Halley with an armada of other spacecraft.
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1986年,它与其它航天器组成的 舰队飞经了哈雷彗星。
03:07
From the results of that mission, it became immediately clear
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那次任务的结果清晰地表明,
03:10
that comets were ideal bodies to study to understand our solar system.
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彗星是用来研究太阳系的理想天体。
03:16
And thus, the Rosetta mission was approved in 1993,
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因此,1993年,罗塞塔任务被批准,
03:20
and originally it was supposed to be launched in 2003,
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最初它被设定在2003年发射,
03:24
but a problem arose with an Ariane rocket.
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但是后来由于阿里亚娜火箭 出现问题而被取消。
03:26
However, our P.R. department, in its enthusiasm,
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然而,我们的公关部门,充满热情,
03:29
had already made 1,000 Delft Blue plates
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他们已经制作了1000个 代尔夫特蓝色瓷盘,
03:32
with the name of the wrong comets.
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并印上了那些错误的彗星名字。
03:34
So I've never had to buy any china since. That's the positive part.
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因此从那以后我没有买过任何的瓷器。 这是积极的一面。
03:38
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:39
Once the whole problem was solved,
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在所有的问题被解决之后,
03:41
we left Earth in 2004
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罗塞塔在2004年离开了地球,
03:44
to the newly selected comet, Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
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飞向重新被选定的彗星, 丘留莫夫·格拉西缅科彗星。
03:47
This comet had to be specially selected
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这颗彗星是被特别选中的,
03:50
because A, you have to be able to get to it,
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因为首先,你得能够到达它,
03:53
and B, it shouldn't have been in the solar system too long.
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其次,它没有在太阳系待太长时间。
03:56
This particular comet has been in the solar system since 1959.
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这颗特别的彗星在1959年进入太阳系。
04:00
That's the first time when it was deflected by Jupiter,
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那是它被木星偏转后第一次来到太阳系,
04:03
and it got close enough to the sun to start changing.
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并且它跟太阳的距离近到 足够让它发生变化。
04:06
So it's a very fresh comet.
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所以这是一颗非常新的彗星。
04:08
Rosetta made a few historic firsts.
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罗塞塔取得了很多历史性的突破。
04:11
It's the first satellite to orbit a comet,
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它是首个进入彗星轨道的人造卫星,
04:14
and to escort it throughout its whole tour through the solar system --
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并且伴随彗星走过了 它的整个太阳系之旅——
04:17
closest approach to the sun, as we will see in August,
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到达了距离最短的近日点, 这个我们将会在8份看到,
04:20
and then away again to the exterior.
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然后重新离开太阳系。
这是第一次有航天器在彗星上着陆。
04:23
It's the first ever landing on a comet.
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04:25
We actually orbit the comet using something which is not
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我们实际上在罗塞塔号上 使用了一些通常不会在其他航天器上
04:29
normally done with spacecraft.
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使用的彗星轨道环绕技术。
04:31
Normally, you look at the sky and you know where you point and where you are.
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通常,你们看看天空, 就会知道方位和坐标。
04:34
In this case, that's not enough.
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但是在这个案例中,那还不够。
04:36
We navigated by looking at landmarks on the comet.
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我们通过观察彗星上的地标来导航。
04:40
We recognized features -- boulders, craters --
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我们辨别那些特征——卵石、环形山——
04:42
and that's how we know where we are respective to the comet.
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然后我们就知道我们处在彗星上 哪个对应的区域。
04:46
And, of course, it's the first satellite to go beyond the orbit of Jupiter
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当然,这也是第一次 使用太阳能电池飞跃
04:51
on solar cells.
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木星轨道的航天器。
04:52
Now, this sounds more heroic than it actually is,
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这听起来比事实更称得上是壮举,
04:54
because the technology to use radio isotope thermal generators
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因为那时放射性同位素热电机的技术
04:59
wasn't available in Europe at that time, so there was no choice.
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在欧洲尚未得到应用,所以当时别无选择。
05:03
But these solar arrays are big.
