017 旅行者号任务

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In 1609 Galileo turned his telescope to the heavens

1609年，伽利略把望远镜转向了天空。

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He looked at Jupiter and was astonished; he saw four moons orbiting the planet

他望向木星，非常惊讶；他看到四颗卫星环绕这颗行星运行。

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As the centuries passed, people invented larger and more powerful telescopes

几个世纪过去了，人们发明了更大、更强大的望远镜。

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But these improvements could not satisfy their curiosity about the other planets that orbit our sun

但这些改进无法满足他们对环绕太阳的其他行星的好奇心。

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Instead of improving telescopes on Earth, scientists thought, why not send telescopes to the planets?

科学家们想，与其改进地球上的望远镜，为什么不把望远镜送到行星上去呢？

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In 1977 the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) sent two probes

1977年，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）发射了两个探测器，

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Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, to explore the mysterious planets beyond Mars

旅行者1号和旅行者2号，去探索火星之外的神秘行星。

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These four planets are called gas giants, and they are about 60 to 1,300 times the size of Earth

这四颗行星被称为气态巨行星，大小约为地球的60到1300倍。

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Both Voyager 1 and 2 explored the closest two, Jupiter and Saturn

旅行者1号和2号都探索了最近的两颗——木星和土星。

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Voyager 1 also studied Saturn's moon Titan, while Voyager 2 traveled on to study the planets Uranus and Neptune

旅行者1号还研究了土星的卫星泰坦，而旅行者2号继续前行，研究天王星和海王星。

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From January to April of 1979, Voyager 1 photographed and studied Jupiter and its many moons ( scientists keep discovering new ones )

从1979年1月到4月，旅行者1号拍摄并研究了木星及其众多卫星（科学家们还在持续发现新的）。

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Beautiful pictures were sent to Earth, allowing scientists to research the complicated weather systems that wrap around the planet

美丽的照片被传回地球，让科学家得以研究环绕这颗行星的复杂天气系统。

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Jupiter's atmosphere to core temperatures can range from -145 to +24,000 degrees Celsius

木星从大气层到核心的温度，范围可从零下145摄氏度到两万四千摄氏度。

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Jupiter has lightning and its own auroral phenomenon, just like Earth's northern lights

木星有闪电和自己的极光现象，就像地球的北极光一样。

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When images of one of Jupiter's moons, Io, were sent back to Earth, scientists were astonished

当木星的一颗卫星——木卫一的图像传回地球时，科学家们大为惊讶。

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Moons, it was believed, could not have volcanoes because they were too small and cold

人们过去认为，卫星不可能有火山，因为它们太小太冷了。

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But Io has volcanoes more violent than any on Earth, with eruptions that send material three hundred kilometers high

但木卫一上的火山比地球上的任何火山都更猛烈，其喷发能将物质送到三百公里高。

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Later, scientists realized that because Jupiter is so big

后来，科学家们意识到，因为木星是如此巨大，

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its gravity pulls the side of the moon closest to Jupiter more strongly than the opposite side

它的引力对卫星靠近木星一侧的拉动，比背向木星的一侧更强烈。

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As Io rotates, its different parts are constantly stretched and pulled, and this creates heat

随着木卫一的自转，它的不同部分被持续地拉伸和挤压，这便产生了热量。

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For example, if you take a metal spoon and bend it back and forth, the place where it bends becomes hot

比如说，你拿一把金属勺子反复弯折，弯折的地方就会变热。

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Jupiter's gravity is so powerful that it bends the interior of its moons. Scientists call this process tidal heating

木星的引力极强，会挤压其卫星的内部。科学家将这一过程称为潮汐加热。

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On Jupiter's moon Io, tidal heating is powerful enough to cause eruptions hundreds of times larger than any volcano on Earth

在木星的卫星木卫一上，潮汐加热极其强烈，足以引发比地球上任何火山都大数百倍的喷发。

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The Voyager probes also discovered that Jupiter's moon Europa has a surface of ice

旅行者号探测器还发现，木星的卫星木卫二表面覆盖着冰层。

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If tidal heating warms Europa's interior enough to melt the ice, is it possible that life exists in vast oceans underneath its icy surface?

如果潮汐加热使木卫二的内部变暖，足以融化冰层，那么在其冰壳之下的浩瀚海洋中，是否可能存在生命呢？

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Scientists are now designing probes to land on Europa to answer this question

科学家们如今正在设计探测器，准备登陆木卫二，以求回答这个问题。

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From Earth, Saturn and its rings appear peaceful and beautiful, but the Voyager probes discovered something different

从地球上看，土星及其光环显得宁静而美丽，但旅行者号探测器却发现了一幅不同的景象。

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Saturn has violent windstorms over 1,400 kilometers per hour, and its rings are not the perfectly smooth objects we see through telescopes

土星上有时速超过1400公里的猛烈风暴，而它的光环也并非我们通过望远镜所看到的完美平滑之物。

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Some rings have gaps, like a necklace missing a few pearls

有些光环中有缝隙，就像一条缺了几颗珍珠的项链。

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But strangest of all, the rings have patterns in them that look like braided hair

但最奇特的是，光环中有着像编成发辫一样的图案。

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Scientists believe that the uneven orbits of Saturn's small moons cause these strange patterns, and the gaps as well

