I want to talk about 4.6 billion years of history in 18 minutes. That's 300 million years per minute. Let's start with the first photograph NASA obtained of planet Mars. This is fly-by, Mariner IV. It was taken in 1965. When this picture appeared, that well-known scientific journal, The New York Times, wrote in its editorial, "Mars is uninteresting. It's a dead world. NASA should not spend any time or effort studying Mars anymore." Fortunately, our leaders in Washington at NASA headquarters knew better and we began a very extensive study of the red planet.

我要談一下46億年的歷史， 僅用18分鐘。 也就是每分鐘3億年。 讓我們從NASA獲得的第一幅 火星圖片開始。 這是Mariner IV從火星飛過拍下的照片。 拍攝于1965年。(為第一張火星的近距離照片-攝于1965年7月14日) 當這幅照片公開時， 著名的科學雜志， 《紐約時代》，在編者欄中寫道： “火星毫無吸引力, 一片死寂。NASA不應該在火星探索中 浪費更多時間了。” 幸運的，我們在NASA華盛頓總部的領導們 更有眼光。 我們開始了對這顆紅色星球的 大規模研究。

One of the key questions in all of science, "Is there life outside of Earth?" I believe that Mars is the most likely target for life outside the Earth. I'm going to show you in a few minutes some amazing measurements that suggest there may be life on Mars. But let me start with a Viking photograph. This is a composite taken by Viking in 1976. Viking was developed and managed at the NASA Langley Research Center. We sent two orbiters and two landers in the summer of 1976. We had four spacecraft, two around Mars, two on the surface -- an amazing accomplishment.

在所有自然科學中，核心問題之一是， “地球之外是否存在生命？” 我相信火星是最有可能存在地外生命 的地方。 我將在幾分鐘為大家呈現 一些令人驚異的數據，這些在表明著 火星上可能存在生命。 不過還是讓我們先從一張海盜號(Viking)火星探測器拍到的照片開始吧。 這是一張由海盜號(Viking)火星探測器所拍到的照片拼接而成的照片。 海盜號(Viking)火星探測器由NASA Langley研究中心 研制并維護。 1976年夏天我們發射了2個衛星和2個著陸探測器。 我們共計有4個航天器，其中2個繞火星飛行， 2個著陸于火星表面， 是一個令人驚嘆的成果。

This is the first photograph taken from the surface of any planet. This is a Viking Lander photograph of the surface of Mars. And yes, the red planet is red. Mars is half the size of the Earth, but because two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the land area on Mars is comparable to the land area on Earth. So, Mars is a pretty big place even though it's half the size. We have obtained topographic measurements of the surface of Mars. We understand the elevation differences.

這張照片是(人類)在所有地球外的其他行星的地表 拍攝的第一張。 這是由海盜號(Viking)火星登陸探測器 在火星表面拍攝的一張照片。 是的，火星(the red planet)確實是紅的。 火星的大小是地球的一半。 但是由于地球的2/3被水覆蓋， 火星的陸地面積 和地球陸地面積相當。 所以，火星是非常大的地方，雖然它只有地球的一半大小。 我們已經擁有火星表面的 地形測量數據，知曉 海拔的差異。

We know a lot about Mars. Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons. Mars has the Grand Canyon of the solar system, Valles Marineris. Very, very interesting planet. Mars has the largest impact crater in the solar system, Hellas Basin. This is 2,000 miles across. If you happened to be on Mars when this impactor hit, it was a really bad day on Mars. (Laughter) This is Olympus Mons. This is bigger than the state of Arizona.

我們知道很多火星的信息。 火星擁有太陽系中最大的火山-- Olympus Mons。 火星擁有太陽系中 的大峽谷--Valles Marineris。 非常非常吸引人的星球。 火星有太陽系 最大的環形山-- Hellas Basin。 足足2000英里寬。 如果在撞擊物撞擊到火星時， 你剛好在火星上， 那真是在火星上度過的悲慘的一天。 （笑聲） 這是Olympus Mons。 它比Arizona州大。

Volcanoes are important, because volcanoes produce atmospheres and they produce oceans. We're looking at Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system, superimposed on a map of the United States, 3,000 miles across. One of the most intriguing features about Mars, the National Academy of Science says one of the 10 major mysteries of the space age, is why certain areas of Mars are so highly magnetized. We call this crustal magnetism. There are regions on Mars, where, for some reason -- we don't understand why at this point -- the surface is very, very highly magnetized.

