CNN News:MAVEN檢測(cè)火星大氣

At the moment, it's not possible to get someone to Mars and back alive. One of NASA's five active missions called MAVEN involves a satellite orbiting Mars that took more than ten months to get there from earth. Still, because NASA hopes to put someone on Mars one day, they're getting all the information they can from MAVEN and its $672 million mission.

現(xiàn)在，讓人們登上火星，并活著回來(lái)，是不可能的。NASA現(xiàn)在執(zhí)行的5個(gè)任務(wù)中，有一個(gè)叫做 MAVEN(美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局2011年火星探測(cè)計(jì)劃 )，是一個(gè)衛(wèi)星以火星為軌道轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)，從地球到火星需要10個(gè)月的時(shí)間。但是，因?yàn)镹ASA希望將來(lái)能將宇航員送上火星，所以，他們?cè)谑占軓腗AVEN收到的信息，該項(xiàng)活動(dòng)耗資6.72億美元。

Thanks to the space probe MAVEN, we now have clues in the mystery of Mars' shift from a warmer, wetter environment to the cold, dry desert it is today.

由于MAVEEN的空間探測(cè)器，現(xiàn)在，我們已經(jīng)掌握了火星的環(huán)境從溫暖、濕潤(rùn)轉(zhuǎn)變成現(xiàn)在寒冷、干旱沙漠的奧秘。

MAVEN has been exploring Mars' atmosphere since 2014. One of its main goals is to figure out how and why it got so thin. This low high pressure atmosphere is comprised mostly of carbon dioxide will prevent fresh water from being present, because it will boil at 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit. On Earth, it boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

MAVEN從2014年開(kāi)始就一直在探測(cè)火星的大氣。其主要目的之一就是查明火星的大氣變得稀薄的途徑以及方式。這種主要由二氧化碳組成的低高壓氛圍，將使現(xiàn)在不復(fù)存在淡水，因?yàn)榈谀欠N低高壓氛圍內(nèi)10攝氏度(50華攝氏度)就會(huì)沸騰。而在地球上，水的沸點(diǎn)是212華氏攝氏度。

And now, NASA scientists think they know the culprit -- solar winds. They observed a massive amount of ions and gases escaping during solar bursts like coronal mass ejections. Since the sun would have been incredibly active in its infancy, the prevalence and strength of these bursts could have had a tremendous influence in the evolution of the Martian environment and the thinning of the atmosphere.

現(xiàn)在NASA科學(xué)家們覺(jué)得自己知道了事情的罪魁禍?zhǔn)?mdash;—太陽(yáng)風(fēng)。他們觀察到在日冕物質(zhì)拋射等太陽(yáng)爆發(fā)活動(dòng)中有大量的離子以及氣體釋放。因?yàn)樘?yáng)自開(kāi)始階段就異?；钴S，這就導(dǎo)致這些爆炸活動(dòng)的頻率以及力度會(huì)對(duì)火星環(huán)境的變化以及大氣變薄產(chǎn)生重大的影響。

Scientists also observed a unique type of aurora called the diffuse aurora in the planet's northern hemisphere. Auroras occur when particles collide with a planetary atmosphere along electromagnetic fields. They're not uncommon. In fact, they've been observed above all planets with a substantial atmosphere, even some moons.

科學(xué)家們也觀察了該星球北半球的一種獨(dú)特類型的極光稱為分散極光。當(dāng)粒子在磁場(chǎng)與行星霧團(tuán)相撞時(shí)，就會(huì)產(chǎn)生極光。然而，極光很常見(jiàn)。實(shí)際上，所有的空氣的行星，甚至一些衛(wèi)星上都可以看到此種現(xiàn)象。

But the aurora seen on Mars was at the lowest altitude observed on any planet. The unique characteristics of this aurora versus those observed on Earth may be determined by the very different magnetic field configurations of the two planets.

但是，火星上看到的極光高度是最低的。這種極光的獨(dú)特特征以及在地球上所觀察的這樣現(xiàn)象可能是有兩個(gè)星球不同的磁場(chǎng)配置決定的。

As NASA gears up to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, they hope to gain further insights into the Red Planet's past, so we can better prepare ourselves for these future missions.

因?yàn)镹ASA準(zhǔn)備在21世紀(jì)30年代將宇航員送到紅星，因此，他們希望能夠深入了解火星的歷史，這樣的話，我們就能夠?yàn)槲磥?lái)的這些任務(wù)做好準(zhǔn)備。