科学家认为，土星小卫星不规则的轨道导致了这些奇特的图案，也造成了那些间隙。

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Voyager 1 also studied Titan, a large moon that orbits Saturn

旅行者1号还研究了土卫六，一颗环绕土星运行的大型卫星。

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Titan is the only moon in the solar system to have an atmosphere

土卫六是太阳系中唯一拥有大气层的卫星。

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Voyager 1 found that Titan's atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen, while the surface is a mixture of ice and rock

旅行者1号发现，土卫六的大气主要由氮气构成，而表面则是冰与岩石的混合物。

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Before there was life on Earth, its atmosphere was also mostly nitrogen

在地球出现生命之前，它的大气也主要是氮气。

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Some scientists believe that when we look at Titan, we are seeing what Earth looked like far in the past

一些科学家认为，观察土卫六，我们看到的正是地球在远古时期的样子。

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In 1986 Voyager 2 arrived at Uranus and discovered a shocking mystery that is unexplained to this day

1986年，旅行者2号抵达天王星，发现了一个至今无法解释的惊人奥秘。

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Most planets, like Earth, spin on their axes vertically

大多数行星，如地球，都绕着一根垂直的轴自转。

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Their north and south poles point up and down compared to the rest of the solar system

它们的南极和北极，相对于太阳系的其他部分，是指向上下的。

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Uranus is the opposite. Its axis lines up horizontally, so that one pole faces toward the sun and the other away from the sun

天王星恰恰相反。它的轴水平排列，因此一个极朝向太阳，另一个极则背向太阳。

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This strange fact had long been known, but Voyager 2 discovered a stranger contradiction

这个奇怪的事实早已为人所知，但旅行者2号发现了一个更奇怪的矛盾现象。

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Even though the equator of Uranus receives almost no sunlight

尽管天王星的赤道几乎接收不到阳光，

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its equator is always as hot as, or hotter than, the polar region that directly faces the sun

其赤道却总是和正对太阳的极地区域一样热，甚至更热。

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Voyager 2 arrived at Neptune in 1989. It discovered six moons orbiting Neptune, as well as a faint ring system around the planet

旅行者2号于1989年抵达海王星。它发现了六颗围绕海王星运行的卫星，以及环绕该行星的一个暗淡光环系统。

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Neptune is a beautiful world, a deep blue color with giant white clouds of methane rising and falling, just as water does in Earth's atmosphere

海王星是一个美丽的世界，呈深蓝色，巨大的白色甲烷云升起又落下，就像地球大气层中水汽的运动一样。

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After its mission to Neptune, Voyager 2 began to travel out of the solar system

在完成对海王星的探测任务后，旅行者2号开始飞出太阳系。

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The success of the Voyager missions encouraged scientists to send more probes to explore our solar system

旅行者号任务的成功激励科学家们发射了更多探测器来探索我们的太阳系。

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The Cassini-Huygens spaceship, after traveling for seven years, is now orbiting and studying Saturn

卡西尼-惠更斯号飞船在飞行七年后，如今正环绕土星运行并进行研究。

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In 2004 NASA landed two rovers on Mars

2004年，美国宇航局将两辆火星车送上了火星。

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These small, six-wheeled, solar-powered vehicles are sending back pictures and doing tests on Martian rocks

这些小型六轮太阳能驱动的火星车正在传回照片，并对火星岩石进行检测。

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Since the Voyager probes were launched in 1977

自1977年旅行者号探测器发射以来，

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NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency

美国宇航局、欧洲航天局和日本宇宙航空研究开发机构

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have sent more than 35 new missions to explore the inner and outer planets, the moon, asteroids, comets, and the sun

已经发射了超过35个新任务，探索内太阳系和外太阳系行星、月球、小行星、彗星以及太阳。

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Today both Voyager 1 and 2 are on their way out of the solar system

如今，旅行者1号和2号都正在飞出太阳系。

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Voyager 1 is over 16 billion kilometers from Earth and is the most distant man-made object in the universe

旅行者1号距离地球超过160亿公里，是宇宙中距离最远的人造物体。

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But the missions of these pioneering probes continue

但这些先驱探测器的使命仍在继续。

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They are now studying the complex area of space where our solar system ends and the rest of the universe begins

它们现在正在研究一个复杂的太空区域，那里是我们太阳系终结、宇宙其余部分开始的地方。

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In addition to their scientific missions, Voyager 1 and 2 may play a much more important role in humanity's exploration of space

除了科学任务之外，旅行者1号和2号可能在人类探索太空方面扮演更重要的角色。

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Both probes carry a gold-plated disc containing messages from Earth

两个探测器都携带了一张镀金唱片，其中包含来自地球的信息。

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If aliens ever find a Voyager probe

如果有外星人发现了旅行者号探测器，

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they will be able to hear the natural sounds of our planet, a selection of music, and greetings in over fifty languages

他们将能够听到我们星球上的自然之声、精选的音乐以及超过五十种语言的问候。

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But perhaps the most important message is not on the discs at all

但也许最重要的信息根本不在这些唱片上。

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Both spaceships are themselves a statement about one of humanity's best qualities: curiosity

这两艘飞船本身就在宣告着人类最优秀的品质之一：好奇心。

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Like Galileo, many of us on Earth want to see farther and understand what we see

像伽利略一样，地球上的许多人都想看得更远，并理解我们所看到的一切。