A small team at NASA’s Ames Research Center has set out to “boldly grow where no man has grown before” – and they’re doing it with the help of thousands of children, a robot, and a few specially customized GoPro cameras.
美国宇航局（NASA）艾姆斯研究中心（ARC）的一个小团队已打算“在从未有人耕种过的地方大胆尝试”——而且他们正在数千名孩子、一个机器人以及一些专门定制的GoPro照相机的帮助下开展实验。
In 2015, NASA will attempt to make history by growing plants on the Moon. If they are successful, it will be the first time humans have ever brought life to another planetary body. Along the way, they will make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of biology, agriculture, and life on other worlds. And though they may fail, the way they are going about their mission presents a fascinating case study of an innovative model for public-private collaboration that may very well change space entrepreneurship.
2015年，NASA将试图通过在月球上种植植物来创造历史。如果他们成功，这将是人类首次将生命带到其他星球。同时，他们将为我们理解生物学、农业、以及其他星球的生命做出开创性贡献。尽管他们可能失败，但他们的进展方式呈现了一个极好的案例研究，这种政府与私营部门联手的创新模式很可能会令太空探索出现变化。
The Lunar Plant Growth Habitat team, a group of NASA scientists, contractors, students and volunteers, is finally bringing to life an idea that has been discussed and debated for decades. They will try to grow arabidopsis, basil, sunflowers, and turnips in coffee-can-sized aluminum cylinders that will serve as plant habitats. But these are no ordinary containers – they’re packed to the brim with cameras, sensors, and electronics that will allow the team to receive image broadcasts of the plants as they grow. These habitats will have to be able to successfully regulate their own temperature, water intake, and power supply in order to brave the harsh lunar climate.
月球植物生长栖息环境（Lunar Plant Growth Habitat）团队由NASA科学家、承包商、学生以及志愿者组成。该团队最终将把一个翻来覆去讨论了几十年的想法付诸实践。他们将试着在一个咖啡罐大小的铝质圆筒中种植拟南芥、罗勒、向日葵和萝卜，而这个铝质圆筒就将作为植物的栖息环境。但这些可不是普通的容器，它们将装有照相机、传感器以及电子设备，以便让该团队收到它们的生长图像。这些栖息环境将必须能够成功地调节自己的温度、含水量以及电力供应，以便对抗恶劣的月球气候环境。
However, it won’t just be NASA scientists who are watching the results closely – the success of this experiment will require the assistance of schools and citizen scientists.
然而，密切关注实验结果的将不只有NASA的科学家们——实验要想成功将需要得到多所学校以及民间科学家们的协助。
In a brilliant mix of creativity and frugality, NASA will send schools their own set of habitats so they can grow the same plants that are being sent to the Moon. The reasons for this are two fold. First, every experiment needs a control, and instead of spending the money to duplicate the experiment multiple times, they can crowdsource it. By collecting the data from thousands of experiments, they can gain valuable insights in an entirely new way. Second, it allows children to be part of the moment – to not just watch from afar, but to gain experience and knowledge by actively participating.
在创造力与节俭精神的完美结合下，NASA将送给每所学校一组栖息环境装置，这样他们就能种植与送往月球的一样的植物。这其中有两重原因。其一，所有实验都需要一定的控制，他们没有花钱去进行多次重复实验，而是采取了众包方式。通过收集来自数千次实验的数据，他们以一种全新的方式获得了宝贵见解。其二，让孩子们参与这一时刻——而不是远远地驻足观望，从而通过积极参与而获得经验和知识。
It is quite unusual to hear of a significant NASA project that is so simple, small-scale, and low-cost. Thanks to the rapid advances in consumer electronics over the last few years, parts that would have once cost millions of dollars now cost just hundreds. But what really made this project feasible was an unexpected opportunity: the Google Lunar X Prize, the search giant’s twenty-million-dollar incentive prize for a private company to launch a robotic spacecraft that lands on the moon, travels across the surface, and transmits back two “Mooncasts” by December 31, 2015. Multiple teams are competing – and whoever ends up winning will likely fly with this special payload on board.
听到一个重大的NASA项目如此简单、规模如此之小而且还成本低廉，这非常不同寻常。消费电子领域在过去几年里取得了快速进展，拜其所赐，曾经需要价值几百万美元的部件现在只要几百美元。但真正使该项目变得可行的是一个意外的机会：谷歌月球X大奖（Google Lunar X Prize），该搜索巨头为能够成功发射一架航天器的私人公司提供了高达2,000万美元的激励大奖，该航天器需在2015年12月31日前登陆月球，在其表面上行走，并且发回两张“月球图像”。有多个团队正在展开竞争，无论谁最终胜出，都很可能将带上这件特殊的“行李”。
With this model NASA doesn’t have to spend tens of millions of dollars or wait years for the next mission to the Moon. According to Dr. Chris McKay, a well-renowned planetary scientist, this project would have cost $300 million two decades ago – now, NASA can build and launch it for under $2 million. It serves as a win for both NASA and private space industry. Dr. McKay compared it to the early days of airplanes and airmail, “Just like we buy tickets on commercial airlines, why shouldn’t we buy space on commercial flights?”
