Could our understanding of the deep ocean help unlock the mysteries of outer space? Nasa's space mission is leading us to unexplored depths of our own planet.

我們對(duì)深海的認(rèn)識(shí)能否幫助我們破解外層空間的謎團(tuán)？美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局（Nasa）的太空任務(wù)引領(lǐng)我們探索地球深處的未知世界。

Our oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface, but over 80% of them remain unexplored. In fact, it is often claimed that we know more about the surface of Mars and the Moon than about the ocean floor on our own planet.

我們的海洋覆蓋地球表面的70%，但80%以上的海洋尚未被勘探。事實(shí)上，人們常說(shuō)我們對(duì)火星和月球表面的認(rèn)識(shí)超過(guò)了地球海底。

Nasa is on a mission to change that. The US space agency is exploring the deep ocean to search for clues of what oceans on other planets could look like, and push the limits of science and technology in one of the most extreme environments on our planet. It is a mission filled with wonder, danger and a not-insignificant risk of implosion.

Nasa開展的任務(wù)旨在扭轉(zhuǎn)這一局面。NASA正在探索海洋深處，尋找線索揭示其他星球上的海洋可能是什么樣子，在我們這顆星球上最極端的環(huán)境中突破科學(xué)與技術(shù)極限。這項(xiàng)任務(wù)充滿了奇幻、兇險(xiǎn)，以及巨大的內(nèi)爆風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

The hope is that the underwater discoveries they make will help to unlock some of the mysteries in outer space while also test some of the equipment and experiments needed for missions elsewhere in the Solar System.

Nasa在海底的發(fā)現(xiàn)有助于破解外層空間的某些謎團(tuán)，同時(shí)還能測(cè)試在太陽(yáng)系其他區(qū)域開展任務(wù)時(shí)所需要的某些設(shè)備和試驗(yàn)。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


Earth's ocean depths are surprisingly similar to some of the conditions Nasa expects to find on other worlds in our Solar System. They could even provide clues about where scientists should be searching for alien life.

地球的深海與Nasa希望在太陽(yáng)系其他區(qū)域?qū)ふ业哪承┉h(huán)境驚人地相似，甚至為科學(xué)家應(yīng)該去哪里尋找外星生命提供了線索。

The deepest parts of Earth's oceans are known as the hadal zone. Named after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, it is a forbidding place worthy of its name. Consisting of deep trenches and troughs, it extends 11km (6.8 miles) below the surface of the world's oceans. Cumulatively they account for an area of seabed equivalent to the size of Australia. Yet few vehicles can survive plunging into this dark abyss.

地球海洋最深處稱為超深淵帶，這是令人生畏的地帶，以希臘神話中的冥界之王哈迪斯命名可謂名副其實(shí)。超深淵帶由很深的海溝和海槽構(gòu)成，在世界海平面下延綿11公里（6.8英里），占海床的總面積相當(dāng)于澳大利亞，但幾乎任何潛水器墜入這黑暗深淵都是有去無(wú)回。

It is here that Nasa scientists, in partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in Massachusetts, are attempting to explore and probe the limits of life on Earth. Even the language the scientists use for their missions to this region shares terms with space exploration – in recent years marine biologists have sent multiple "landers" equipped with sensors and cameras to "crash-land" on the floor of the hadal zone, where they take measurements.

Nasa科學(xué)家與馬薩諸塞州的伍茲霍爾海洋研究所在這方面展開合作，旨在探索地球生命的極限?？茖W(xué)家在這一地帶執(zhí)行任務(wù)中甚至使用太空探索領(lǐng)域的術(shù)語(yǔ)：近年來(lái)，海洋生物學(xué)家已派遣多臺(tái)裝有傳感器和攝像頭的“著陸器”在超深淵帶的海底“強(qiáng)行著陸”，對(duì)該地帶進(jìn)行勘測(cè)。

But engineers from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California are building a new autonomous underwater vehicle called Orpheus, after the ancient Greek hero who travelled to the underworld and back, to map the more inaccessible depths. Using similar visual navigation technology to Nasa's Perseverance Mars Rover, Orpheus uses highly sensitive cameras to identify rock formations, shells and other features on the ocean floor to build up three-dimensional maps dotted with landmarks (or perhaps seabedmarks). This allows the robot to find its way and recognise places it has already been, but should also help it shed new light on the biodiversity of this harsh environment. "Orpheus is a gateway vehicle," says Tim Shank, a deep-sea biologist who is leading WHOI's hadal exploration programme. "If it works, there is no place in the ocean where you can't go."