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但是这些太阳能电池板很大。
05:04
This is one wing, and these are not specially selected small people.
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这是它的一个侧翼, 下面这些可不是特意挑选的矮小的人。
05:07
They're just like you and me.
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他们是跟你我一样的正常人。
05:09
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
我们有两个这样的侧翼,65平米。
05:12
We have two of these wings, 65 square meters.
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05:16
Now later on, of course, when we got to the comet,
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随后,当然,当我们飞向这颗彗星时,
05:19
you find out that 65 square meters of sail
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你们会发现扬着一个65平米的帆
05:22
close to a body which is outgassing is not always a very handy choice.
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向一个正在排气的天体靠近, 并不总是一个便捷的选择。
05:28
Now, how did we get to the comet?
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我们是怎么到达这颗彗星的呢?
05:30
Because we had to go there for the Rosetta scientific objectives
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因为我们得去一个十分遥远的地方 去完成罗塞塔号的
05:34
very far away -- four times the distance of the Earth to the sun --
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科学目标—— 是地球到太阳距离的4倍——
05:38
and also at a much higher velocity than we could achieve with fuel,
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而且以一个我们用普通燃料 无法达到的速度。
05:42
because we'd have to take six times as much fuel as the whole spacecraft weighed.
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因为我们得携带六倍于 航天器本身重量的燃料。
05:46
So what do you do?
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那要怎么做呢?
05:47
You use gravitational flybys, slingshots,
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在一个非常低的高度,大概几千公里,
05:51
where you pass by a planet at very low altitude,
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经过一个行星时, 利用引力的拉扯效应和
05:54
a few thousand kilometers,
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弹力作用,
05:56
and then you get the velocity of that planet around the sun for free.
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你就会直接获得跟那颗行星同样的 绕日运行速度。
我们尝试过很多次。
06:01
We did that a few times.
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在地球上,火星上 , 然后又在地球上试过两次,
06:03
We did Earth, we did Mars, we did twice Earth again,
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06:05
and we also flew by two asteroids, Lutetia and Steins.
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我们还飞掠了两颗小行星, 鲁特西亚和斯坦斯。
06:10
Then in 2011, we got so far from the sun that if the spacecraft got into trouble,
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到了2011年,我们已经距离太阳太远了, 如果这个航天器遇到问题,
06:14
we couldn't actually save the spacecraft anymore,
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我们根本没办法挽救它了,
06:18
so we went into hibernation.
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所以我们进入了冬眠状态。
06:20
Everything was switched off except for one clock.
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除了一个计时器,所有的仪器都关掉了。
06:24
Here you see in white the trajectory, and the way this works.
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这里你们看到白色的是它的轨道, 以及运动轨迹。
06:27
You see that from the circle where we started,
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可以看到从一开始的这个圆,
06:30
the white line, actually you get more and more and more elliptical,
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这条白线, 我们可以得到越来越多的椭圆,
06:33
and then finally we approached the comet
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最终我们在2014年5月靠近了这颗彗星,
06:36
in May 2014, and we had to start doing the rendezvous maneuvers.
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然后我们得开始做会合减速。
06:41
On the way there, we flew by Earth and we took a few pictures to test our cameras.
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在途中,我们飞经地球并拍了一些照片 以测试我们的相机。
06:45
This is the moon rising over Earth,
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这是月球在地球另一侧升起,
06:47
and this is what we now call a selfie,
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这是我们现在所称的自拍,
06:49
which at that time, by the way, that word didn't exist. (Laughter)
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顺便说一下,那个时候“自拍” 这个词还不存在。(笑声)
06:53
It's at Mars. It was taken by the CIVA camera.
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这是在火星上, 由彗星红外与可见光分析仪 相机拍摄的。
06:56
That's one of the cameras on the lander,
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那是着陆器上的一台相机,
06:58
and it just looks under the solar arrays,
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它看起来处在太阳能电池板的下方,
07:01
and you see the planet Mars and the solar array in the distance.
