【龙腾网】重返金星：寻找人类未来家园

正文翻译

Carl Sagan once said that Venus is the planet in our solar system most like hell. So when are we going back?

卡尔·萨根曾经说过，金星是我们太阳系中最像地狱的行星。那么，我们什么时候能重返那里呢？

Astronomers on Monday reported the detection of a chemical in the acidic Venusian clouds, phosphine, which may be a possible sign of life. That has some planetary scientists itching to return to the sun’s second planet, especially those who feel Venus has long been overlooked in favor of Mars and other destinations.

9月14日，天文学家报告称在金星的酸性云层中发现了化学物质磷化氢，这可能是生命存在的迹象。这让一些行星科学家十分渴望能够重返太阳系的第二颗行星，尤其是那些认为比起火星和其他星球，金星长期以来都被忽视的科学家。

“forget this Mars nonsense,” said Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at North Carolina State University. “We need a lander, an orbiter, we need a program.”

“忘记关于火星的废话吧，”北卡罗来纳州立大学的行星科学家保罗·伯恩说。“我们需要着陆器，轨道飞行器，我们需要一个探索金星的项目。”

Venus is not easy to visit. Its carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere is 90 times as dense as ours, and surface temperatures average 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Its surface pressure is intense enough to crush some submarines.

要造访金星并不容易。金星的大气富含二氧化碳，密度是地球的90倍，其表面温度平均达到800华氏度（约426.7摄氏度）。它的表面压力大到足以压碎一些潜艇。

But that hasn’t stopped human space programs from trying. About 40 robotic spacecraft launched by governments on Earth have tried to visit Venus in one way or another. Here are highlights from past journeys to Venus, as well as the prospects for a speedy return to the planet to find out what’s going on in those clouds.

但这并没有阻止人类太空计划的尝试。地球上的各国政府已经发射了约40个航天器，试图以各种方式登上金星。以下是历史上人类探索金星之旅的努力，以及在未来快速飞往金星、探索金星厚重云层之下的神秘世界的展望。

The many Soviet visitors to Venus

来自苏联的访客

After seeing their first round of spacecraft sent into the atmosphere squashed like tin cans, the Soviets realized just how extreme the pressure on Venus was. This trial and error led to the construction of five-ton metal spacecraft built to withstand, even if for just an hour, the immense surface pressures.

在看到第一批被送入金星大气层的航天器像易拉罐一样被压扁后，苏联人意识到金星上的压力有多大。经过这样的反复试错，他们建造了一个五吨重的金属航天器，可以承受巨大的表面压力，但仅能维持1个小时的时间。

Venera 4 in 1967 became the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet, detecting large amounts of carbon dioxide that cause the ceaseless Venusian greenhouse effect.

1967年，“金星4号”成为首个测量金星大气的航天器，它探测到了金星大气层大量的二氧化碳，这揭示了金星产生无休止的温室效应的原因。

In 1985 the Soviet unx concluded its Venus encounters with the twin Vega spacecraft, which each released large balloons loaded with scientific instruments, demonstrating the potential for probes that could float in the planet’s clouds.

苏联对金星的最后探索是1985年“维加”计划发射的双子探测器，它们各自释放了巨大气球，证明了探测器漂浮在金星云层中的可能性。

NASA kept its sights on Venus, too

NASA（美国国家航空航天局）也把目光投向了金星

While Mars has always seemed like the apple of the eyes of American space planners, the Mariner and Pioneer programs of the 1960s and ’70s made time for Venus.

虽然火星一直被美国太空规划者视为掌上明珠，但1960和70年代的“水手”与“先驱”计划仍留给了金星。

In 1978, the Pioneer missions gave American researchers a closer look. The first of the pair orbited the planet for nearly 14 years, revealing much about the mysterious Venusian atmosphere. It also observed the surface was smoother than Earth’s, and that Venus had very little or perhaps no magnetic field. A second Pioneer mission sent a number of probes into Venus’s atmosphere, returning information on the structure of the clouds and radar readings of the surface.

1978年，先驱计划让美国研究者对金星有了更深入的了解。其中第一次任务环绕金星运行近14年，揭示了很多关于神秘的金星大气层的信息。它还观察到金星表面比地球光滑，而且磁场很弱，甚至可能没有磁场。第二次先驱计划向金星大气层发射了一些探测器，送回了关于金星云层结构和表面雷达探测数据的信息。

NASA’s Magellan entered into orbit in 1990 and spent four years mapping the surface and looking for evidence of plate tectonics. It discovered that nearly 85 percent of the surface was covered in old lava flows, hinting at significant past and possible present volcanic activity.

1990年，NASA的“麦哲伦号”探测器进入金星轨道，用四年时间绘制了金星表面图，并寻找其板块运动的证据。它发现近85%的金星表面被古老的熔岩流所覆盖，表明金星曾经有、现在也可能有火山活动。

Other visitors to Venus

金星的其他访客

The planet’s only guest from Earth right now is Akatsuki, which was launched by Japan in 2010. The probe missed its meeting with Venus when its engine failed to fire as it headed into orbit. By 2015, the mission’s managers had managed to steer it on a course to orbit and study the planet.

