(单词翻译:单击)
We've talked a lot about what it would take to get humans to Mars, and even what a colony on Venus might look like.
关于怎样将人类送往火星,我们已经介绍过很多了,甚至就连金星,我们也没放过 。
But soon we might give a few people one-way tickets to the Red Planet.
但不久后,我们或许就可以将一些人送往火星了 。
So how are they gonna survive?
那么这些人在火星上如何生存呢?
Turns out, scientists and engineers have been thinking about colonizing space for a while.
是这样的:科学家和工程师一直都在思考暂时将火星殖民化的事情 。
After we sent people to the Moon, it seemed like a Mars colony couldn't be too far off.
要是能把人送到火星上,那把火星据为己有也就不再遥远了 。
But the 1970s came and went … and the '80s … and the ‘90s … and the 2000s.
但从上世纪70年代开始,我们就在想这个问题,然后80年代、90年代甚至2000年都过去了,依然无解 。
Still, no people on Mars -- and it's looking like it isn't going to happen in the 2010s, either.
目前,火星上还没有人类生存——现在看来,就算2010年,也无法实现 。
Well, you know what they say: The sixth decade's the charm… right?
对此,他们是这么说的:60年未解之谜更具魅力了 。
Because now it's 2016, and the crew of Mars One, a mission being planned by a nonprofit organization of the same name, could be the humans to colonize Mars.
但现在已经过了2016年,而火星一号的宇航员(得名于规划该任务的同名非盈利组织)可能成为第一批居住在火星上的人类 。
Right now, the mission is set to launch in 2026 -- though it's already been delayed twice.
目前,该任务计划于2026年执行——不过此前已经延期过2次了 。
But what's so hard about setting up shop on Mars, anyway?
但在火星上生活有什么难度呢?
Well, pretty much everything – especially when it comes to the three basic human needs that we'll need to sort out before astronauts land: sleeping, eating, and breathing.
答案是:难度大了——尤其是涉及人的3个最基本需求的时候 。而且这3个最基本的需求必须在宇航员着陆以前解决,即睡觉、吃饭、呼吸 。
There aren't any five-star Martian hotels, so when it comes to sleeping accommodations, it's one of those “bring-your-own-room” situations.
火星上可没有什么五星级旅馆,所以在住宿的问题上,基本上只能自理 。
Before they send people, Mars One is planning to send missions with rovers and supplies, including living units and life support units that the robots will set up for the first group of astronauts.
在送人去火星之前,火星一号正在计划先送探测车和供给品上去,其中包括居住单元、生命保障设备,后者将由机器人为第一批宇航员操办 。
Then, after the first crew lands, they'll receive more supplies and set up the living space for the second crew...
然后,第一批宇航员着陆,他们就会收到更多的供给品,然后为第二批宇航员创建生活空间 。
… and that pattern will continue for all of the missions afterwards.
如此往复……这个模式会延续到后面的每次任务中 。
Each astronaut will probably have around ten square meters of personal living area.
每位宇航员大概会有10平米左右的个人生活区 。
But there are also going to be some common spaces like kitchens and hallways, so things shouldn't get too cramped.
但也会有厨房、走廊等公共区域,所以不会太过拥挤 。
They're not luxury apartments, but they're not half bad for Martian real estate.
他们的居住环境不会是奢华的公寓,但对于火星这么个环境来说,是很不错的了 。
Now that we've got our astronauts settled in their Martian condos, what are they gonna eat?
现在,宇航员已经安排到火星上了,那他们吃什么呢?
The idea is to grow lots of edible crops in special greenhouse sections of the habitats -- kind of like what Mark Watney tried to do in The Martian -- so there's always food to harvest.
有个想法是在栖息地上的特殊温室区域里种植大量可使用的粮食——这就有点像沃特尼试图在火星上做的事情一样——有种就有收 。
The settlers need to ensure their plants have artificial light, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and water to grow.
宇航员需要确保植物能受到人工光源的照射,有二氧化碳、营养物和水 。
And Mars's atmosphere might be very thin, but it is almost entirely carbon dioxide, so that's an encouraging sign that we'll be able to use some of the Martian air in the greenhouses.
而且火星的大气层可能十分稀薄,但里面仅有的空气也几乎都是二氧化碳,所以这是件令人振奋的好事——温室里可以用火星自带的二氧化碳了 。
Scientists also think that Martian soil might have the right nutrients for plants to grow, especially if astronauts supplement it with fertilizers and wash out some of the stuff that would be toxic to humans.
