What it takes to launch a telescope | Erika Hamden

譯者: Helen Chang 審譯者: Marssi Draw

I'm an astronomer who builds telescopes.

我是建造望遠鏡的天文學家。

I build telescopes because, number one, they are awesome.

我建造望遠鏡是因為：

第一，它們很棒。

But number two,

但是第二，

I believe if you want to discover a new thing about the universe,

我相信如果想發現 有關宇宙的新事物，

you have to look at the universe

就必須以一種新的方式看宇宙。

in a new way.

New technologies in astronomy --

天文學的新技術——

things like lenses, photographic plates,

從鏡頭、照相底片，

all the way up to space telescopes --

到太空望遠鏡——

each gave us new ways to see the universe

各個都給予我們看待宇宙的新方法，

and directly led to a new understanding

還直接引領我們認知 我們在其中的位置。

of our place in it.

But those discoveries come with a cost.

但這些發現得要付出代價。

It took thousands of people and 44 years

數千人花了 44 年

才讓發射哈伯太空望遠鏡 進入軌道的想法實現。

to get the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea into orbit.

It takes time,

這需要時間，

it takes a tolerance for failure,

需要容忍失敗，

it takes individual people

需要人們每天都選擇不放棄。

choosing every day not to give up.

I know how hard that choice is because I live it.

因為我經歷過， 所以我知道這選擇有多難。

The reality of my job is that I fail almost all the time and still keep going,

現實是我的工作幾乎每次都失敗， 而我仍然繼續前進，

because that's how telescopes get built.

因為望遠鏡就是這樣造出來的。

The telescope I helped build is called

我參與建造的望遠鏡叫做

the faint intergalactic-medium red-shifted emission balloon,

微弱星系間介質紅移發射氣球，

which is a mouthful,

很拗口，

so we call it "FIREBall."

所以我們稱之為 「火球（FIREBall）」。

And don't worry, it is not going to explode at the end of this story.

別擔心，它不會在故事結尾時爆炸。

I've been working on FIREBall for more than 10 years

我做火球已經超過 10 年，

and now lead the team of incredible people who built it.

目前帶領一組很棒的團隊來建造它。

FIREBall is designed to observe some of the faintest structures known:

火球旨在觀察 一些已知的最微弱結構：

huge clouds of hydrogen gas.

巨大的氫雲。

These clouds are giant.

這些雲如此巨大，

They are even bigger than whatever you're thinking of.

甚至比你想像中的 任何東西都還更大，

They are huge,

它們很巨大。

huge clouds of hydrogen that we think flow into and out of galaxies.

我們認為巨大的氫雲 流入和流出星系。

I work on FIREBall

我做火球是因為

because what I really want is to take our view of the universe

我真想要讓我們的宇宙觀

from one with just light from stars

除了用星光觀察，

to one where we can see and measure every atom that exists.

還可以看到和衡量存在的每個原子。

That's all that I want to do.

我想做的就這樣而已。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But observing at least some of those atoms

觀察某些原子

is crucial to our understanding of why galaxies look the way they do.

是理解為什麼星系有此樣貌的關鍵。

I want to know

我想知道

how that hydrogen gas gets into a galaxy and creates a star.

氫氣怎麼進入星系造成恆星。

My work on FIREBall started in 2008,

我的火球工作始於 2008 年，

working not on the telescope but on the light sensor,

原先不是做望遠鏡， 而是做光感測器，

which is the heart of any telescope.

光感測器是每個望遠鏡的核心。

This new sensor was being developed by a team that I joined

我加入的團隊正在開發新感測器，

at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

地點是太空總署的噴射推進實驗室。

And our goal was to prove that this sensor would work really well

我們的目標是證明那個感測器

能夠順利檢測出氫氣。

to detect that hydrogen gas.

In my work on this,

在過程中我損毀了幾個

I destroyed several very, very, very expensive sensors

非常非常昂貴的感測器，

before realizing that the machine I was using

然後才意識到 我之前使用的機器產生電漿，

created a plasma that shorted out anything electrical that we put in it.

使我們放入的所有電器全短路了。

We used a different machine, there were other challenges,

我們換了不同的機器， 又遇到其他的挑戰，

and it took years to get it right.

花了數年的時間才弄對。

But when that first sensor worked,

但當第一個感測器成功作用時

it was glorious.

是個輝煌的時刻。

And our sensors are now 10 times better than the previous state of the art

我們現在的感測器 比以前最佳的好上十倍，

and are getting put into all kinds of new telescopes.

被用在各種新型望遠鏡裡。

Our sensors will give us a new way to see the universe and our place in it.

我們的感測器讓我們得以用新的方式， 看到宇宙和我們在其中的位置。

So, sensors done,

感測器做成了，

time to build a telescope.

到了建造望遠鏡的時候。

And FIREBall is weird as far as telescopes go,

火球是個奇怪的望遠鏡，

because it's not in space, and it's not on the ground.

