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.
美
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。
Too big to rely on airbags to
cushion its fall as with
previous Mars landers the one-ton Curiosity robot rover had to land through an innovative