NASA醞釀將人類送上金星大綱

A group of aerospace engineers in NASA has made a persuasive pitch for an unexpected space-exploration option: Venus.

近日，美國國家航空航天局的一羣航天工程師，使令人意想不到的太空探索地金星，變得極具說服力。

The team has sketched out plans for and conducted small-scale tests of a blimp-like airship that would ferry a crew of two on a month-long expedition above the Venusian cloudtops.

據悉，該團隊已制定了計劃，並對一艘飛艇式飛船進行小規模測試，這艘飛船將載着兩名宇航員在金星雲層上進行爲期一個月的探險。

They point out that Venus is the closest, most accessible planet in the solar system. It's nearly identical to Earth in size and mass, making it an excellent place to learn about the prospects for life on other Earth-like worlds.

他們指出，金星是太陽系中距離最近且最易登陸的行星，它的大小和質量幾乎與地球一模一樣，使其成爲了解其他類地行星生命前景的絕佳地點。

And as Chris Jones, a mission analyst at NASA Langley and leader of the High-Altitude Venus Operational Concept team, says, "The atmosphere of Venus is one of the more hospitable locations in space."

正如NASA蘭利的任務分析師、高空金星操作設計團隊負責人克里斯·瓊斯所說：“金星的大氣層是太空中較適宜人類的地點之一。”

That statement might raise a few eyebrows. Day or night, temperatures on Venus hover around 850 degrees Fahrenheit, and the atmospheric pressure at the surface is a crushing 1,300 pounds per square inch. The silvery clouds that enshroud the planet consist of sulfuric acid.

這一言論可能會令人側目。無論是白天還是黑夜，金星上的溫度都在850華氏度左右，表面的氣壓是每平方英寸1300磅。籠罩在金星上的銀色雲層由硫酸組成。

But go 30 miles above the Venusian surface, and the story is very different. Temperatures are a more tolerable 170 degrees F, and atmospheric pressure is similar to that on Earth. The corrosive clouds are tucked safely below, so there's ample solar energy shining down from above.

但是在距離金星地表30英里的地方，情形就完全不一樣了。溫度是人類更容易忍受的170華氏度，而大氣壓力與地球上相似。腐蝕性的雲層處於下方對於人類非常安全，有充足的太陽光可以從上面照射。