火山非常重要，因為 火山產生大氣和海洋。 我們現在看到的是Valles Marineris， 這個太陽系最大的峽谷， 足以把美國版圖覆蓋在上面， 3000英里長。 火星最迷人的特性之一， 美國科學院所說的， 宇宙年齡十大神秘之一 是火星的特定區域具有 如此之強的磁場。 (這個磁場)我們稱之為地殼磁場。 火星上的一些區域，或許有什么原因， 但我們不知為何會達到此種程度， 其地表具有非常非常強烈的磁性。

Is there water on Mars? The answer is no, there is no liquid water on the surface of Mars today. But there is intriguing evidence that suggests that the early history of Mars there may have been rivers and fast flowing water. Today Mars is very very dry. We believe there's some water in the polar caps, there are polar caps of North Pole and South Pole. Here are some recent images. This is from Spirit and Opportunity. These images that show at one time, there was very fast flowing water on the surface of Mars. Why is water important? Water is important because if you want life you have to have water. Water is the key ingredient in the evolution, the origin of life on a planet.

火星上有水嗎？ 答案是沒有，現在沒有液態水存在于 火星表面上。 但有一些有意思的證據 顯示火星早期 可能曾經有河流和 快速流動的水。 目前火星非常非常干燥。 我們認為在極冠下存在一些水。 這是北極和南極極冠。 這是一些近期的照片。 來自勇氣號(Spirit)和機遇號(Opportunity)。 這些照片顯示曾經 火星表面存在流動非常迅速的水。 為什么水很重要？水很重要 在于生命離不開水。 水是在進化中的 關鍵因素，是一個星球上的生命起源。

Here is some picture of Antarctica and a picture of Olympus Mons, very similar features, glaciers. So, this is frozen water. This is ice water on Mars. This is my favorite picture. This was just taken a few weeks ago. It has not been seen publicly. This is European space agency Mars Express, image of a crater on Mars and in the middle of the crater we have liquid water, we have ice. Very intriguing photograph.

這是南極和 Olympus Mons的一些照片， 非常相似的特性，冰川。 這是固態水。 這是火星的冰水。 這是我最喜愛的照片，剛剛拍攝于幾周前。 目前還沒有公開發表。 這是歐洲宇航局。 火星快車號(Mars Express )探測器拍攝的一個環形山， 在環形山的中心 我們發現了液態水，我們發現了冰。 非常有意思的照片。

We now believe that in the early history of Mars, which is 4.6 billion years ago, 4.6 billion years ago, Mars was very Earth-like. Mars had rivers, Mars had lakes, but more important Mars had planetary-scale oceans. We believe that the oceans were in the northern hemisphere, and this area in blue, which shows a depression of about four miles, was the ancient ocean area on the surface of Mars. Where did the ocean's worth of water on Mars go? Well, we have an idea. This is a measurement we obtained a few years ago from a Mars-orbiting satellite called Odyssey. Sub-surface water on Mars, frozen in the form of ice. And this shows the percent. If it's a blueish color, it means 16 percent by weight. Sixteen percent, by weight, of the interior contains frozen water, or ice. So, there is a lot of water below the surface.

目前我們認為火星早期， 大概46億年前， 46億年前火星和地球非常相似。 火星曾有河流，火星曾有湖泊， 更重要的是火星曾有星球大小的海洋。 我們認為海洋曾經位于北半球。 這些藍色區域 顯示的是約4英里的深度， 曾經是火星表面的 古海洋區域。 火星上海洋大小的水究竟去哪兒了？ 那么，我們有一個猜想。 這是幾年前我們通過一個名叫奧德賽號(Odyssey)的 繞火星衛星探測到的數據。 火星表層下的水， 固體化為冰的形式。 這里顯示的是百分比。如果是藍色， 表示這里比重達16%。 內部按重量計算的16% 包含冷凍水，或者冰。 所以，在表層下存在大量的水。

The most intriguing and puzzling measurement, in my opinion, we've obtained of Mars, was released earlier this year in the magazine Science. And what we're looking at is the presence of the gas methane, CH4, in the atmosphere of Mars. And you can see there are three distinct regions of methane. Why is methane important? Because on Earth, almost all -- 99.9 percent -- of the methane is produced by living systems, not little green men, but microscopic life below the surface or at the surface. We now have evidence that methane is in the atmosphere of Mars, a gas that, on Earth, is biogenic in origin, produced by living systems. These are the three plumes: A, B1, B2.