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你们能看到火星和太阳能电池板 出现在远处。
07:05
Now, when we got out of hibernation in January 2014,
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当我们在2014年1月从冬眠中被唤醒后,
07:11
we started arriving at a distance
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我们开始前进,并在5月份
07:12
of two million kilometers from the comet in May.
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到达了距离这个彗星 200万公里的地方。
07:15
However, the velocity the spacecraft had was much too fast.
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然而,这个航天器的速度太快了。
07:19
We were going 2,800 kilometers an hour faster than the comet, so we had to brake.
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我们的时速要比这颗彗星快2800公里, 因此我们需要刹一刹车。
07:25
We had to do eight maneuvers,
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我们得做8次减速,
07:27
and you see here, some of them were really big.
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可以看到, 其中的一些减速幅度真的很大。
07:30
We had to brake the first one by a few hundred kilometers per hour,
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我们的第一次减速需要 将速度每小时降低数百公里,
07:36
and actually, the duration of that was seven hours,
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事实上这个过程花了7个小时,
07:40
and it used 218 kilos of fuel,
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消耗了218公斤的燃料,
07:43
and those were seven nerve-wracking hours, because in 2007,
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这也是令人心惊胆战的7小时, 因为在2007年,
07:47
there was a leak in the system of the propulsion of Rosetta,
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罗塞塔号的推进系统出现了一处泄漏,
07:50
and we had to close off a branch,
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我们不得不关掉了一个分路,
07:52
so the system was actually operating at a pressure
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因此推进系统是在超出设计能力的
07:55
which it was never designed or qualified for.
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压力下运行的。
07:59
Then we got in the vicinity of the comet, and these were the first pictures we saw.
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然后我们到达了这颗彗星的附近, 这是我们看到的第一批照片。
08:04
The true comet rotation period is 12 and a half hours,
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这颗彗星真实的自转周期是12.5个小时,
08:07
so this is accelerated,
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所以这是加速播放的,
08:09
but you will understand that our flight dynamics engineers thought,
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但是你们肯定能够理解我们的 飞行动力学工程师的想法,
08:12
this is not going to be an easy thing to land on.
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这不是一个容易登陆的东西。
08:16
We had hoped for some kind of spud-like thing
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我们曾经幻想过它是某种 形状像土豆一样的
08:21
where you could easily land.
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容易登陆的东西。
08:23
But we had one hope: maybe it was smooth.
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但我们扔抱着一线希望: 也许它比较平坦。
08:26
No. That didn't work either. (Laughter)
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不,它的表面还很粗糙。(笑声)
08:30
So at that point in time, it was clearly unavoidable:
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因此,当时我们迫不得已 做出了如下选择:
08:33
we had to map this body in all the detail you could get,
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我们得利用收集到的所有细节 去绘制这个天体的地图,
08:36
because we had to find an area which is 500 meters in diameter and flat.
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因为我们得找到一块直径500米的平地。
08:41
Why 500 meters? That's the error we have on landing the probe.
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为什么是500米? 这是我们让探测器着陆时的误差。
08:46
So we went through this process, and we mapped the comet.
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于是我们立即采取行动 并绘制出了彗星表面的地图。
08:49
We used a technique called photoclinometry.
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我们采用了一种叫做 照相测斜术的技术。
08:51
You use shadows thrown by the sun.
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利用太阳拋下的阴影。
08:54
What you see here is a rock sitting on the surface of the comet,
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你们现在看到的是一块 位于彗星表面的岩石,
08:57
and the sun shines from above.
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而阳光从上面照下来。
09:00
From the shadow, we, with our brain,
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透过阴影,我们用大脑,
09:02
can immediately determine roughly what the shape of that rock is.
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可以立刻大致判断出这块岩石的形状。
09:05
You can program that in a computer,
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你可以编一套那样的程序,
09:07
you then cover the whole comet, and you can map the comet.
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然后覆盖整颗彗星, 就可以绘制出它表面的形貌图了。
09:12
For that, we flew special trajectories starting in August.
