出乎意料，权威杂志《自然》报道祝融号火星探测器的最新情况

文 / 王不留（微信公众号：王不留）

First video and sounds from China’s Mars rover intrigue scientists

中国火星探测器的首段视频和声音引起了科学家们的兴趣

Several videos, one with sound, hint at the chance of comparing audio data with that collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover.

几个视频，其中一段带有声音，暗示有机会将音频数据与美国宇航局的毅力号火星车收集的数据进行比较。

A series of videos from the Zhurong Mars rover have been released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), including incredible footage showing 23 seconds of the rover’s perilous descent to the surface.

中国国家航天局（CNSA）发布了一系列来自“祝融号”火星车的视频，其中包括令人难以置信的镜头，显示了火星车惊魂落地的23秒。

perilous 危险的，艰险的

The clips — published on 27 June, almost halfway through Zhurong’s three-month mission — represent a “terrific bunch of data,” says David Flannery, an astrobiologist at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, who is part of the team working on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.

澳大利亚布里斯班昆士兰科技大学的天体生物学家大卫·弗兰纳里 (David Flannery) ，是美国宇航局毅力号火星车团队的一员，他说，6月27号，祝融号3个月使命几乎过半，它发布的这些影像展示了“大量非常棒的数据”。

Zhurong arrived on 15 May after being released by the Tianwen-1 orbiter. One of the videos captures the rapid deceleration of the lander encasing the rover before it settles on the surface of Mars. It shows a parachute being deployed and released, followed by a view of the ground as the lander approaches the surface.

祝融号被天问一号轨道飞行器释放后于5月15号抵达（火星）。其中一段视频捕捉到了包裹火星探测器的着陆器在着陆前快速减速（的过程）。它显示了降落伞的弹伞和开伞，然后是着陆器接近表面时的地面视图。

Hum of motors on Mars

火星上马达的嗡嗡声

One week later, on 22 May, Zhurong rolled off a ramp on the landing platform. In another video, this moment is recorded in black and white — and also by a microphone that picks up the hum of electric motors and the creak of wheels rolling down the metal ramp.

一周之后，5月22日，祝融号驶离着陆平台的坡道。在另一段视频中，这一刻是用黑白图像记录下来的，还有一个麦克风记录了电动机的嗡嗡声和车轮在金属坡道滚动的吱吱声。

Flannery says the sounds from Zhurong are intriguing because Perseverance also has a microphone, and the researchers are trying to correlate audio it detects with data from the rover’s weather station to study wind patterns.

弗兰纳里说，来自祝融的声音很有趣，因为毅力号火星车也有一个麦克风，研究人员正试图将它检测到的音频与火星车气象站的数据相关联，以研究风的模式。

Outset 开始

That was not part of Perseverance’s goals at the mission outset, but “these sort of serendipitous scientific investigations will also be possible with the Chinese rover”, he says. “We often find that we make accidental discoveries and can use our instruments in unforeseen ways.”

这不是毅力号在任务开始时的目标之一，但“中国探测器也有可能进行这种偶然的科学研究”。他说，“我们经常会发现我们有意外的收获，并且能够以不可预见的方式使用我们的仪器。”

Serendipitous 偶然的

Flannery argues that it might be possible to use microphone data from both rovers to compare the wind patterns in two regions of Mars — Zhurong is in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars’ northern hemisphere, whereas Perseverance is several hundred kilometres away in Jezero crater.

弗兰纳里认为，也许可以用两辆火星车的麦克风数据来比较火星两个区域的风型 — 祝融位于火星北半球的乌托邦平原地区，然而毅力号在数百公里外的杰泽罗陨石坑。

Furthermore, the Chinese team might find the microphone useful for troubleshooting engineering problems that emerge with the rover, as NASA engineers also hope to do in the event of a problem, he says.

此外，他说，中国团队可能会发现，这种麦克风有助于解决火星车出现的工程问题，美国宇航局的工程师们也希望在出现问题时这样做。

In the third week of its mission, on 1 June, Zhurong dropped a wireless camera on the ground, and then retreated to take a self-portrait of itself and the lander. That feat is now documented in footage of the rover reversing and manoeuvring into place.

在执行任务的第三周，即6月1号，祝融将一架无线摄像机放在地上，然后撤退，为自己和着陆器拍了一张自画像。这个壮举现在记录在火星车倒车和机动到位的镜头中。

Decent distance so far

目前为止还不错的距离

According to the CNSA, the rover has so far clocked up at least 236 metres on Mars, which Flannery says is a considerable distance for a nation’s first mission. NASA’s inaugural Mars rover, Sojourner, which landed in 1997, only traversed some 100 metres over its lifespan.

据中国航天局称，迄今为止，火星车在火星上至少行驶了236米。弗兰纳里说，对于一个国家的首次任务来说，这是一段相当长的距离。美国宇航局的首个火星探测器“旅居者”号于1997年着陆的，在它的生命周期内仅穿越了大约100米。

Zhurong seems to be heading southwest, towards where the parachute from its descent landed, which would be a target of interest, says Xiao Long, a planetary geologist at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan. Inspecting the integrity of the parachute could also provide useful insights for designing future missions, say researchers. Long hopes that the rover will stop en route to make scientific observations of a sand dune along the way.

位于武汉的中国地质大学行星地质学家肖龙说，祝融号似乎正在朝西南方向驶去，降落伞降落的地方，这将是一个令人感兴趣的目标。研究人员说，检查降落伞的完整性也可以为设计未来的任务提供有用的见解。肖龙希望火星车在途中停下来，对沿途的沙丘进行科学观测。

en route 在途中，在路上

sand dune (海边或沙漠的)沙丘

along the way 一路上;沿途;一路走来

Zhurong seems to be in great working order and will by now have collected some scientific data, Long adds — but that information has yet to be released by the CNSA. Scientists say they are eagerly awaiting data from Zhurong’s many scientific instruments, including its ground-penetrating radar, and its cameras and spectrometers for analysing rocks.

肖龙补充道，祝融的工作状态似乎很好，到目前为止，已经收集了一些科学数据，但这些信息尚未被中国航天局公布。科学家们说，他们急切等待着祝融许多科学仪器的数据，包括它的控地雷达，用于分析岩石的照相机和光谱仪。

“王不留说” 

2020年7月22日，中国火星探测工程正式对外发布“中国首次火星探测任务天问一号”。在即将实施的我国首次火星探测任务中，火星车将承载火星表面巡视探测等重要使命。

2020年7月23日 12时41分，长征五号遥四运载火箭托举着中国首次火星探测任务“天问一号”探测器，在中国文昌航天发射场点火升空。

2021年4月24日，在2021中国航天日开幕启动仪式上，宣布中国首辆火星车名称为“祝融号”。

2021年5月17日，天问一号环绕器与祝融号火星车已建立器间通信链路，第一次通过环绕器传回火星车遥测数据。