我認為最有趣并且最令人困惑的測量結果 是今年早些時候 在科學雜志上 發表的。 我們現在看到的火星大氣層中天然氣，甲烷， CH4的百分比。 可以看到有三個明顯的甲烷區域。 為什么甲烷很重要？ 因為在地球上，幾乎所有的， 99.9%的甲烷 是由生命系統產生的， 不是外星人，而是地表下面或者 地表的微生物。 目前我們擁有證據 表明甲烷存在于火星大氣中， 而這種氣體在地球上， 是生命起源之初 由生命系統產生的。 這是三個羽狀物A,B1,B2。

And this is the terrain it appears over, and we know from geological studies that these regions are the oldest regions on Mars. In fact, the Earth and Mars are both 4.6 billion years old. The oldest rock on Earth is only 3.6 billion. The reason there is a billion-year gap in our geological understanding is because of plate tectonics, The crust of the Earth has been recycled. We have no geological record prior for the first billion years. That record exists on Mars. And this terrain that we're looking at dates back to 4.6 billion years when Earth and Mars were formed. It was a Tuesday. (Laughter)

這是它的地形。 地質學的研究告訴我們： 這些區域是火星上最古老的區域。 事實上，地球和火星 都有46億年了。 地球上最古老的巖石僅僅36億年。 對于產生10億年偏差的原因， 在我們地質學的理解上 是源于板塊的構造。 地球的地殼曾被反復改變過。 我們沒有早于前10億年的 地質記錄。 但相關記錄在火星上存在。 我們現在看到的這個地形 可以追溯到46億年前， 那是地球和火星形成的時候。 那是個星期二。 （笑聲）

This is a map that shows where we've put our spacecraft on the surface of Mars. Here is Viking I, Viking II. This is Opportunity. This is Spirit. This is Mars Pathfinder. This is Phoenix, we just put two years ago. Notice all of our rovers and all of our landers have gone to the northern hemisphere. That's because the northern hemisphere is the region of the ancient ocean basin. There aren't many craters. And that's because the water protected the basin from being impacted by asteroids and meteorites. But look in the southern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere there are impact craters, there are volcanic craters. Here's Hellas Basin, a very very different place, geologically. Look where the methane is, the methane is in a very rough terrain area.

這個地圖顯示 火星表面我們曾經放置上宇航器的地方。 這是海盜一號(Viking I)，海盜二號(Viking II)。 這是幸運號(Opportunity)。這是勇氣號(Spirit)。 這是火星探路者號(Mars Pathfinder)。這是鳳凰號(Phoenix)， 我們兩年前剛發射的。 注意，我們所有的漫步者和登陸者 都曾去過北半球。 那是因為北半球 是古海洋盆地 區域。 那里沒有太多環形山。 那是因為水保護盆地 免受隕石的影響。 來吧，我們看看南半球。 南半球有著名的撞擊坑， 還有火山坑。 這是Hellas Basin， 地質上非常奇特的地方。 看看甲烷所處的地方，甲烷在非常 粗糙的地形區域。

What is the best way to unravel the mysteries on Mars that exist? We asked this question 10 years ago. We invited 10 of the top Mars scientists to the Langley Research Center for two days. We addressed on the board the major questions that have not been answered. And we spent two days deciding how to best answer this question. And the result of our meeting was a robotic rocket-powered airplane we call ARES. It's an Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Surveyor. There's a model of ARES here. This is a 20-percent scale model.

解開火星上存在的秘密的 最好方法是什么？ 我們10年前提出了這個問題。 我們邀請了10位頂級火星科學家 到Langley研究中心做客兩天。 在板子上我們重點提出了 目前沒有解決的主要問題。 我們用了兩天來 給出這個問題的最佳解答。 我們的會議結果是 火箭動力機器人飛船，我們稱為ARES。 它是一個航天區域尺度級環境檢測器。 這是ARES的模型。 這個是5：1的模型。

This airplane was designed at the Langley Research Center. If any place in the world can build an airplane to fly on Mars, it's the Langley Research Center, for almost 100 years a leading center of aeronautics in the world. We fly about a mile above the surface. We cover hundreds of miles, and we fly about 450 miles an hour. We can do things that rovers can't do and landers can't do: We can fly above mountains, volcanoes, impact craters; we fly over valleys; we can fly over surface magnetism, the polar caps, subsurface water; and we can search for life on Mars.