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为此,我们从8月份开始沿着 一种特殊的轨迹飞行。
09:15
First, a triangle of 100 kilometers on a side
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首先,在100公里外的地方沿着一个
09:18
at 100 kilometers' distance,
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边长为100公里的三角形飞行,
09:20
and we repeated the whole thing at 50 kilometers.
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然后将三角形的边长改为50公里, 再重复整个过程。
09:23
At that time, we had seen the comet at all kinds of angles,
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那时候,我们已经通过所有的角度 观察过这颗彗星了,
09:27
and we could use this technique to map the whole thing.
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我们也可以利用这一技术绘制出 整个彗星的表面形貌。
09:31
Now, this led to a selection of landing sites.
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现在,到了选择登陆地点的时候了。
09:35
This whole process we had to do, to go from the mapping of the comet
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我们要做的就是在60天内, 通过绘制这颗彗星的形貌图,
09:39
to actually finding the final landing site, was 60 days.
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来找到一个最终的登陆地点。
09:42
We didn't have more.
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我们没有更多的时间。
09:44
To give you an idea, the average Mars mission
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对比一下,平均来说,火星上的任务
09:46
takes hundreds of scientists for years to meet
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需要成百上千的科学家花数年的时间
09:50
about where shall we go?
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去找到一个登陆地点。
09:52
We had 60 days, and that was it.
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但我们只有60天,就那么多了。
09:54
We finally selected the final landing site
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我们最终选定了一个登陆点,
09:57
and the commands were prepared for Rosetta to launch Philae.
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并且让罗塞塔号发送菲莱号的 指令也准备好了。
10:02
The way this works is that Rosetta has to be at the right point in space,
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不过前提条件是罗塞塔号 得处在空中的正确位置,
10:06
and aiming towards the comet, because the lander is passive.
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并且瞄准这颗彗星,因为着陆器是被动的。
10:09
The lander is then pushed out and moves towards the comet.
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它需要被推出并飞向彗星。
10:13
Rosetta had to turn around
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罗塞塔号得转过身,
10:15
to get its cameras to actually look at Philae while it was departing
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以便使它的相机在 菲莱飞离的过程中能对着它,
10:19
and to be able to communicate with it.
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并且能与它进行交流。
10:22
Now, the landing duration of the whole trajectory was seven hours.
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整个着陆过程花了7个小时。
10:26
Now do a simple calculation:
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简单的计算一下:
10:29
if the velocity of Rosetta is off by one centimeter per second,
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如果罗塞塔号的速度误差是1厘米每秒,
10:33
seven hours is 25,000 seconds.
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7个小时就是25000秒,
10:37
That means 252 meters wrong on the comet.
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那就意味着着陆器 登陆彗星时的误差是252米。
10:42
So we had to know the velocity of Rosetta
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因此我们得将罗塞塔的速度误差
10:45
much better than one centimeter per second,
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精确到小于1厘米每秒,
10:48
and its location in space better than 100 meters
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而它在太空中远离地球5亿公里的位置,
10:52
at 500 million kilometers from Earth.
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误差要精确到100米以内。
10:55
That's no mean feat.
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那不是一件易事。
10:57
Let me quickly take you through some of the science and the instruments.
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让我快速的介绍一下 其中的一些科学理论和仪器。
11:02
I won't bore you with all the details of all the instruments,
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我不会介绍所有仪器的细节, 以免你们听得一头雾水,
11:05
but it's got everything.
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但想帮助你们了解一些概念。
11:07
We can sniff gas, we can measure dust particles,
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我们可以检测气体,测量粉尘,
11:10
the shape of them, the composition,
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测它们的形状和成分,
11:12
there are magnetometers, everything.
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这里有磁力仪等等我们需要的一切。
11:15
This is one of the results from an instrument which measures gas density
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这是一部仪器所测到的 罗塞塔号所处位置的
11:18
at the position of Rosetta,
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气体密度的结果,
11:20
so it's gas which has left the comet.
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这是从彗星上释放出来的气体。
11:22
The bottom graph is September of last year.
