(单词翻译:单击)
The idea of being able to get around space as easily as we get around in our cars is a dream many have grasped at,
能够像坐车一样轻松穿梭于太空这一想法是许多人都曾有过的梦想，
but none have achieved so far (although not for lack of trying: Elon, I’m looking at you).
只不过还没有人真正做到（尽管也并不是没人尝试：伊隆，看你的了）。
We’ve covered the so-called impossible drive several times on this channel.
我们栏目已经做过几期关于所谓的“不可能实现的驱动方式”的视频了。
And according to some recent updates, it looks like it might really be impossible.
根据最近的一些更新，那种推进方式似乎真的可能无法实现。
The impossible drive, also known as the EM drive, was originally conceptualized in the early 2000s.
“不可能实现的驱动”，也称“电磁驱动”，这一概念是在本世纪初提出来的。
It’s a hypothetical form of space travel that wouldn’t require any fuel.
这是一种假想的不需要任何燃料的太空旅行方式。
The drive works--again, hypothetically--by bouncing microwaves around a conical metal chamber.
驱动器靠反弹锥形金属腔周围的微波提供驱动力 - 这也是假想的。
Conventionally, you’d need to push against the matter around you to move anywhere--
按照惯例，要想移动，你就得给你周围的事物一个推力 -
that’s how physics, as defined by Newton’s third law of motion, works.
物理学，牛顿第三运动定律所定义的物理学，就是这么规定的。
You know, like the conventional rocket thrusters we have, that’s how they work.
就像现有的传统火箭助推器一样，它们就是那样运作的。
This drive, were it to really function, would break our fundamental understanding of Newtonian physics.
而这个假想的驱动器，能真正起作用的话，就会打破我们对牛顿物理学的基本认知。
And for a hot second there, it looked like we may have measured the drive working-
然而，我们可能已经实验出了能够工作的驱动器 -
In 2016 a team of NASA researchers detected a tiny amount of thrust while testing the drive in a vacuum,
2016年，在真空环境下测试驱动器时，美国宇航局一群研究人员检测到了很小的推动力，
although they were hesitant to attribute that thrust to anything except experimental error.
尽管他们不愿将这一推力的出现归结为实验误差之外的任何因素。
And it turns out they may have been right.
事实证明，他们还真有可能说对了。
Research in this area has been largely underfunded up until this point
到目前为止，这方面的研究基本上资金不足，
because, as the name of the technology states, most people think it’s quite literally impossible.
因为，正如这项技术的名称所说的那样，大多数人都认为它可以说是真的不可能实现。
But a research team in Germany just conducted an experiment with some seriously sick resources, like an extreme vacuum and specialized shielding.
然而，前不久，德国的某研究团队用极限真空和专用屏蔽等极其严苛的条件做了一项实验，
If the EM drive worked, it would mean that space travel would be significantly cheaper and faster and more efficient...
如果电磁驱动器真的能用，那将意味着太空旅行会便宜得多，快捷得多也高效得多......
so who won? Physics? Or the impossible? Definitely physics.
那究竟谁赢了呢？物理学吗？还是不可能赢了？绝对是物理学。
Physics still wins.
即便是现在，获胜方依然是物理学。
These latest, most sophisticated tests conclude that the tiny amount of thrust that NASA’s team detected in 2016
这些最近所做的，有史以来最高难度的实验表明，NASA团队2016年检测到的那点儿推动力
was most likely due to interaction of the metal drive with the earth’s magnetic field.
最可能是那个金属驱动器与地球磁场的相互作用产生的。
Even though more teams around the world will probably continue to verify this work by conducting tests of their own,
即便世界各地的其他研究团队可能也会继续用他们自己的研究验证这一成果，
it would seem that for the most part, this spells RIP for the EM drive dream.
似乎在大多数情况下，这都等于是在给电磁驱动这一梦想唱往生咒。
But, just to cover all their space bases, the team also looked into a different kind of drive called the Mach Effect thruster,
不过，为了考察他们所有的太空基地，该团队还另一种驱动器，即“马赫效应推进器”，
whose concept assumes that if a mass vibrates enough, it interacts gravitationally with the rest of the universe.
这一概念假定，如果一个质量振动频率足够高，就能够以重力的形式和其他事物发生相互作用。
This drive, made out of a stack of piezoelectric crystals attached to a mass of brass (which is fun to say),
该驱动器，由一堆连接到一大块黄铜上的压电晶体制成（说起来，还挺有趣），
showed a little more promise in tests from the German lab.
显示，德国实验室的实验还是挺有希望的。
The researchers still concluded that any thrust detected from these tests is most likely interference,
研究人员的结论仍然是，从这些测试中检测到的任何推力都很有可能是干扰的结果，
or noise from the rest of the physical world interacting with the set up.
也可能是物理界的其他噪音与设备相互作用的结果。
So, that’s our latest update on the state of the EM drive.
以上就是我们关于电磁驱动器研究了解到的最新消息了。
A little disappointing that we won’t all be jetting around space on vibrating crystals,
有点令人失望的是，我们不会坐着振动晶体在太空中飞来飞去了，
but the researchers make a good point at the end of their paper,
不过，研究人员在论文的最后提出了一个很好的观点，
saying that these experiments were highly educational in that they required very demanding experimental conditions,
他们说，这些实验有着很好的教育意义，因为它们都需要非常苛刻的实验条件，
and this will help them in testing further potentially-transformative space drives.
这也将有助于他们进一步测试可能会引起变革的空间驱动器。
Ah, humans. Ever hopeful, experimenting our way into the future.
啊，人类。永远都是那么充满希望，从未放弃让我们踏入未来的实验。
Check out our previous videos on the EM drive here, and subscribe to Seeker for all your space travel news.
大家可以在这里查看我们之前关于电磁驱动器的视频，也可以订阅我们的频道《科学探索之旅》获取所有太空旅行方面的新闻。
And hey, fun fact, the metal used to shield the Em drive in this experiment is called mu metal,
对了，有趣的是，在这个实验中用来保护电磁驱动器的金属是高导磁合金，
which creates a region containing only a TINY fraction of the Earth’s magnetic field.
研究人员能够用这种材料围出一个磁场仅相当于地球磁场极小部分的区域。
And there was STILL interference. Damn.
但里面还是会受到地球磁场的干扰。可恶。
I’m Maren, thanks for watching Seeker.
我是莫伦，感谢大家收看本期的科学探索之旅。