然而，位于南加州的Nasa噴氣推進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室的工程師正在制造新型的“俄耳甫斯”自主式水下航行器，命名源于去過(guò)冥界又重返人間的古希臘英雄俄耳甫斯，旨在為難以到達(dá)的深淵繪制地圖?！岸矶λ埂辈捎门c“毅力號(hào)”火星探測(cè)車相類似的視覺導(dǎo)航技術(shù)，利用高靈敏度攝像頭識(shí)別巖層、地殼及海床上的其他特征，從而繪制帶有陸標(biāo)（可能應(yīng)稱作海床標(biāo)）的三維地圖。這不僅能使機(jī)器人認(rèn)路，知道自己到了哪里，還有助于我們對(duì)這種惡劣環(huán)境下的生物多樣性有新的認(rèn)識(shí)。“俄耳甫斯是入門潛水器”，深海生物學(xué)家蒂姆·尚克說(shuō)道，他是伍茲霍爾海洋研究所的超深淵帶探索項(xiàng)目負(fù)責(zé)人?！叭绻械猛?，那么海洋里就沒有我們?nèi)ゲ涣说牡胤健薄?/b>

It is not the first time that Shank has tried to reach the dark depths of the hadal zone. In 2014, Orpheus' predecessor Nereus was sent down to the Kermadec Trench, which lies north-east of New Zealand. The underwater vehicle imploded some 10km (6.2 miles) down, most likely due to the immense pressure.

這已經(jīng)不是尚克第一次試圖到達(dá)超深淵帶的黑色深淵了。2014年，“俄耳甫斯”的前輩“涅柔斯”被派遣到位于新西蘭西北的克馬德克海溝。這艘潛水器在大約10公里（6.2英里）深處發(fā)生了內(nèi)爆，很可能是水壓過(guò)大造成的。

"After 12 hours, we saw it coming up in small pieces," says Shank, adding that the loss of Nereus made them rethink how they explore the deep sea. About the size of a quad bike and weighing around 550 pounds (250kg), Orpheus is designed to be much lighter, smaller and cheaper than previous underwater vehicles. This should make it nimbler too, allowing it to get into trenches and vents in the sea floor that have never been explored before.

“12小時(shí)后，我們?cè)谒姘l(fā)現(xiàn)了殘骸”，尚克說(shuō)道，損失的“涅柔斯”讓我們重新思考如何探索深海，他補(bǔ)充道?！岸矶λ埂贝笮∪缤惠v四輪摩托車，約重550磅（250千克），比先前的潛水器設(shè)計(jì)得更輕、更小、造價(jià)更低。這能讓它變得更敏捷，可以到達(dá)海床上從未探索過(guò)的海溝和熱液噴口。

Europa on Earth

地球上的歐羅巴
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


For a long time, marine biologists thought that life in the hadal zone was impossible, but as deep sea submersibles began venturing into the region in the first half of the 20th Century, it became apparent life could survive there. But it was still believed that all living organisms were sustained by a food chain ultimately fueled by photosynthesis. Plants, algae and some marine bacteria in surface waters convert the Sun's energy into sugars which they store in their organic matter. This is then eaten by herbivores, which in turn are eaten by carnivorous animals. Scientists were convinced that organisms on the ocean floor survived off dead organic matter – the carcasses of animals, faeces and the steady fall of other organic detritus or "marine snow" drifting down from above. But it was thought there was not enough food to sustain anything much in the way of sea creatures and the deepest areas were believed to still be too dark and cold for life.

長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)，海洋生物學(xué)家認(rèn)為，超深淵帶不可能存在生命。但20世紀(jì)上半葉，隨著深海潛水器開始探索該地帶，這里是明顯存在生命。但人們依舊認(rèn)為，一切生命體賴以生存的食物鏈歸根結(jié)底是由光合作用促成的。表層海水里的植物、海藻、以及部分海洋細(xì)菌將太陽(yáng)能轉(zhuǎn)化成糖，并儲(chǔ)存在體內(nèi)有機(jī)物中。它們被食草動(dòng)物吃掉，食草動(dòng)物又被食肉動(dòng)物吃掉。科學(xué)家確信海床上的生物是依靠無(wú)生命的有機(jī)物存活的：動(dòng)物尸體、糞便、逐漸沉底的有機(jī)碎屑（又稱“海雪”）從表層漂移到深處。但人們認(rèn)為這里的食物不足以維持海洋生物的生存，而且最深之處過(guò)于黑暗冰冷而不適合生存。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


But this perception of the deep ocean changed in 1977, when a US research team dropped a remotely operated vehicle 8,000ft (2,440m) into the Pacific Ocean. The vehicle was dispatched to take images of hydrothermal vents, where heat from volcanic activity seeped from the ocean floor.