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下面的图是去年9月份的。
11:25
There is a long-term variation, which in itself is not surprising,
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这是一个长期的变化, 对于它本身来说可能不算什么,
11:28
but you see the sharp peaks.
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但是看看那些尖峰。
11:30
This is a comet day.
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这就是彗星上的一天。
11:32
You can see the effect of the sun on the evaporation of gas
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你们可以看到太阳对于气体蒸发的影响,
11:36
and the fact that the comet is rotating.
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以及彗星是旋转的这一事实。
11:39
So there is one spot, apparently,
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这里有一个点,很明显地,
11:41
where there is a lot of stuff coming from,
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很多东西都出自那里,
11:43
it gets heated in the Sun, and then cools down on the back side.
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它被太阳加热,然后在背面冷却。
11:46
And we can see the density variations of this.
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我们可以看看这里的密度差异。
11:50
These are the gases and the organic compounds
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这些是我们已经测量到的
11:54
that we already have measured.
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气体和有机化合物。
11:56
You will see it's an impressive list,
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看得出这是一份令人印象深刻的列表,
11:57
and there is much, much, much more to come,
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并且还会有更多更多的东西出现在上面,
12:00
because there are more measurements.
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因为我们还进行了更多的测量。
事实上,这会儿正有一个 在休斯顿举行的会议,
12:02
Actually, there is a conference going on in Houston at the moment
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12:05
where many of these results are presented.
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这些数据会在会上被展示出来。
12:08
Also, we measured dust particles.
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我们还测量了尘粒。
12:10
Now, for you, this will not look very impressive,
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对于你们来说,这可能没什么太大的意义,
12:13
but the scientists were thrilled when they saw this.
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但是当科学家们 看到这个的时候都非常激动。
12:16
Two dust particles:
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两颗尘粒:
12:17
the right one they call Boris, and they shot it with tantalum
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右边的他们叫它鲍里斯, 他们用钽去射击它,
12:20
in order to be able to analyze it.
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以便能够分析它。
12:23
Now, we found sodium and magnesium.
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我们发现了钠和镁。
12:25
What this tells you is this is the concentration of these two materials
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而这也说明了这就是当太阳系刚形成时
12:29
at the time the solar system was formed,
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这两种物质的浓度,
12:32
so we learned things about which materials were there
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因此我们知道了当行星形成时
12:35
when the planet was made.
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存在着哪些物质。
12:38
Of course, one of the important elements is the imaging.
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当然,最重要的因素之一就是成像。
12:41
This is one of the cameras of Rosetta, the OSIRIS camera,
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这是罗塞塔号上的一个相机—— 奥西里斯相机——拍摄到的,
12:44
and this actually was the cover of Science magazine
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而这实际上是《科学》杂志
12:47
on January 23 of this year.
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今年1月23日那一期的封面。
12:50
Nobody had expected this body to look like this.
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没有人想到它看起来会是这样的。
12:54
Boulders, rocks -- if anything, it looks more like the Half Dome in Yosemite
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大卵石,岩石——相比于其它任何地方,
12:57
than anything else.
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它看起来更像是约塞米蒂的半屏岩。
13:00
We also saw things like this:
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我们还看到了这样的东西:
13:02
dunes, and what look to be, on the righthand side, wind-blown shadows.
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沙丘,还有在右手边, 看起来像一些被风吹动的影子。
13:07
Now we know these from Mars, but this comet doesn't have an atmosphere,
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我们在火星上发现过这些, 但是这颗彗星没有大气层,
13:11
so it's a bit difficult to create a wind-blown shadow.
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所以要制造一个被风吹动的 影子是有点困难的。
13:14
It may be local outgassing,
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这可能是局部的出气,
13:16
stuff which goes up and comes back.
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有什么东西上升然后落下来。
13:18
We don't know, so there is a lot to investigate.
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我们还不清楚, 所以还要进行很多调查。
13:21
Here, you see the same image twice.
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这里有两张同一地点的图像。
13:23
On the left-hand side, you see in the middle a pit.
