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Science and technology
科學技術
Solar-powered flight
太陽能動力飛行
Its moment in the sun
日間時刻
An attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered plane
嘗試駕駛太陽能飛機環游世界
A REVOLUTIONARY solar-powered aircraft touched down recently at Moffett Airfield, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
一架革命性的太陽能飛機近日在硅谷中心的墨菲特聯邦機場著陸。
No champagne corks were popped, however, for it arrived disassembled in the belly of a 747 cargo jet.
可卻沒有香檳酒慶賀，因為這是一架由波音747噴氣式貨機運輸的解體飛機。
The aircraft will be reassembled by the end of March and then begin flight tests.
它會在三月底重新組裝，繼而進行飛行測試。
If all goes well, by May it should be ready to fly across America, stopping in four cities before landing in New York.
萬事順利的話，它將在5月底橫越美洲，途徑四座城市，最終抵達紐約。
However, this aircraft is just an experimental prototype for a much bigger exploit.
然而，人們希望利用這架供以實驗的原型機實現更加宏偉的目標。
The team behind the project, called Solar Impulse, are using their prototype to learn what will be required to build a second aircraft capable of circumnavigating the globe using only the power of the sun.
作為此次計劃的執行團隊—太陽驅動，通過研究該原型機，獲得了一系列能使太陽能飛機實現環球飛行的參數。
After carrying out a number of successful test flights of the prototype from their base at an airfield in Payerne, Switzerland, construction of their second aircraft began.
團隊成員在位于佩耶納某一機場的總部對原型機進行了一系列成功的飛行測試后，便開始著手建造第二架太陽能飛機。
But last July the Solar Impulse project suffered a big setback.
但就在去年七月，太陽脈沖團隊遭受了一個巨大的挫折。
The second aircraft failed a critical safety check.
第二架飛機的一項關鍵性安全檢查不達標。
Its main wing spar, the backbone of any aeroplane, broke during structural tests.
在結構測試中，支撐飛機的主翼梁發生了斷裂。
There is always a risk of pushing technology too far when doing something new.
不切實際地嘗試新技術總會留下隱患。
Bertrand Piccard, one of Solar Impulse's founders, had been in the same situation before and knew that success comes by learning from mistakes and moving on.
太陽驅動的創始人之一—伯特蘭·皮卡德也曾深陷此境，他深知技術的推進只能是吃一塹，長一智。
In 1999 he co-piloted Orbiter 3, the first balloon to circumnavigate the globe.
1999年，皮卡德曾擔任軌道飛行器3號的副駕駛，這是第一個實現環球飛行的熱氣球。
It was when he landed in the Egyptian desert with just 40kg of propane left from the 3.7 tonnes he had taken off with 20 days earlier that Mr Piccard decided his next challenge would be to repeat the flight using no fuel at all.
在飛行了20天以后，氣球在埃及的沙漠中著陸，此時原本攜帶的3.7噸丙烷就只剩下40千克，這激發了皮卡德向無燃料環球飛行發起挑戰。
He teamed up with Andre Borschberg, a fighter pilot and engineer, to form the Solar Impulse project.
于是他與戰斗機飛行員兼工程師—安德烈·博爾施伯格通力合作，共同發起了太陽驅動計劃。
Mr Piccard comes from a line of adventurers.
皮卡德來自探險之家。
His grandfather, Auguste, was the first to fly a balloon into the stratosphere.
他的祖父，奧古斯特，是駕駛氣球飛入平流層的第一人。
His father, Jacques, plunged to record depths in a deep-sea submersible.
而他的父親，雅克，專注于深海潛探，并創造了下潛深度的歷史記錄。
Making the most of it
萬般皆有用
The problem with the wing spar has set back the team a year.
這個團隊花費了一年時間來解決翼梁故障。
Making a new one, completing the second aircraft and waiting for suitable weather means that the round-the-world flight is now scheduled for 2015.