但在1977年，美國(guó)科考隊(duì)將一臺(tái)遙控潛水器投入8000英尺（2440米）深的太平洋中，改變了人們對(duì)深海的這種看法。潛水器拍攝了熱液噴口的照片，火山活動(dòng)釋放的熱量從海底噴涌而出。

To their amazement, the scientists discovered vibrant ecosystems around the vents, teeming with marine organisms, such as translucent snailfish and amphipods, tiny flea-like crustaceans, that had never been seen before.

科學(xué)家驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)，熱液噴口的周圍存在活躍的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，擁有大量的海洋生物，諸如半透明獅子魚和片腳生物、像跳蚤一樣的甲殼動(dòng)物，這些都是前所未見的。

"With this discovery, we [came across] a whole new way of living on Earth," says Shank. "These are animals that don't require direct sunlight... they live off chemicals coming out of the sea floor."

“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這是地球上一種全新的生存方式”，尚克說(shuō)道。“這些動(dòng)物不需要直射陽(yáng)光，它們賴以生存的是海底涌出的化學(xué)物質(zhì)”。

The scientists were perplexed: how could species in the hadal zone survive such crushing pressure?

科學(xué)家感到困惑的是：超深淵帶的生物是如何在毀滅性的水壓下存活的？

"The pressure is 15,000 pounds per square inch," says Shank. "It's so intense that the individual cells of an animal would be squeezed out."

“每平方英寸的水壓高達(dá)15000磅”，尚克說(shuō)道?！斑@么高的水壓能把動(dòng)物的單個(gè)細(xì)胞擠出體外”。

Since that first sighting in 1977, scientists have discovered that organisms living at such depths have adapted on a cellular level to survive down there, says Shank. Creatures in the hadal zone, such as giant amphipod crustaceans and the snailfish, have enzymes called piezolytes (from the Greek "piezin" for pressure), which stop their cellular membranes and proteins from being crushed under extremely high pressure. The piezolytes counteract the pressure by increasing the space that proteins take up inside the organism's cells to counteract the weight of the water around it. "It's like putting the stakes up in a tent," says Shank.

自1977年首次發(fā)現(xiàn)以來(lái)，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)在這么深的海底，這些生物已經(jīng)在細(xì)胞層面適應(yīng)了這里的生存環(huán)境，尚克說(shuō)道。超深淵帶里的生物，諸如巨大的片腳類甲殼動(dòng)物和獅子魚，體內(nèi)擁有抗壓酶piezolyte（源于代表壓力的希臘語(yǔ)“piezin”），它能避免細(xì)胞膜和蛋白質(zhì)被超高水壓擠碎?？箟好竿ㄟ^(guò)擴(kuò)大蛋白質(zhì)在生物細(xì)胞內(nèi)所占的空間來(lái)抵消水壓，從而抵消周圍海水的重量?！熬秃帽劝涯緲读⒃趲づ窭铩?，尚克說(shuō)道。

Discovering organisms that can not only survive, but thrive in such an oppressive environment, raises important questions for biologists looking beyond the realms of our own planet – might it also be found on other ocean worlds.

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)在這樣的高壓環(huán)境下，生物不僅能夠生存，而且活得生機(jī)勃勃，使探索地外生命的生物學(xué)家面臨重要問題——在地外海洋世界里是否也能找到生命。

Below the icy surface of Jupiter's moon Europa lies a salt-water ocean that is thought to be between 40 to 100 miles deep (60-150km) and contains twice as much water as all of Earth's oceans combined. Sunlight doesn't penetrate below Europa's thick ice sheet, which is crisscrossed by cracks and fractures. Beneath the icy crust, the pressure is comparable to the hadal zone.

木衛(wèi)二“歐羅巴”的冰層下面是鹽水海洋，深度估計(jì)為40-100英里（60-150千米），海水量是地球海水總量的兩倍。陽(yáng)光無(wú)法到達(dá)“歐羅巴”厚厚的冰層下面，裂縫和斷層在冰層上縱橫交錯(cuò)，冰殼下面的水壓堪比超深淵帶。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


"Here we have Europa on Earth," says Shank. "I don't see how we could do exploration on Europa, until we did it on Earth."