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左手边这张,中间有一个坑。
13:26
On the right-hand side, if you carefully look,
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右手边这张,如果你们仔细看,
13:28
there are three jets coming out of the bottom of that pit.
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有三股气流从那个坑的底部喷出。
13:31
So this is the activity of the comet.
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所以这就是这颗彗星的活动。
13:34
Apparently, at the bottom of these pits is where the active regions are,
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显然,这些坑的底部就是活动区域,
13:38
and where the material evaporates into space.
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也是物质蒸发到空中去的地方。
13:40
There is a very intriguing crack in the neck of the comet.
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这颗彗星的脖子上 有一个非常有趣的裂缝。
13:44
You see it on the right-hand side.
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就在右手边。
13:46
It's a kilometer long, and it's two and a half meters wide.
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它有1公里长,2.5米宽。
13:50
Some people suggest that actually,
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有些人提出,事实上
13:52
when we get close to the sun,
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当我们向太阳靠近的时候,
13:54
the comet may split in two,
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这颗彗星可能会一分为二,
13:56
and then we'll have to choose,
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然后我们不得不做出选择,
我们要去跟踪哪一半的彗星?
13:58
which comet do we go for?
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14:00
The lander -- again, lots of instruments,
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这个着陆器—— 一样的,携带了很多仪器,
14:03
mostly comparable except for the things which hammer in the ground and drill, etc.
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除了一些打钻用的装置, 其他大部分跟航天器上的差不多。
14:08
But much the same as Rosetta, and that is because you want to compare
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与罗塞塔携带几乎一样的仪器是因为要把
14:12
what you find in space with what you find on the comet.
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太空中发现的物质跟这颗彗星上的做比较。
14:16
These are called ground truth measurements.
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这被称为“地面实况调查”。
14:18
These are the landing descent images
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这些是奥西里斯相机拍摄的
14:22
that were taken by the OSIRIS camera.
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着陆下降时的图像。
14:24
You see the lander getting further and further away from Rosetta.
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可以看到着陆器离罗塞塔号越来越远。
14:28
On the top right, you see an image taken at 60 meters by the lander,
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右上角,是着陆器在60米外拍的照片,
14:32
60 meters above the surface of the comet.
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彗星表面60米以上。
14:35
The boulder there is some 10 meters.
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那个大卵石直径大约10米。
14:37
So this is one of the last images we took before we landed on the comet.
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这是我们在彗星上着陆之前 所拍的最后一张照片。
14:42
Here, you see the whole sequence again, but from a different perspective,
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换个角度,再看一遍这整个过程,
14:45
and you see three blown-ups from the bottom-left to the middle
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大家可以看到从图中的 左下角到中间有三幅
14:49
of the lander traveling over the surface of the comet.
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着陆器飞过彗星表面时的放大照。
14:54
Then, at the top, there is a before and an after image of the landing.
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然后,在顶部有 着陆之前和之后的对比照。
14:58
The only problem with the after image is, there is no lander.
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唯一的问题就是在着陆后的照片中 没有出现着陆器。
15:02
But if you carefully look at the right-hand side of this image,
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但是你们仔细观察这张图像的右手边,
15:05
we saw the lander still there, but it had bounced.
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我们看到着陆器仍然在那, 但是它被反弹了。
15:09
It had departed again.
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又离开了彗星表面。
15:11
Now, on a bit of a comical note here
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现在,有点滑稽的是,
15:14
is that originally Rosetta was designed to have a lander which would bounce.
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本来在罗塞塔号的设计中, 它会携带一个能反弹的着陆器。
15:18
That was discarded because it was way too expensive.
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但是因为成本太高所以就放弃了。
15:21
Now, we forgot, but the lander knew.
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我们已经忘记了这件事, 但是着陆器还记得。
15:23
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
15:25
During the first bounce, in the magnetometers,
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第一次反弹期间,在磁力仪上,
15:27
you see here the data from them, from the three axes, x, y and z.
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你们可以看到来自X、Y、Z 三个坐标上的数据。
15:31
Halfway through, you see a red line.