在實現環球飛行之前，他們必須制造一架新飛機，完成第二架飛機的組裝，在適宜的天氣下試航，所有這一切都要在2015年才能完成。
In the meantime, the team decided to make the best of their enforced delay by flying their prototype across America.
與此同時，盡管受客觀條件制約，團隊成員還是決定利用此次機會駕駛原型機飛躍美洲。
This will provide more valuable operating experience and help with the development of the technologies they will need.
此舉不僅能提供更多彌足珍貴的操作經驗，還能推動所需技術的改良。
Plus, if anything goes wrong, it is easier to land on dry land than the ocean.
再者說，如果飛行遭遇意外，陸地著降總要比海面著降輕松許多。
Solar-powered aircraft are not new.
太陽能飛機由來已久。
One of the earliest, Solar Challenger, flew across the English Channel in 1981.
早在1981年，太陽挑戰號就成功飛越英吉利海峽。
It was built by the late Paul MacCready, an American aeronautical engineer.
這架飛機由已故美國航空工程師保羅?麥卡克萊迪建造。
Its 14.3-metre wing was covered in photovoltaic cells.
其14.3米長的機翼上布滿了光生伏打電池。
These powered two electric motors, which in turn drove a single propeller.
推動唯一螺旋槳發動的兩臺電動機正是由這些電池供電。
The Solar Impulse project is a very different beast.
然而太陽驅動計劃卻開辟了一片新天地。
The prototype aircraft which will fly across America has a wingspan of 63.4 metres, which is as big as a jumbo jet's.
飛越美國的原型機翼展寬達63.4米，與巨型噴氣式飛機同寬。
Yet its fuselage is as slender as a glider's and its single-person cockpit is cramped.
而其機身卻與滑翔機一般大小，窄小的駕駛艙只能容下一名飛行員。
The wings are covered in almost 12,000 photovoltaic cells, which can simultaneously run its four electrically driven propellers while charging four packs of lithium-polymer batteries.
機翼覆蓋著12000塊光生伏打電池，在為四組鋰聚合物電池充電的同時，還能一同支撐四個電驅動螺旋槳運轉。
The batteries are needed because the aircraft has to be able to fly through the night.
之所以攜帶電池，是因為飛機需要在晚間飛行。
The second aircraft will have to do that non-stop for five-to-six days at a time.
第二架在建的環球航行飛機需實現一連5、6天不間斷飛行。
The plan is to take off in an easterly direction and land on every continent that touches the Tropic of Cancer.
飛機將于東部地區起飛，隨后在北回歸線附近的每一塊陸地降落。
This will involve long flights across oceans.
期間包括漫漫的洋面飛行。
With only as much power as a motor scooter, the planned aircraft will cruise at just 70kph.
按計劃飛行動力與小型摩托車一般，因而只能以70km/h的速度勻速行駛。
Its ultimate range will be limited by the physical ability of the pilot to remain alert, with little room to move or to store much food and water.
狹小的機內空間，加之有限的食物與飲用水，飛機的最大航行距離就完全取決于飛行員自身的身體素質。
With current technology, the team reckon, a two-person solar plane would be too heavy.
團隊成員認為，以目前的技術，雙駕駛太陽能飛機負重過大。
To give Mr Piccard and Mr Borschberg room to exercise and lie down, the next aircraft will be about 15% bigger than the prototype, which tips the scales at just 1,600kg.
為了給皮卡德和博爾施伯格足夠的空間移動和躺臥，新的飛機將比原型機大15%，總重達1600千克。
Weight is the critical factor.
重量是關鍵性問題。
The wing spar that broke had been redesigned with an ultralight carbon-fibre process to shed the grams.
先前破損的翼梁用超輕型碳纖維材料重新打造以降低克重。
But we went too close to the limits, confesses Mr Borschberg.
博爾施伯格不得不承認，這已是我們所能之極限。
There is little scope for a full autopilot system, and it would weigh too much.
