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This summer just such an alignment is taking place, dramatically slashing inter planetary travel time to the current seven-month itinerary.
今年夏天就出現了日地火星排成直線的情形，星際旅行時間瞬時縮短到了目前的7個月。
So that explains the when question.
這就解釋了時間安排的問題。
The why part is because of Mars’ tantalizing, potentially biological history.
至于原因，則是因為火星有著極大的擁有生物的可能性。
The surface of the planet is etched with dry riverbeds, stamped with ancient sea basins,
火星表面布滿了干燥的河床以及古老的海洋盆地的痕跡，
marked by deep depressions that could only indicate long-vanished water.
那些深深的洼地就是標志，而那些洼地表明，它們只能是很早以前就已干涸的水域留下的洼地。
Perseverance is landing in one such place: the Jezero Crater, north of the Martian equator,
“毅力號”便著陸在了這樣一個地方：杰澤羅隕石坑。這是位于火星赤道以北的一個隕石坑，
which is lined with both inflow and outflow channels indicating it was once a vibrant sea.
流入流出通道齊全，這就表明，這里曾是一片充滿活力的海洋。
Previous rover analyses in similar locations have discovered chemicals and compounds that form only in the presence of water,
以往火星車對類似區域的分析發現了只有在水存在的情況下才會形成的化學物質和化合物，
proving that Mars was once, like Earth, exceedingly wet.
這就證明和地球一樣，火星過去也非常潮濕。
Now the mission is to look for actual fossilized organisms or even signs of extant microbial life.
“毅力號”接下來的任務是尋找真正的生物化石，甚至是現存微生物的痕跡。
To that end, Perseverance is the most ambitious of the new spacecraft and is actually just the first part of a multipart mission.
因為這一目標，“毅力號”也成了新航天器中最具雄心壯志的一部分，然而，這也只是此次探測任務的首站任務。
During its explorations, it will collect Martian soil samples in sterile titanium tubes and set them neatly on the ground
它還需在探索期間收集到火星土壤樣本，將其存放到無菌鈦管中，然后固定到火星地面上，
awaiting another spacecraft that could leave Earth as early as the 2026 alignment, collect the samples and fly them home for analysis.
等待另一艘航天器，最早可能會在2026年離開地球的航天器來取走樣本，將其空運回地球等候分析。
Finding life on Mars would be an epochal discovery.
發現火星上存在生命將會成為一項劃時代的重大發現。
The bragging rights that go with being first to make the find is part of what makes the planet the hot new destination it’s become.
成為首個有此發現的國家便擁有了吹噓的資本，一定程度而言，火星之所以成為近日的熱門探索之地，跟虛榮心作祟也不無關系。
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