目前金星唯一的访客是日本在2010年发射的“破晓号”。该探测器在即将进入金星轨道的时候引擎点火失败，因此错过了与金星的相遇。2015年，管理人员成功将其引导到金星轨道上，并对该行星进行了研究。

It has since transformed how scientists view our clouded twin. In its study of the physics of the dense cloud layers of Venus, the mission has revealed disturbances in the planet’s winds known as gravity waves, as well as equatorial jet streams in its atmosphere.

从那以后，“破晓号”就改变了科学家对金星是地球孪生兄弟的看法。在对金星密集云层的物理研究中，“破晓号”发现了被称为重力波的金星风暴，以及金星大气中位于赤道的高速气流。

Who’s next?

谁是下一个访客？

India’s space agency has proposed a mission called Shukrayaan-1, which will orbit the planet and primarily focus on the chemistry of the atmosphere.

印度航天局提出了一项名为“舒克拉雅1号”的任务，它围绕金星运行，主要关注其大气层的化学成分。

Peter Beck, the founder of Rocket Lab, a private company started in New Zealand that has launched about a dozen Rockets to space, has recently spoken of sending a small satellite to the planet.

彼得·贝克是火箭实验室的创始人，这家在新西兰成立的私人企业已经向太空发射了十多枚火箭，最近，他谈到了要向金星发射一颗小型卫星的计划。

NASA has considered a number of Venus proposals in the past decade, including two in 2017 that were finalists of NASA’s Discovery program, which has previously sent explorers to the moon, Mars, Mercury and other destinations. But the agency instead sexted a pair of asteroid missions.

在过去十年里，NASA考虑过很多关于金星的探测提议，包括2017年的NASA“发现”计划，该计划此前曾将探测器送往月球、火星、水星和其他目的地。但该机构最终选择执行的是探测两个小行星任务。

The agency will have another chance to pick a Venus mission for funding in the next round of its Discovery program.

在下一轮“发现”计划中，金星探测项目将有新的机会获得资助。

评论翻译

ErickFTG
Friendship with Mars has ended. Now Venus is my new best friend.

与火星的友谊结束了。现在金星是我新的最好的朋友。

mythicalnacho
I say NASA should use this as cynically as possible and extract promises from politicians and presidents known for riding the hype. Get committed funds ASAP to be there ahead of other nations with more probes and research

我认为NASA应该尽可能地利用这一点，并从那些善于炒作的政客和总统那里获得承诺。尽快获得投入资金，赶在其他国家之前进行更多的探索和研究。

shogi_x
I would agree for the Moon and Mars, but Europa, Titan, and Venus all present unique engineering challenges that may be more expensive.

我认为探测月球和火星更好，木卫二、土卫六和金星都存在独特的工程技术挑战，可能耗资更昂贵。

memoryballhs
Is there an relativly easy way to explain why its difficult to form on venus?
Because if I am not mistaken it was also detected on Jupiter. But there I think its obviously not a sign of life. Different pressure?

有没有相对简单的方法来解释为什么磷化氢难以在金星上形成?
因为如果我没记错的话，磷化氢在木星上也被发现过。但我认为这显然不是生命的迹象。是不同的压力产生的吗?

Eshkation
the concentration of phosphine found is too high to be generated by geological sources, like volcanoes (what was found is in the billions x what a vulcan can generate)

金星所发现的磷化氢浓度太高，无法由火山等地质来源产生(金星所发现的磷化氢浓度是武尔坎火山所能产生磷化氢的数十亿倍)。

supercannonball
The authors considered volcanic activity
Similarly, there would need to be >200 times as much volcanic activity on Venus as on Earth to inject enough PH3 into the atmosphere

研究人员考虑金星上的了火山活动
同样地，金星上的火山活动需要是地球上的200倍，才能将足够的磷化氢抛入大气。

supercannonball
It's likely that Venus does have active volcanos, but we don't know of any that are currently active. It's unlikely that Venus currently has hundreds of times the volcanic activity as the Earth.

很可能金星上确实有活火山，但我们不知道目前有哪些活火山。金星目前的火山活动性不太可能是地球的数百倍。

sintaur
Earth bacteria are known to make phosphine: they take up phosphate from minerals or biological material, add hydrogen, and ultimately expel phosphine. Any organisms on Venus will probably be very different to their Earth cousins, but they too could be the source of phosphine in the atmosphere.
On Earth it appears there's not a lot of phosphate floating around in the air:
Phosphorus does enter the atmosphere in very small amounts when the dust is dissolved in rainwater and seaspray but remains mostly on land and in Rock and soil minerals.