飛船由蘭利研究中心設計。 如果說世界上有一個地方 能夠建造一架能夠在火星上飛行的飛機， 那就是Langley研究中心， 它有近100年的歷史， 是頂級世界宇航中心 我們在表面飛行了大概一英里。 我們覆蓋了幾百英里， 以每小時450英里的速度。 我們可以為漫步者所不能為 做登陸者所不能做。 我們可以從山脈，火山，環形山上方飛過。 我們從峽谷上上方飛過。 我們能夠從表面磁場， 極冠，地表下隱藏的水上方飛過。 并且我們能夠在火星上尋找生命。

But, of equal importance, as we fly through the atmosphere of Mars, we transmit that journey, the first flight of an airplane outside of the Earth, we transmit those images back to Earth. And our goal is to inspire the American public who is paying for this mission through tax dollars. But more important we will inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. And that's a critical area of national security and economic vitality, to make sure we produce the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and technologists.

但是，同樣重要的是， 當我們在火星的大氣層中飛行時， 我們傳輸旅途的數據， 這場地球外的第一次飛機飛行的旅途， 并且將那些圖像傳回地球。 我們的目的是鼓舞美國民眾， 那些正通過納稅為此行動付錢的人們。 更重要的是我們將 激發下一代的科學家， 科技人員，工程師和數學家。 那是國家安全和經濟復蘇的 重要領域，確保 我們培養出下一代的 科學家，工程師，數學家和科技工作者。

This is what ARES looks like as it flies over Mars. We preprogram it. We will fly where the methane is. We will have instruments aboard the plane that will sample, every three minutes, the atmosphere of Mars. We will look for methane as well as other gasses produced by living systems. We will pinpoint where these gases emanate from, because we can measure the gradient where it comes from, and there, we can direct the next mission to land right in that area.

這是ARES 飛躍火星時的樣子。 我們事先對它進行編程。 我們將飛躍這些甲烷存在的區域。 我們將為飛船裝備設備， 每三分鐘對火星大氣進行采樣。 我們將尋找甲烷 以及其他由生物系統產生的 氣體 我們將明確定位天然氣從何處釋放。 因為我們能夠測量產生甲烷的地區的梯度。 這樣我們能夠指導下次任務 在正確的區域著陸。

How do we transport an airplane to Mars? In two words, very carefully. The problem is we don't fly it to Mars, we put it in a spacecraft and we send it to Mars. The problem is the spacecraft's largest diameter is nine feet; ARES is 21-foot wingspan, 17 feet long. How do we get it to Mars? We fold it, and we transport it in a spacecraft. And we have it in something called an aeroshell. This is how we do it. And we have a little video that describes the sequence.

我們怎樣將飛船運送到火星的呢？ 用兩個字來說，謹慎。 問題在于，我們并非駕駛它去火星， 而是將它放入宇宙飛船， 然后發射到火星。 宇宙飛船的 最大直徑是九英尺。 ARES翼展21英尺，17英尺長。 那么我們怎么把它運到火星？ 我們把它折疊， 然后放入宇宙飛船。 我們將它放入叫做減速傘的一個東西中。 這就是我們的辦法。 我們有一段視頻，可以表現這個過程。

Video: Seven, six. Green board. Five, four, three, two, one. Main engine start, and liftoff.

視頻：Green board. 5,4,3,2,1. 主引擎啟動。起飛。

Joel Levine: This is a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the spacecraft taking nine months to get to Mars. It enters the atmosphere of Mars. A lot of heating, frictional heating. It's going 18 thousand miles an hour. A parachute opens up to slow it down. The thermal tiles fall off. The airplane is exposed to the atmosphere for the first time. It unfolds. The rocket engine begins.

Joel Levine：福羅里達州肯尼迪航天中心報告。 宇宙飛船將花費9個月 才能到達火星。 它進入火星大氣層。 大量熱量。 摩擦發熱。時速為每小時1萬8千英里。 減速傘打開，用來減速。 隔熱瓦脫落。 飛船首次進入大氣層。 展開。 火箭引擎啟動。

We believe that in a one-hour flight we can rewrite the textbook on Mars by making high-resolution measurements of the atmosphere, looking for gases of biogenic origin, looking for gases of volcanic origin, studying the surface, studying the magnetism on the surface, which we don't understand, as well as about a dozen other areas.

