Life on Titan? New NASA Mission Will Find out

美国蜻蜓号任务或揭开土卫六是否孕育生命的面纱

 

Titan, a moon around the planet Saturn, has the right materials for life, NASA research has shown. The US space agency’s newly announced Dragonfly mission will explore the icy space object to learn if it ever did hold life.

 

土卫六是土星的一颗卫星，其上有孕育生命所必需的物质存在，这是美国宇航局（NASA）研究的成果。最近，NASA宣布，蜻蜓号任务将探索土卫六这颗表面有冰层覆盖的太空星体，想了解土卫六是否宜居。

 

Titan is similar to a very early Earth, and NASA says it can provide clues to how life may have started on our planet.

 

土卫六跟早期的地球十分相似，NASA表示，土卫六可提供线索，让我们了解生命在地球上出现的可能方式。

 

In some ways, Titan looks like Earth.There are lakes and seas across the northern half, and sometimes rain hits the sandy surface. But this is where the similarities end.

 

从某些角度来看，土卫六跟地球很像。其北半球有众多湖泊和海洋，有时候，满是砂石的土地上也会下雨。但两者之间的相似性也仅限于此。

 

Titan is so cold that water is rock-hard ice, and oily methane falls from the sky and into the seas. The beaches are different too. Titan’s sand is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, unlike any beach on Earth.

 

土卫六温度极低，所以水都以固态形式存在，如岩石一般坚硬。而甲烷都是液态的，会从天空坠向海洋。两者的沙滩也有差异。土卫六的砂石由碳、氢、氮、氧组成，这跟地球上的沙滩不同。

 

Titan’s surface is hidden below its atmosphere which is four times as dense as Earth’s. But its lower level gravity makes Titan a good place for a flying explorer.

 

土卫六的表面掩藏在大气层之下，而土卫六大气层的浓度是地球的4倍。不过，土卫六的引力作用很弱，这就让它成了飞行器的绝佳用武之地。

 

Drones are small aircrafts that fly without a pilot. With the progress in drone technology, the Dragonfly team recognized that they could make what was once a dream – flying on Titan – a reality.

 

无人机是没有驾驶员的飞行器。随着无人机技术的进步，蜻蜓号任务的团队意识到他们可以实现曾经一个遥不可及的梦想——在土卫六上飞行。

 

Dragonfly will be three meters long and more than a meter tall. It will fly with the help of two sets of four propellers. The design will permit Dragonfly to take pictures from above the moon, and to land on Titan’s frozen surface for a closer look.

 

蜻蜓号有3米长，1米多高。蜻蜓号将在2套推进器的帮助下飞行，每套包含4个推进器。这样的设计让蜻蜓号可以在土卫六上空拍摄照片，也可以着陆于土卫六结冰的表面上进行近距离观测。

 

The Dragonfly team hopes to learn whether combining organic material with liquid water and energy in the form of heat could have caused complex molecules to develop – or even life itself.

 

蜻蜓号团队希望能够了解将有机物与液体水以及热能混合起来的行为是否是复杂分子——乃至生命产生的原因。

 

We have this chance to explore a world that we know has all the ingredients for life, but how far did it get towards life? said Melissa Trainer, the mission’s deputy lead investigator.

 

我们有这样一个机会可以探索一个蕴含生命所有必需元素的星体，但这颗星体距离诞生生命有多远的距离呢？蜻蜓号副首席研究员梅利莎·特雷纳如是说道。

 

If life is, or has been on Titan, Dragonfly should be able to find it. Its instruments will be searching for a class of molecules called amino acids, which are found in all life on Earth.

 

如果土卫六现在或者曾经存在生命的话，那么蜻蜓号应该能发现。蜻蜓号配备的设备将会搜寻一类名叫氨基酸的分子，而氨基酸是地球上各种生命身上都可以发现的一种分子。

 

Dragonfly is expected to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034. The science and engineering teams are designing and building the spacecraft.

 

蜻蜓号预计于2026年发射，并将于2034年抵达土卫六。蜻蜓号科学工程组正在设计并建造蜻蜓号。

 

The trip may be a long way off, but the team believes the mission will be worth the wait.

 

此行可能十分漫长，但该科学组认为此次任务将不虚此行。

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