“我們地球上就有歐羅巴”，尚克說(shuō)道?！拔也恢廊绾卧跉W羅巴上探索生命，除非先在地球上做到這一點(diǎn)”。

A robot capable of exploring the Earth's hadal zone could do the same on a frozen moon 628.3 million km (390.4 million miles) away.

如果潛水器能探索地球上的超深淵帶，那么它在距離我們6.283億公里（3.904億英里）的冰封木衛(wèi)二“歐羅巴”上也能做到這一點(diǎn)。

"The ocean floor is a great testbed for us to develop the technology that we need in order to have a successful mission to one of these ocean worlds," says Russell Smith, an engineer from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is part of the team building Orpheus.

“地球海底是我們研發(fā)必要技術(shù)的絕佳試驗(yàn)場(chǎng)，以便在某個(gè)海洋世界中圓滿完成探索任務(wù)”，Nasa噴氣推進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室的工程師拉塞爾·斯密斯說(shuō)道，他是制造“俄耳甫斯”潛水器的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


A robot operating in outer space or the deep ocean, however, must be completely autonomous. "The robot has to be able to make decisions," says Smith, noting that the aim is for Orpheus to be able to detect and classify environmental DNA and chemicals in the water, as well as bring back samples from the ocean floor.

但是，機(jī)器人在外層空間或深海行動(dòng)必須做到完全自主?！皺C(jī)器人必須具備決策能力”，斯密斯說(shuō)道，目的是讓“俄耳甫斯”探測(cè)和分類海水中的環(huán)境DNA和化學(xué)物質(zhì)，并且將海底樣本帶回地面。

Building a robot for the hadal zone is incredibly challenging, he says.

制造用于探索超深淵帶的機(jī)器人極具挑戰(zhàn)性，他說(shuō)道。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


Orpheus has to withstand intense pressure and temperature extremes – the water in the hadal zone is just above freezing, but in the hydrothermal vents temperatures can reach 370C (698F).

“俄耳甫斯”必須承受巨大水壓和極限溫度，超深淵帶的水溫在零上，但熱液噴口的水溫可達(dá)370C（698F）。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處


"Developing a vehicle that is going to survive is really hard," says Smith. "You need really thick walls to prevent the electronics from getting crushed or wet." Orpheus is partly constructed from syntactic foam, a buoyant material composed of microscopic glass spheres set in epoxy resin. The foam used in Orpheus comes from leftover material produced for film director James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger, which descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, in the western Pacific, in 2012.

“研制出一種能夠生存的潛水器確實(shí)很難”，斯密斯說(shuō)道?！澳阈枰浅：竦臍んw才能避免電子設(shè)備被壓壞或受潮”?！岸矶λ埂辈糠钟煽招奈⒅榕菽芰现瞥桑@是一種由填充在環(huán)氧樹脂內(nèi)的玻璃微珠構(gòu)成的浮力材料。“俄耳甫斯”使用的泡沫塑料來(lái)自為電影導(dǎo)演詹姆斯·卡梅隆制造“深海挑戰(zhàn)者號(hào)”所剩下的邊角料，后者曾在2012年下潛到西太平洋馬里亞納海溝的底部。

As it is pitch black in the deep ocean, Orpheus is equipped with a huge flashlight. If the light stays on the entire time, it will quickly drain the robot's battery, leaving it stranded at the crushing depths. To conserve power, Orpheus will switch to a low-power mode when it isn't taking images or samples, says Smith.

由于深海里漆黑一片，所以“俄耳甫斯”配備了一只巨型手電筒。如果燈光始終開啟，會(huì)很快耗盡潛水器的蓄電池，使之困在高壓的深海里。當(dāng)“俄耳甫斯”沒在拍攝照片或收集樣本時(shí)，它會(huì)為了省電而開啟低能耗模式，斯密斯說(shuō)道。

Mission to the Moon

登月任務(wù)

In 2017, Nasa launched the Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog, also known as Subsea, to bring together the fields of space and ocean exploration. To date, they have carried out two missions with remotely operated vehicles to hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean.

2017年，Nasa啟動(dòng)了“水下生物地球化學(xué)與勘探系統(tǒng)化模擬工程（Subsea）”，旨在將太空與海洋勘探相結(jié)合。他們迄今已開展兩次任務(wù)，利用遙控潛水器探索太平洋里的熱液噴口。

The volcanic activity around the Lō`ihi seamount, around 30km (19 miles) off the coast of Hawaii, and Gorda Ridge, 120km (75 miles) off the US coast where California and Oregon meet, is thought to be similar to what may be found in the ocean worlds on Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.