有了这一模式，NASA就不必花上数千万美元，或者再等上几年以期搭乘下一个登月任务的顺风车了。据著名行星科学家克里斯·麦凯博士（Dr. Chris McKay）称，若是在20年前，该项目需要花费3亿美元——现在，NASA可以用不到200万美元完成打造并发射出去。对于NASA和私人航天工业来说这是一种双赢的局面。麦凯博士将其比作早期的飞机与航空邮件，“就像我们购买商业航班的机票一样，为什么不能购买商业航班上的空间呢？”
Without this opportunity, it’s uncertain this project would have ever gotten off the ground – and that would have meant a major missed opportunity not only for future astronauts, but also for people here on Earth as well.
如果没有这一机会，该项目还不一定是否会取得进展——这不仅对未来的宇航员来说意味着错失了一个重大机会，对所有地球居民而言亦是如此。
To Dr. McKay, this is “step one in the quest to develop biological based life support systems on other worlds;” or, to put it another way, “this is the Neil Armstrong of the plant world.” The conditions of the moon are more characteristic of deep space than anywhere else we can access and quite different than growing plants on a space shuttle or space station. This experiment will test whether plants can survive radiation, flourish in partial gravity, and thrive in a small, controlled environment – the same obstacles that we will need to overcome in order to build a greenhouse on the Moon, or create life on Mars.
对麦凯博士而言，这是“向在其他星球开发基于生物的生命支持系统迈出的第一步，”或者换言之，“这是植物界的尼尔·阿姆斯特朗（Neil Armstrong，登上月球的第一人——译注）。”月球上的条件比我们所能及的任何其他地方都更具备外层空间的特点，而且与在航天飞机或者空间站里种植植物极为不同。该实验将测试，植物在外太空辐射以及部分失重的情况下，能否在一个小小的控制环境中存活下来并茁壮成长——在月亮上建造温室以及在火星上制造生命也需克服同样的障碍。
We may also learn a great deal about how to grow food in inhospitable climates here on our own planet. Dr. Robert Bowman, the team’s chief biologist, described how plants constantly have to cope with harsh environments and threats: “Simply knowing how plants deal with stress on the moon can really tell us a lot about how they deal with stress right here on Earth.” We know how plants are affected by conditions like drought – by exposing them to entirely new factors, we can advance our understanding of how they function.
这可能还会帮助我们深入了解如何在地球上不适合居住的气候环境下种植作物。该团队的首席生物学家罗伯特·鲍曼博士（ Dr. Robert Bowman），描述了植物如何不断适应恶劣的环境和威胁：“知道植物如何对抗月球上的严峻条件，的确能在很大程度上帮我们了解：它们在地球是的严苛环境中如何自处。”我们知道如干旱等条件是如何对植物造成影响的，通过将植物置于全新的各种因素中，我们能够增进对其功能机制的了解。
Even if the seeds fail to germinate on the Moon, the fact that NASA is taking targeted risks without incurring significant costs could change business-as-usual for the once-legendary institution. Like most bureaucracies NASA has become quite risk averse and sensitive to perceptions of failure. But with commercial partnerships, they can experience a flop without necessarily having it make national headlines – they don’t have to put their entire reputation on the line every single time.
即便种子未能在月球上发芽，NASA也将只承担既定的风险而并未造成重大的成本损失，而这却有可能在稀松平常的工作中成就传奇功勋。像许多政府机构一样，NASA变得趋于规避风险并且很在意外界对其失败的看法。但是建立商业合作伙伴关系，他们的失败就可以不必非得成为国家头条——他们不必在每次尝试中都押上自己整个声誉。
It may not be too long before space exploration missions are conducted more like technology startups and less like government programs. Dr. McKay sees a world of possibilities emerging from this democratization: “I see much better, more innovative experiments. When your experiment costs 300 million dollars, and you do one a decade, you can’t take any risks. You’ve got to be very conservative in what you do. But if your experiment is a million dollars and being done by grad students, you can do crazy and brilliant things.”
太空探索任务可能很快将更多由如科技初创企业等民间组织来进行，而项目的政府色彩将会日益淡化。麦凯博士预见在这一民主化进程中将涌现出大量机会：“我将看到许多更好、更具创新性的实验。但当一个实验耗资3亿美元，而且又是十年磨一剑时，一切就不容有失。你不得不在所做的事情上谨小慎微。但是如果当你的实验仅需花费100万美元，而且是由研究生们所完成时，你就可以尝试许多天马行空的疯狂念头了。”
Whenever we do spread life beyond our own planet, it will fundamentally change our cultural perception of what is possible. As Dr. Pete Worden, Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, explained excitedly, “The first picture of a plant growing on another world – that picture will live forever. It will be as iconic as the first footprint on the moon.” Just like the Apollo missions drove an entire generation to embrace technology and science, making the final frontier more accessible will inspire us to strive for even greater accomplishments.
无论我们何时将生命带到外太空去，这都将从根本上改变我们对于可能性的文化感知。正如NASA艾姆斯研究中心主任皮特·沃登博士（Dr.Pete Worden）所说，“第一张拍摄一株植物在其他星球生长的照片将永久载入史册。它将与月球上的第一枚足迹一样具有标志性。”就像阿波罗登月任务推动整整一代人拥抱科学与技术一样，拉我们与最终疆界的距离将鼓舞我们奋力取得更大的成就。
|
