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Curiosity Celebrates an Earth-Year on Mars
慶祝好奇號登陸火星一周年
The descent and landing were called “seven minutes of terror.” Since that white-knuckle event, NASA’s Curiosity rover has had a little longer than half-a-Martian-year of quiet wonder. But in Earth years, it’s an anniversary: Curiosity touched down on Mars early on August 6th, Earth Eastern time, 2012, setting off a jubilant celebration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
好奇號的減速和降落可以說是驚險的七分鐘。從降落到今天，美國宇航局的好奇號探測車已經在火星度過了半個多火星年了。但是按照地球時間算，已經整整一周年了。好奇號在2012年地球東部時間8月6號早上降落火星。美國宇航局的噴氣推進實驗室為此展開慶祝。
Since then, the plutonium-powered robot has logged more than one kilometer of driving on Mars. It has photographed what looks to be an ancient, gravely streambed. And it has drilled into sedimentary rocks and consumed the powdery extract to analyze its composition. Those rocks bear traces of an ancient wet environment where “conditions once were favorable for life,” according to project scientist John Grotzinger.
從那時候開始，這個以钚元素為燃料的探測車已經在火星上行駛了一千多米。拍攝了許多看起來像古代消失的河床的照片。它鉆探沉積巖，收集粉末分析其成分。工程科學家John Grotzinger表示，巖石上有跡象顯示火星古代的環境是很潮濕的，這種環境非常利于生命存在。
The rover has even gulped a bit of Martian air to measure its composition. As of yet, Curiosity has not detected any methane—its presence might point to ongoing biological activity on the Red Planet. But the evidence gathered indicates that Mars may well have been habitable at some point in its history.
探測車也收集了火星上的空氣，分析其成分。截至目前，好奇號還沒有探測到任何甲烷氣體，甲烷的存在可能能證明火星上存在生物活動。但是目前收集的證據顯示火星或許在某個歷史時期是宜居的。
Stay tuned for Earth year 2, as Curiosity keeps rolling along.
繼續關注好奇號第二年的探測吧。
—John Matson