科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，木衛(wèi)二“歐羅巴”和土衛(wèi)二“恩克拉多斯”的海洋里可能存在類似羅希海底山和戈?duì)栠_(dá)海嶺周圍的火山活動(dòng)，前者距離夏威夷海岸約30公里（19英里），后者距離加州與俄勒岡州的交界海岸線約120公里（75英里）。

"The whole project was predicated on finding areas in our deep ocean that had a really good analogous nature to what is predicted to be active in places like Enceladus," says Darlene Lim, a Nasa geobiologist who is leading the Subsea programme and preparing astronauts for exploration of the Moon and deep space.

科學(xué)家推測(cè)土衛(wèi)二“恩克拉多斯”等星球上的火山活動(dòng)很活躍，整個(gè)項(xiàng)目旨在我們的深海中找到與此特征高度相似的區(qū)域，Nasa地球生物學(xué)家達(dá)琳·利姆說(shuō)道。她正在領(lǐng)導(dǎo)Subsea項(xiàng)目，并為宇航員探索月球和外層空間進(jìn)行籌備。

Scientists used the two Subsea missions to gain a better understanding of the geology and chemistry of these vents and the life found around them.

科學(xué)家利用Subsea工程的兩次任務(wù)，加深了對(duì)熱液噴口的地質(zhì)構(gòu)造和化學(xué)成分及其周邊的生物的了解。

"These vents are very innocuous," says Lim. "You have to look very closely for a temperature change in the water coming up through the ground and interacting with very cold seawater. Even that act alone is very valuable for how we might anticipate having to do exploration on some of these ocean worlds in our solar system."

“這些熱液噴口是無(wú)害的”，利姆說(shuō)道?！澳惚仨氉屑?xì)觀察從海底噴出的水與冷水交融所引起的溫度變化。單是這種變化也很有價(jià)值，我們可以預(yù)測(cè)在太陽(yáng)系的某些海洋世界中，哪些是有必要探索的區(qū)域”。

While sending robots to Europa and Enceladus may still be decades away, Nasa scientists are already applying what they have learned from deep ocean exploration to space missions.

派遣機(jī)器人登上“歐羅巴”和“恩克拉多斯”可能是幾十年后的事情，但Nasa科學(xué)家已將他們從深海學(xué)到的經(jīng)驗(yàn)應(yīng)用于太空探索任務(wù)。

In 2023, Nasa will send a robotic rover to look for water-ice at our Moon's south pole. The mission known as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or Viper, will study ice near the lunar crater Nobile in the hope it could be mined as a resource for rocket fuel or drinking water. While not operating underwater, a rover roaming around on the Moon will face many of the same technical challenges.

2023年，Nasa將派遣機(jī)器人漫游車去我們?cè)虑虻哪蠘O尋找水冰。這項(xiàng)任務(wù)名為“揮發(fā)物調(diào)查極地探險(xiǎn)漫游車（Viper）” ，旨在研究諾畢爾環(huán)形山附近的冰，希望將它們開采出來(lái)作為火箭燃料或飲用水的來(lái)源。雖然不在海底作業(yè)，但漫游車在月球上將面臨許多相同的的技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)。

"We're taking all the learnings from Subsea and applying it to Viper," says Lim, who is also the deputy lead project scientist on Viper.

“我們正在將Subsea工程的一切心得運(yùn)用到Viper任務(wù)中”，利姆說(shuō)道。她也是Viper的副首席項(xiàng)目科學(xué)家。

The aim of the Subsea programme was to ensure that scientists met their research goals in extremely challenging conditions, both from a communications and technology perspective.

Subsea工程旨在確?？茖W(xué)家在極具挑戰(zhàn)性的環(huán)境下，從通信和技術(shù)角度達(dá)成科研目標(biāo)。

From an operations perspective, ocean and space exploration also have a lot in common. In both fields, robots are sent to explore treacherous environments which humans cannot reach, supported by remote teams of scientists. But it could also help prepare astronauts for controlling robotic equipment from a lunar base in the future too.

從作業(yè)的角度來(lái)看，海洋和太空探索有許多共性。兩個(gè)領(lǐng)域都需要在遠(yuǎn)程科學(xué)團(tuán)隊(duì)的支援下，派遣機(jī)器人去探索人類無(wú)法到達(dá)的危險(xiǎn)環(huán)境。但也有助于為宇航員做好準(zhǔn)備，未來(lái)從月球基地上操控機(jī)器人設(shè)備。

Fewer than 10 scientists went out to sea with the Subsea mission and they worked with a larger group of colleagues on shore. For the Viper mission, a team will operate the rover on Earth in near real-time and will have to analyse data and make decisions very rapidly.

