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Curiosity Celebrates an Earth-Year on Mars
庆祝好奇号登陆火星一周年
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.
好奇号的减速和降落可以说是惊险的七分钟。从降落到今天，美国宇航局的好奇号探测车已经在火星度过了半个多火星年了。但是按照地球时间算，已经整整一周年了。好奇号在2012年地球东部时间8月6号早上降落火星。美国宇航局的喷气推进实验室为此展开庆祝。
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.
从那时候开始，这个以钚元素为燃料的探测车已经在火星上行驶了一千多米。拍摄了许多看起来像古代消失的河床的照片。它钻探沉积岩，收集粉末分析其成分。工程科学家John Grotzinger表示，岩石上有迹象显示火星古代的环境是很潮湿的，这种环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.
探测车也收集了火星上的空气，分析其成分。截至目前，好奇号还没有探测到任何甲烷气体，甲烷的存在可能能证明火星上存在生物活动。但是目前收集的证据显示火星或许在某个历史时期是宜居的。
Stay tuned for Earth year 2, as Curiosity keeps rolling along.
继续关注好奇号第二年的探测吧。
—John Matson