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半途中,你们可以看到一条红线。
15:33
At that red line, there is a change.
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这条红线表示有变化产生。
15:35
What happened, apparently, is during the first bounce,
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发生了什么呢? 很显然是在第一次反弹期间,
15:39
somewhere, we hit the edge of a crater with one of the legs of the lander,
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着陆器的一条腿在某个地方 碰到了一个坑的边缘,
15:44
and the rotation velocity of the lander changed.
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然后着陆器的旋转速度被改变了。
15:47
So we've been rather lucky
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所以我们很幸运
15:49
that we are where we are.
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是处在当时的位置。
15:51
This is one of the iconic images of Rosetta.
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这是罗塞塔号拍的标志性的图片之一。
15:55
It's a man-made object, a leg of the lander,
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那是一个人造物体,着陆器的一条腿,
15:59
standing on a comet.
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站在一颗彗星上。
16:01
This, for me, is one of the very best images of space science I have ever seen.
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对我来说,这是我见过的 最棒的空间科学的照片之一。
16:06
(Applause)
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(掌声)
16:11
One of the things we still have to do is to actually find the lander.
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未来的任务之一就是要找到这个着陆器。
16:15
The blue area here is where we know it must be.
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蓝色区域是我们知道的 它应该所处的位置。
16:18
We haven't been able to find it yet, but the search is continuing,
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我们还没能找到它,但是搜索仍在继续,
16:22
as are our efforts to start getting the lander to work again.
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同时我们也在努力让着陆器重新工作。
16:26
We listen every day,
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我们每天都仔细监听,
希望从现在到4月份的某个时候,
16:28
and we hope that between now and somewhere in April,
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16:30
the lander will wake up again.
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这个着陆器会重新开始工作。
16:32
The findings of what we found on the comet:
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我们在这颗彗星上的发现是:
16:35
This thing would float in water.
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这颗彗星可以在水上漂浮。
16:38
It's half the density of water.
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它的密度是水的一半。
16:40
So it looks like a very big rock, but it's not.
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因此它虽然看起来像一块大岩石, 但实际上不是。
16:43
The activity increase we saw in June, July, August last year
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去年6到8月间我们看到
16:47
was a four-fold activity increase.
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它的活跃性提高了4倍。
16:49
By the time we will be at the sun,
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当我们靠近太阳时,
16:51
there will be 100 kilos a second leaving this comet:
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每秒种将会有100公斤的物质 离开这颗彗星:
16:56
gas, dust, whatever.
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气体、灰尘等等。
16:57
That's 100 million kilos a day.
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1天的话就是1亿公斤。
17:01
Then, finally, the landing day.
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最终,到了着陆的那一天。
17:03
I will never forget -- absolute madness, 250 TV crews in Germany.
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我将永生难忘——大家都疯狂了, 在德国有250名电视台工作人员争相报道。
17:09
The BBC was interviewing me,
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在BBC采访我的同时,
17:11
and another TV crew who was following me all day
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另一家电视台全天都在 跟踪报道我的工作人员
17:14
were filming me being interviewed,
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也拍下了我的访问过程,
17:16
and it went on like that for the whole day.
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那种状况持续了一整天。
17:18
The Discovery Channel crew
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探索频道的工作人员
17:20
actually caught me when leaving the control room,
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在我离开监控室时找到了我,
17:23
and they asked the right question,
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并且提出了正确的问题,
17:25
and man, I got into tears, and I still feel this.
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我当时激动得流下了眼泪, 而那种感觉依旧挥之不去。
17:28
For a month and a half,
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此后的1个半月里,
17:30
I couldn't think about landing day without crying,
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每次想到着陆日我都会热泪盈眶,
17:33
and I still have the emotion in me.
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并到现在那种情绪在我心中仍然存在。
17:36
With this image of the comet, I would like to leave you.
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我想用这张这颗彗星的照片 来结束今天的演讲。
17:38
Thank you.
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谢谢。
17:41
(Applause)
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(掌声)
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