科学家还认为,火星的土壤可能具备植物生长的合适营养物,如果宇航员能施肥,并去除掉对人类有毒的物质,就更是如此了 。
But finding water on a desert planet like Mars is a little trickier.
但在火星这样的荒芜之地发现水源就难上加难了 。
Fortunately, a lot of scientists think that there's plenty of water locked away in the surface soil and rocks.
幸运的是,很多科学家认为,火星表面的土壤和岩石中封存了大量水分 。
It'll be up to those habitat-building robots to prove them right, extract some water, and get the initial crops growing.
这个要由负责搭建栖息地的机器人来一探究竟了,如果有的话,还要负责从中抽取水分并种下第一批庄稼 。
By the time the astronauts arrive, they'll have some food to harvest and will need to start planting their own.
等宇航员抵达的时候,就可以大丰收了,也要开始规划属于自己的部分了 。
But, with food comes poop.
但伴随食物而来的就是排泄的问题 。
So scientists are still trying to figure out how to deal with all of the waste that people and plants produce, especially as the colony grows.
科学家依然在努力想办法解决如何处理人类和植物排泄物的问题,尤其是随着人类居住地的扩张 。
But who really cares about sleeping and eating if you can't survive outside of a spacesuit:
但如果离开了太空服就无法生存的话,还提什么睡觉和吃饭呢 。
Where will breathable air come from?
那可呼吸的空气从何而来呢?
Mars's atmosphere is incredibly thin and has almost no oxygen.
火星的大气层十分稀薄,几乎没有氧气 。
In fact, only about 0.13% of Mars's atmosphere is oxygen, compared to 21% here on Earth.
实际上,火星大气层里只有大约0.13%的氧气,而地球上却有21%的氧气 。
And humans … don't tend to live very long without oxygen.
没有氧气,人就活不了多久 。
So an Earth-like atmosphere inside of the habitats has to come from somewhere, and we have to make a lot of it to fill up all that living space.
火星上类似地球大气层的环境不会凭空而来,所以我们必须创建很多这样的区域来填补生活区 。
The plants will produce oxygen as they photosynthesize, but it would take a long time for that oxygen to build up to life-sustaining levels.
植物进行光合作用的时候会释放氧气,但需要很长时间才能累积到可以维持生命的浓度 。
The hope is that some oxygen gas can be extracted from the Martian air, by basically splitting up the carbon and oxygen in the carbon dioxide, or it can come from the soil with the help of microbes.
我们希望可以从火星的空气中提取一些氧气,方式基本上就是:将二氧化碳中的碳氧分离,或者在微生物的帮助下从土壤中获取氧气 。
It's going to take a little bit of juggling to get all of the right gases in the right proportions in the air, but scientists are pretty sure it can work with the right technologies.
确实要费些力气才能使火星空气中氧气的浓度达到适宜的程度,但科学家非常坚信,只要有了正确的技术,就一定可以 。
So will these plans work?
那么,这些计划能奏效吗?
Are we finally gonna send people to colonize Mars?
我们真地能将人送往火星生活吗?
Well, maybe.
可能吧 。
In a paper published earlier this year, a group of scientists at MIT described a detailed simulation of the Mars One mission.
今年初发表的一篇论文中,一组麻省理工的科学家具体描述了对火星一号任务的模拟情况 。
In the paper, they write, and I quote, “our analysis finds that the Mars One mission plan, as publicly described, is not feasible.”
在这篇论文中,他们写道,“经过分析发现,火星一号任务,就像外界所描述的那样,可行性不高 。”
But there are also a bunch of scientists who think that Mars One is progressing right on track, and that it's going to work.
但还是有很多科学家认为火星一号的大方向是正确的,并且认为这样做不会错 。
So it's hard to say if we're really going watch human beings colonize the Red Planet in 2027.
所以很难讲我们是否能在2027年见证人类居住于火星的场景 。
But we do know that either way, NASA has plans to send astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
但可以确定的是:美国宇航局有计划将宇航员在21世纪30年代送往火星 。
So even if we don't have a colony set up by then, hopefully the astronauts will come back with data that helps us plan for one.
所以,即便到那时候我们还没有殖民地,但我们还是希望宇航员能够带着数据回到地球,以便助力我们为建立殖民地做计划 。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space, and thanks especially to our patrons on Patreon who help make this show possible.
感谢收看本期的《太空科学秀》,尤其要感谢我们的忠实粉丝支持节目 。
If you want to help us keep making episodes like this, just go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果您想要助力节目的发展,可以登录patreon.com/scishow 。
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不要忘记订阅youtube.com/scishowspace and subscribe哦!