因為它既不在太空中 也不在地面上，

Instead, it hangs on a cable from a giant balloon

而是掛在巨大氣球的纜繩上，

and observes for one night only

僅觀察一晚，

from 130,000 feet in the stratosphere,

從 13 萬英尺高的平流層邊緣觀察，

at the very edge of space.

位在太空的最邊緣。

This is partly because the edge of space is much cheaper than actual space.

部分原因是上到太空的邊緣 要比實際到太空中便宜得多。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So building it, of course, more failures:

造它當然遇到更多次失敗：

mirrors that failed,

無法作用的鏡子、

scratched mirrors that had to be remade;

刮傷的鏡子必須重作；

cooling system failures,

冷卻系統故障，

an entire system that had to be remade;

整個系統必須重作；

calibration failures, we ran tests again and again and again and again;

校準失敗，我們無數次重複地測試；

failures when you literally least expect them:

在最意想不到之處失敗：

we had an adorable but super angry baby falcon that landed

一天有一隻可愛但超級生氣的小獵鷹

on our spectrograph tank one day.

降落在我們的光譜儀箱上。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Although to be fair, this was the greatest day

儘管平心來說， 那是此專案史上最棒的一天。

in the history of this project.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

I really loved that falcon.

我真的很喜歡那隻獵鷹。

But falcon damage fixed, we got it built

修好獵鷹造成的損傷後，

我們預備 2017 年 8 月升空，

for an August 2017 launch attempt --

and then failed to launch,

卻由於新墨西哥州的沙漠 連續六週下雨

due to six weeks of continuous rain in the New Mexico desert.

而無法升空。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Our spirits dampened, we showed up again,

我們的精神受挫，再度嘗試，

August 2018, year 10.

那是 2018 年 8 月，第 10 年。

And on the morning of September 22nd,

我們終於在 9 月 22 日上午

we finally got the telescope launched.

讓望遠鏡升空了。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

I have put so much of myself -- my whole life -- into this project,

我將一生投入這個專案，

and I, like, still can't believe that that happened.

我仍然無法相信真的做到了。

And I have this picture that's taken right around sunset on that day

這張是那天日落時分

拍攝的氣球相片，

of our balloon,

氣球上掛著火球，

FIREBall hanging from it,

and the nearly full moon.

和那近乎滿月的月亮。

And I love this picture.

我喜歡這張照片。

God, I love it.

天啊，我愛它。

But I look at it,

但看著它讓我想哭，

and it makes me want to cry,

because when fully inflated, these balloons are spherical,

因為充滿氣的氣球是球形的，

and this one isn't.

而這個不是。

It's shaped like a teardrop.

它的形狀像淚珠。

And that's because there is a hole in it.

那是因為它有一個洞。

Sometimes balloons fail, too.

氣球沒成功。

FIREBall crash-landed in the New Mexico desert,

火球墜落在新墨西哥州的沙漠中，

and we didn't get the data that we wanted.

我們沒收集到想要的數據。

And at the end of that day, I thought to myself,

那天結束的時候我心想：

"Why am I doing this?"

「我為什麼做這事？」

And I've thought a lot about why since that day.

從那天起我多次思考為什麼。

And I've realized that all of my work has been full of things

我意識到

我做過的所有工作滿是挫折和失敗，

that break and fail,

that we don't understand and they fail,

我們不明白，它們失敗了，

that we just get wrong the first time,

我們一開始就錯，所以失敗了。

and so they fail.

I think about the thousands of people who built Hubble

我想到成千上萬 建造哈伯望遠鏡的人，

and how many failures they endured.

他們忍受了多少次失敗。

There were countless failures, heartbreaking failures,

有無數次失敗，令人心碎的失敗，

even when it was in space.

即使當哈伯在太空中時也是。

And none of those failures were a reason for them to give up.

這些失敗沒有一次使他們放棄。

I think about why I love my job.

我思考為什麼喜愛自己的工作。

I want to know what is happening in the universe.

我想知道宇宙發生之事。

You all want to know what's happening in the universe, too.

你們也想知道。

I want to know what's going on with that hydrogen.

我想知道氫氣怎麼形成恆星。

And so I've realized that discovery is mostly a process

然後我意識到

「發現」主要是 找出何以行不通的過程；

of finding things that don't work,

and failure is inevitable when you're pushing the limits of knowledge.

而拓展知識極限時，失敗無可避免。

And that's what I want to do.

我就是要拓展知識的極限。

So I'm choosing to keep going.

所以我選擇繼續前進。

And our team is going to do

我們的團隊將會

what everyone who has ever built anything before us has done:

和任何建造東西的前人一樣：

we're going to try again,

我們要在 2020 年再試一次。

in 2020.

And it might feel like a failure today -- and it really does --

或許今天覺得像是失敗了，

真的很像。

but it's only going to stay a failure

但只有我放棄，才會永遠失敗。

if I give up.

Thank you very much.

非常感謝你們。

(Applause)

（掌聲）