Precisely on time and target, NASA's Curiosity rover touched down safely on Mars Monday to begin an ambitious two-year trek through a mountainouscrater that promises to reveal whether the red planet was ever hospitable to life.
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Almost immediately upon landing early Monday, the Curiosity craft transmitted to Earth a series of photographs showing its own wheels safely on the surface of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars.
国国家航空航天局(NASA)的"好奇"号(Curiosity)探测器周一准确无误地按预定时间和地点在火星着陆，踏上了穿越一处环形山的两年宏伟征程，有望揭密这颗红色行星上是否出现过生命。
'There is the wheel of the rover safely on the surface of Mars,' said one exuberant flight engineer from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which is managing the $2.5 billion mission. 'This is amazing.'
"好奇"号周一凌晨一着陆就向地球传送了一系列图片。从照片上看，"好奇"号的车轮安稳地停留在火星赤道附近盖尔环形山(Gale Crater)的表面上。
For the first time, scientists expect to probe below the surface of Mars for evidence of chemistryfavorable to life using the robot rover's high-speed drill. In all, the plutonium-powered, six-wheeled Curiosity vehicle carries 10 scientific instruments, including an onboard analytical laboratory, to process mineral and sediment samples.
NASA位于加州帕萨迪纳的喷气推进实验室(Jet Propulsion Laboratory)负责管理这次耗资25亿美元的任务。实验室的一名兴高采烈的飞行工程师说，探测器的车轮安全地停在了火星的表面，太神奇了。
It was a high-profile success for a beleaguered space agency that had gambled on an untried landing procedure.
科学家希望利用探测器上的高速钻头首次深入火星地表，寻找有利于生命存在的化学物质的证据。"好奇"号由口驱动，有六个轮子，共带着10种用于加工矿物质、沉积样本的科研仪器，其中包括一个分析试验室。
'We are on Mars again,' said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. 'It's a great day.'
这对于饱受困扰、押注于一种未经检验的着陆程序的NASA来说，是一次引人注目的成功。
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