完整的自動駕駛系統會使飛機不堪重負。
However, Altran, an engineering consultancy based in France and one of the project's supporters, is developing a partial system.
不過項目支持商之一的法國Altran工程咨詢公司，部分解決了自動駕駛問題。
In calm weather, it will keep the aircraft pointing in the right direction.
風和日麗之時，這套系統會幫助飛機沿著正確的方向前行。
And if turbulence causes a wing to dip by more than five degrees, a cuff on the pilot's right or left arm will vibrate to tell him which way to correct course.
如若飛機機翼受氣流影響下沉角度超過5度，它就會通過振動駕駛員某一膀臂上的袖帶來指引正確的行駛方向。
He must react quickly to keep control.
駕駛員的反應速度決定著飛機平穩與否。
This system will be tried out on the prototype flight in America.
這套系統將在橫越美洲的原型機上試用。
The ground crew can monitor both the flight and the pilot with telemetry.
地勤人員可以通過遙測裝置對飛機和飛行員進行監控。
When circumnavigating the globe the pilot will be able to lower a seat to lie down and take catnaps of up to 20 minutes.
在環球飛行時，飛行員可以將座位調低，這樣便可以躺在上面小憩20多分鐘。
That is enough, the team calculate, to ward off some of the effects of sleep deprivation.
團隊成員通過計算認為這些時間足夠抵御睡眠不足帶來的不利影響。
The pilot must not be too groggy if he has to swing suddenly into action.
當飛行員突然駕駛時，他一定不可以過于疲勞。
This procedure has been tested in a flight simulator for 72 hours non-stop, and seems to work.
這套流程已在模擬飛行器中進行了72小時不間斷測試，效果卓著。
A typical flight involves taking off in the early morning, when winds are light, and ascending to 10,000 metres to stay above any stormclouds.
普通的飛行包括在風速平穩的清晨起飛，隨后上升至10000米的高空以躲避暴風云層。
At this altitude, though, the air is thin and an oxygen supply is needed.
由于海拔較高，空氣稀薄，必須提供足夠的氧氣。
The pilot has to wear an oxygen mask because pressurising the cockpit, as an airliner does with air from its jet engines, is not possible.
飛行員只得佩戴氧氣罩，因為太陽能飛機無法像普通大型客機那樣利用噴氣引擎的氣流保持駕駛艙的氣壓平穩。
Nor do the team want to carry heavy oxygen cylinders.
氧氣瓶也因為過于沉重而不切實際。
As an alternative Air Liquide, an industrial-gases firm, is developing a solar-powered system to generate oxygen.
與法國液化空氣公司類似的一家工業用氣公司正在研制如何利用太陽能產生氧氣。
At night the pilot descends slowly, carefully using up the power until dawn.
夜晚時，飛機緩緩下降，在黎明前用盡所有燃料。
Once the sun returns the batteries can recharge in three hours as the plane ascends again.
當太陽升起時，電池會在三個小時內充滿，然后飛機便再次起飛。
Landings are also left until the early evening, when winds are light.
同起飛一樣，降落也挑選在風速平穩的傍晚。
The flight across America will give the team's meteorologists an opportunity to see how their weather models stand up.
飛越美洲的航行也可以驗證團隊中氣象學家的天氣模型是否成立。
Sometimes it is necessary for the pilot to delay a landing to wait for optimum conditions.
有時，飛行員必須延遲降落時間以尋求最佳時機。
Mr Piccard and Mr Borschberg have learned an interesting technique to do that.
皮卡德和博爾施伯格用一種有趣的方式進行觀察。
Flying slowly, they turn the nose into a headwind, which can make the aircraft fly backwards.
他們會逆風緩慢飛行，這樣飛機就會受氣流影響向后移動。
It is not the sort of thing to try in a jumbo jet.
而這在巨型噴氣式飛機上是不可想象的。