众所周知，地球上的细菌能制造磷化氢:它们从矿物或生物物质中吸收磷酸盐，然后与氢相结合，最终排出磷化氢。金星上的任何生物体都可能与它们在地球上的表亲截然不同，但这些生命可能是大气中磷化氢的来源。
在地球上，空气中漂浮的磷酸盐似乎并不多:
当尘埃在雨水和海水中溶解时，磷确实会以非常小的量进入大气，但大部分残留在陆地、岩石和土壤矿物质中。

Xizithei
Jupiter, for instance, has around 20 parts per quadrillion(from their numbers) of phosphine present from natural pRocesses, whereas Venus has around 20 parts per billion phosphine.
By their observation, beyond microbial life functions, there isn't readily a way to explain the density compared to other planets in the solar system, It isn't the declaration of microbial life on Venus, however, because there Are some pRocesses which create phosphine beyond decaying plant/animal matter, just none which explain the above numbers.

在木星上，自然过程中产生的磷化氢约为千万亿分之20，而在金星上产生的磷化氢约为十亿分之20。
根据他们的观察，除了微生物生命活动产生磷化氢之外，还没有一个现成的方法来解释金星与太阳系其他行星的磷化氢密度差异。然而，这并不是说金星上有微生物存在，因为除了微生物活动之外，还有一些自然过程也能产生磷化氢，只是没有一个能解释金星异常的磷化氢浓度。

Trumpologist
I wish pluto's subsurface oceans would get this love too!

我希望冥王星的地下海洋也能发现微生物!

Xizithei
Seriously, though. That is an interesting bit to look into. I imagine the reason we aren't looking further away from our star for potential life is, from our limited understanding of biomechanics, they couldn't possibly function that far out in space. Pluto, like most Trans-Neptunian obxts, is at a bone-shattering -229C(-380F), just 50C warmer than absolute zero(-273C or -459C), theoretically the coldest temperature our solar sytem(universe?) can reach.
Supposedly, Pluto has ice volcanoes, which I can't help but assume are simply geysers of methane ice, which is unfortunately not something I am familiar enough with to know if it is caused by tidal forcing, crust displacement, or other forces, unknown by me at this time.

这是一个有趣的研究。我想，我们之所以没有把目光放在离我们的星球更远的地方寻找潜在生命的原因是，因为从我们自己对生物学的有限理解来看，生命不可能在离太阳那么远的太空中存活。冥王星的温度达到了令人震惊的零下229摄氏度(-380F)，只比绝对零度(-273摄氏度)高50摄氏度，这在理论上是我们的太阳系所能探测到的最冷温度。

slasher372
Something I wonder about is, do you think that if there was life on other planets, it would use something similar to dna, or dna exactly? Obviously things like dna and atp work here for all our life, doesn't it seem likely that those same molecules and pathways would be utilized by life if it exists elsewhere?

我想知道的是，你认为如果其他行星上有生命，它会使用类似于DNA的东西吗 ?很明显，我们的生命活动要靠DNA和ATP这样的东西维持，如果生命存在于其他地方，其他生命也会使用和地球生命相同的模式吗?

DoomDread
The study's authors have pretty much ruled out nucleic acids like DNA being present on Venus's microbes. These molecules cannot tolerate the conditions of Venus. The sulfuric acid will mess up Earthly nucleic acids real bad.

研究人员几乎排除了DNA等核酸存在于金星微生物中的可能性。因为这些分子不能忍受金星的环境。硫酸会把地球上的核酸分子腐蚀得一团糟。

Not_Actually_French
Actually in their press briefing they did mention this. it would have to be essentially different seeing as the concentration of sulfuric acid on the planet would melt away any of the biological component inherent in us and the chemical ones necessary for life (è.g. Sugar)

实际上研究人员的新闻发布会上确实提到了这一点。他们声称如果金星上有生命，那么从本质上看，生命形态肯定会与地球生命有所不同，因为金星上浓硫酸会融化掉我们体内的任何生物成分，以及生命所必需的化学成分(例如:糖分子)

Savenura55
I know this theory exists but the presence of hydRocarbons just about anywhere the elements to make them exist leads me to believe that life if found else where will have a very different “dna”. Life seems like the outcome of chemistry and energy anywhere those two things exist in sufficient supply.

我知道这个事实，但金星上碳氢化合物的存在使我相信，如果在其他星球发现了生命，它们将有一个非常不同的“DNA”。生命是化学和能量的产物，只要有足够的化学和能量供应，生命就可能产生。

AJWinky
Venus had very Earth-like conditions for ~3 billion years, though. It's still possible there was panspermia and then Venusian life evolved to survive the hostile Venusian conditions as the runaway greenhouse effect occurred.

不过，在大约30亿年前的时间里，金星的环境与地球非常相似。仍然有可能存在着生命起源，然后随着失控的温室效应的发生，金星上仅剩的生命最终进化到能在金星恶劣的环境中生存。