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When Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961,
1961年，艾伦·谢泼德成为第一位进入太空的美国人，
he rode in a Mercury capsule packed with the world's most cutting-edge technology.
当时他搭乘的是满载世界最顶尖技术的“水星计划”太空舱。
It had almost everything you'd expect a spaceship to have, from a heat shield to plenty of oxygen.
尽管飞船里从隔热层到大量氧气几乎应有尽有。
But it was missing one really big thing: a computer!
但缺失了一件相当重要的东西：计算机！
Somehow, our first mission to space relied on Newton's good ole "what goes up must come down" idea about gravity.
不知怎么地，我们的第一次太空任务依赖于牛顿的著名重力理论，即“物质上升必会下降”。
Thankfully, we've come a long way since those early days.
值得庆幸的是，从早期开始，我们已经取得很大进展了。
And as computers have gotten more powerful, they've completely transformed how we explore the solar system.
随着电脑变得越来越强大，它们完全改变了我们探索太阳系的方式。
And along the way, the space industry gave computer science a boost, too.
同时，航天工业也促进了计算机科学的发展。
By the time, NASA was getting serious about landing on the Moon,
那时，宇航局已经开始认真考虑登月的事情了，
everyone knew the Mercury system wouldn't cut it.
所有人都知道靠“水星计划”完成不了。
Mission control in Houston provided most Apollo flight control data,
休斯顿任务控制中心提供了大部分阿波罗飞行控制数据，
but there were still critical times when the astronauts couldn't rely on Earth.
但仍有一些关键时刻宇航员不能依靠地球。
And the most important time was during lunar landing.
而最重要的时刻就是登月。
Because the moon is so far and signals can only travel so fast,
因为月球如此遥远，信号只能传播那么快，
there's a round-trip communication delay of about two and half seconds between Earth and the moon,
地球和月球之间大约会有2.5秒的往返通信延迟。
which was just way too long during landing.
这在登月期间显得太长了。
So each Apollo mission needed computers capable of doing everything necessary to reach the lunar surface.
因此，每一次阿波罗任务都需要计算机，它们能够完成到达月球表面所需的一切事情。
The problem was that computers back then fit in whole rooms, not on desks,
问题是，当时的电脑占据整个房间，而不是在桌子上，
and the Apollo missions needed something with as little mass as possible.
而阿波罗计划所需的东西越少越好。
So computer engineering had to step it up.
所以计算机工程不得不改进它。
NASA assigned this huge task to MIT, which proposed using a new technology: the integrated circuit.
宇航局把这项艰巨的任务交给了麻省理工学院，他们提议使用一项新技术：集成电路。
In the 1950s, computers were being made with transistors,
在20世纪50年代，计算机是用晶体管制造的，
tiny electronic switches that form the foundation of digital circuits.
微型电子交换机构成数字电路的基础。
But all the wires needed to connect them together still left a bulky, sometimes unreliable end result,
但是连接它们所需的电线很笨重，有时结果不可靠，
which is not good if you only get one chance to land on the moon!
如果你只有一次机会登月，那就不好了!
Integrated circuits solve this problem by printing the transistor and its wiring directly on a thin sheet of silicon,
集成电路通过在薄硅片上直接打印晶体管和它的接线来解决这个问题，
which increases reliability and decreases weight.
这样能增加可靠性、减轻重量。
Using integrated circuits in the Apollo Guidance Computer was a huge risk
在阿波罗制导计算机中使用集成电路风险巨大，
because they'd never been tried outside a prototype, but they worked!
因为他们从未在原型之外尝试过，但成功了！
The final computers weighed only about 32 kilograms,
最终的计算机重量只有32公斤，
or about as much as a golden retriever, and each one performed flawlessly in flight.
差不多是一只金毛猎犬的重量，在飞行中它们都表现得无懈可击。
To build them, MIT also bought basically the whole world's supply of integrated circuits,
麻省理工学院为了制造这些计算机，基本上买断了全球集成电路的供应，
which really helped out the computer industry.
此举帮助了计算机产业。
In 1961, a single circuit cost about 32 dollars, and each Apollo computer used them by the thousands.
在1961年，单个电路的成本约为32美元，而阿波罗的每台电脑都耗费数千个。
With all that demand, the price plummeted to just a buck-twenty-five a decade later,
随着需求的增长，它的价格在10年后暴跌至25美元，
and today every computerized product on Earth is built from integrated circuits.
现在，地球上的每个电子产品都是由集成电路制成的。
Thanks, Apollo!
感谢阿波罗计划！
Of course, we had plenty of robotic missions in the 1960s, too.
当然，我们在20世纪60年代也有很多机器人任务。
And since those didn't have astronauts, they definitely needed computers.
因为它们没有宇航员，绝对需要计算机。
But they were super basic! Back then, they weren't even called computers;
但它们超级基础！当时，他们甚至不叫电脑；
instead these so-called sequencers just stored a list of commands and the time they should be executed.