我們深信經過一小時飛行 我們將重新書寫教科書上關于火星的部分 通過記錄火星大氣層的高精度測量數據， 在生物區尋找天然氣， 在火山區尋找氣體， 研究火星表面，研究表面的磁場， 那些都是目前我們未知的， 正如許多其他的區域。

Practice makes perfect. How do we know we can do it? Because we have tested ARES model, several models in a half a dozen wind tunnels at the NASA Langley Research Center for eight years, under Mars conditions. And, of equal importance is, we test ARES in the Earth's atmosphere, at 100,000 feet, which is comparable to the density and pressure of the atmosphere on Mars where we'll fly. Now, 100,000 feet, if you fly cross-country to Los Angeles, you fly 37,000 feet. We do our tests at 100,000 feet.

熟能生巧。 為什么我們說我們可以完成這項計劃呢？ 因為我們已經測試了ARES模型， 八年中在NASA Langley 研究中心的十幾個風洞 的半數中測試了數個模型， 在模擬火星條件下。 并且，同樣重要的是 我們在地球大氣層中測試了ARES， 在海拔一百萬英尺的地方， 相當于火星上大氣濃度和壓力， 這個將來真正進行飛行的環境。 一百萬英尺，如果你乘坐飛機飛到洛杉磯 你是在3萬7千英尺。 我們的測試是在1百萬英尺。

And I want to show you one of our tests. This is a half-scale model. This is a high-altitude helium balloon. This is over Tilamook, Oregon. We put the folded airplane on the balloon -- it took about three hours to get up there -- and then we released it on command at 103,000 feet, and we deploy the airplane and everything works perfectly. And we've done high-altitude and low-altitude tests, just to perfect this technique.

我將給你們展示我們的測試。 這是½大小的模型。 這是高海拔氦氣氣球。 這是在俄勒岡州Tilamook。 我們把折疊起來的飛船放到氣球上。 升到那個地方需要大概三個小時。 在一百零三萬英尺高度 根據指令釋放它。 展開飛船，一切進行得很完美。 我們完成了 高海拔和低海拔測試， 全是為了使這項技術完美。

We're ready to go. I have a scale model here. But we have a full-scale model in storage at the NASA Langley Research Center. We're ready to go. All we need is a check from NASA headquarters (Laughter) to cover the costs. I'm prepared to donate my honorarium for today's talk for this mission. There's actually no honorarium for anyone for this thing. This is the ARES team; we have about 150 scientists, engineers; where we're working with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center and half a dozen major universities and corporations in developing this.

我們整裝待發。 這里有一個比例模型。 不過我們有一個全比例模型 保存在NASA蘭利研究中心 我們整裝待發，目前所需要的只有NASA總部的支票 （笑聲） 來支付花銷。 我打算捐獻今天演講的酬勞 來完成這項任務。 事實上在這項計劃上每個人都沒有任何酬勞。 我們是ARES團隊。 我們擁有約150位科學家和工程師， 我們與 火箭推進實驗室 戈達德宇宙飛行中心， Ames研究中心和6所相關大學 和一些企業一起開發這個計劃。

It's a large effort. It's all at NASA Langley Research Center. And let me conclude by saying not too far from here, right down the road in Kittyhawk, North Carolina, a little more than 100 years ago history was made when we had the first powered flight of an airplane on Earth. We are on the verge right now to make the first flight of an airplane outside the Earth's atmosphere. We are prepared to fly this on Mars, rewrite the textbook about Mars. If you're interested in more information, we have a website that describes this exciting and intriguing mission, and why we want to do it. Thank you very much. (Applause)

這項計劃是巨大的付出。這都在NASA Langley 研究中心內。 我總結如下： 離此處不遠， 就在北卡羅萊納州Kittyhawk大街， 略早于100年前 歷史被創造于 當我們擁有了地球上第一架自有動力飛行的飛機時。 時至今日我們即將獲得突破 去制造第一架飛行于 地球大氣層之外的飛機。 我們準備在火星上起飛這架飛機， 重寫教科書的關于火星章節。 如果你想知道更多信息， 我們的網站描述了這個令人激動 而迷人的任務，還有我們為什么想進行這個項目。 非常感謝。 （掌聲）

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