Subsea任務(wù)只有不到10名科學(xué)家進(jìn)入海洋，他們與地面的大批同事協(xié)同作業(yè)。在Viper任務(wù)中，一支團(tuán)隊(duì)將在地球上實(shí)時(shí)操控月球漫游車，必須非常迅速地分析數(shù)據(jù)和做出決策。

Efficient communication is critical during these missions, says Zara Mirmalek, a social scientist with Nasa who helps scientists prepare for exploration in extreme environments, and has worked on both the Subsea and Viper programmes.

高效率通信在這些任務(wù)中至關(guān)重要，Nasa社會(huì)科學(xué)家扎拉·米爾馬萊克說(shuō)道。他幫助科學(xué)家為探索極端環(huán)境做準(zhǔn)備，并參與了Subsea和Viper項(xiàng)目。

For deep sea exploration, scientists have to change decisions all the time, depending on the ocean conditions, weather and salinity. "You know that you are going to have less time than you planned for," says Mirmalek. "It's a lot harder to work in the deep ocean because the conditions are so challenging to the technology."

科學(xué)家在進(jìn)行深海探索時(shí)，必須根據(jù)海況、天氣、鹽濃度不斷改變決策?！耙滥愕臅r(shí)間沒有預(yù)期的那么多”，米爾馬萊克說(shuō)道?！吧詈＠锏淖鳂I(yè)難度更大，因?yàn)楹r給技術(shù)帶來(lái)的挑戰(zhàn)極大”。

On space missions, communication is extremely limited, says Mirmalek. To prepare for outer space conditions, Mirmalek restricted the Subsea scientists to communicating with each other just once a day. "There were no failures – they met all their research goals," she says.

在太空任務(wù)中，通信極其受限，米爾馬萊克說(shuō)道。為了針對(duì)外層空間環(huán)境做好準(zhǔn)備，米爾馬萊克限制Subsea項(xiàng)目科學(xué)家每天只通信一次?！皬奈词∵^(guò)，他們達(dá)成了所有的科研目標(biāo)”，她說(shuō)道。

"Everything we learned by working together with the oceanographic community has been completely invaluable, really priceless, in helping us have confidence in the process that we're using to design our science operations for Viper," says Lim.

“我們?cè)谂c海洋學(xué)界的合作中學(xué)到的一切是真正的無(wú)價(jià)之寶，幫助我們自信地使用這一流程為Viper任務(wù)設(shè)計(jì)科學(xué)作業(yè)”，利姆說(shuō)道。

But much like missions off our planet, those to the bottom of the oceans are also allowing humanity to look at the Earth in new ways. While Nasa says its oceanographic explorations have yelded "thousands" of scientific discoveries, they are also providing information that could be vital if we hope to continue living on a world with healthy oceans. We need to understand our oceanic environments if we are to save them, says Laura Lorenzoni, ocean biology and biogeochemistry program scientist with the science mission directorate at Nasa.

但正如地球以外的任務(wù)一樣，探索海底能讓人類以新的視角看待地球。Nasa聲稱海洋勘探帶來(lái)“成千上萬(wàn)”的科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果我們想繼續(xù)活在一個(gè)擁有健康海洋的世界，海洋勘探提供的信息可能至關(guān)重要。我們只有了解海洋環(huán)境才能拯救海洋，勞拉·洛倫佐尼說(shuō)道，她是Nasa科學(xué)任務(wù)理事會(huì)的海洋生物與生物地球化學(xué)項(xiàng)目科學(xué)家。

"This is critical for life on Earth, and the sustained measurements Nasa has done, and continues to do, are fundamental for ensuring a sustainable use of our ocean resources," she says.

“海洋勘探對(duì)于地球上的生命至關(guān)重要，Nasa持續(xù)不斷的的測(cè)量是確保我們的海洋資源可持續(xù)利用的基礎(chǔ)”，她說(shuō)道。

It means that each step towards the exploration of other worlds, we learn a little bit more about some of the most unexplored parts of our own blue planet too.

這意味著我們?cè)谔剿髌渌澜绲牡缆飞厦窟~出一步，也能對(duì)自己這顆藍(lán)色星球上某些最未知的區(qū)域多一些了解。