而是叫定序器，仅仅储存指令和执行时间的清单。
Once the mission was in flight, everything was totally out of our hands.
一旦任务目标在飞行中，一切就完全失去了控制。
The first mission to break this mold didn't come until 1969, when Mariner 6 and 7 flew past Mars.
第一个打破这种模式的任务是从1969年才开始的，在“水手”6号和7号飞过火星的时候。
The Mariner 6 flyby happened first,
水手6号先飞行，
and then scientists could use the data it collected to reprogram Mariner 7 mid-flight.
然后科学家利用它收集的数据改编了飞行中“水手”7号的程序。
That way, when Mariner 7 showed up at Mars five days later,
这样，当“水手”7号5天后出现在火星上时，
it could get an even better data return.
它就能返回更好的数据。
Now, almost 50 years later,
现在，大约50年后，
our flight sequencing has gotten a lot more complicated, thanks to more powerful computers.
我们的飞行排序变得复杂多了，这多亏了更强大的计算机。
When Cassini made its final dives between Saturn and its rings this fall,
今年秋天，“卡西尼”号在土星和土星环之间进行了最后一次俯冲，
it was executing the last commands of a 294-orbit mission.
它正在执行一项294号轨道任务的最后命令。
Something that complicated could never have been planned out years in advance,
有些复杂的事情可能从来没有提前计划好，
so it was critical that mission controllers could update the computer along the way.
因此，任务控制人员可以在路上可以更新计算机显得至关重要。
Cassini's flight computer is simple compared to what's in your phone,
“卡西尼”号的飞行电脑与你的手机相比很简单，
but it successfully flipped and spun the spacecraft to make sure every instrument was pointed in the right place at the right time.
但它成功地翻转并旋转宇宙飞船，以确保每一个仪器都在合适的时间出现在正确的地点。
And all those flips and turns have taught us a lot about Saturn's moons, weather and more.
所有这些翻转和旋转告诉了我们很多关于土星的卫星、天气以及更多的信息。
Modern computers are also enabling missions we wouldn't have dreamed of in the past
现代计算机也使我们过去想都没想的任务得以实现，
like the Sky Crane that dropped the Curiosity rover on Mars in 2012.
比如2012年，空中吊车把“好奇”号探测车降落在了火星上。
Curiosity is way too big for an airbag-style landing,
“好奇”号对于机场式着陆来说太大了，
like what we used for the Opportunity rover,
比如“机遇”号曾使用过，
so engineers built the parachute, rocket, and winch combo of the Sky Crane to lower it to the ground.
所以工程师们建造了降落伞、火箭和绞盘组合的空中吊车将它降到地面。
Like with the Apollo landings, there's a communications delay between Earth and Mars,
就像阿波罗登月一样，地球和火星之间存在通信延迟，
so everything was up to the flight computer.
所以一切都取决于飞行计算机。
But unlike a sequencer, the computer had split-second decisions to make.
但与定序器不同的是，这种计算机有瞬间决定的能力。
After being dropped from the parachute,
在从降落伞上掉下来之后，
the Sky Crane had just moments to find its elevation and velocity, determine its orientation,
空中吊车仅有瞬间发现它的高度和速度，决定它的方向，
account for the local wind speed, and fire its rockets to get balanced.
考虑当地的风速，发射火箭来保持平衡。
And it had to decide when to lower Curiosity and when to cut it loose.
它必须决定何时降低“好奇”号的高度，何时放开它。
All before anyone on Earth even knew it was entering the atmosphere.
所有这一切都发生在地球上的人知道它在进入大气之前。
Spoilers: It worked! And now Curiosity is living a happy, productive life on Mars.
爆料：它成功了！现在“好奇”号正在火星上过着幸福多产的生活。
Without computers powerful enough to collect that data and make those decisions,
没有足够强大的计算机来收集这些数据并做出决定，
Curiosity may have never made it to Mars in the first place.
“好奇”号不可能第一个成功到达火星。
And luckily there's no sign this innovation will slow down.
幸运的是，没有迹象表明这项创新将会减慢速度。
Opportunity and Curiosity can already pick some of their own objects to study,
“机遇”号和“好奇”号已经选择了一些它们研究的对象，
and Curiosity can drive itself over short distances like a self-driving car.
而且“好奇”号可以像自动驾驶汽车一样在短距离内自行驾驶。
That's a heck of a long way to come in sixty years, and there's no telling what will come next.
在未来60年的漫长过程中，没有人知道接下来会发生什么。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space,
感谢您收看本期的太空科学秀，
brought to you by our awesome patrons on Patreon who make everything we do possible!
同时感谢Patreon对本节目的大力赞助！
If you want to learn more about the human computers who helped Alan Shepherd and other Mercury astronauts get to space,
如果你想继续了解人类计算机帮助艾伦·谢泼德和其他“水星计划”宇航员进入太空的故事，
check out one of my all time favorite SciShow Space videos on Katherine Johnson.
看看我最喜欢的关于凯瑟琳·约翰逊那期的视频吧。
