美国计划2018年发射“太阳探测器”

美国宇航局近日宣布，计划于2018年发射“太阳探测器”，探测器将在距离太阳表面近700万公里的外大气层轨道，观测日冕的活动。这将是NASA第一个飞入日冕的探测器，也是人类首次近距离接触太阳。

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA (R), speaks as Dr. Eugene Parker, University of Chicago astrophysicist (L), Dr. Nicola Fox, project scientist for the Solar Probe Plus and Dr. Rocky Kolb, from University of Chicago (2nd R), listen during the NASA announcement on its first mission to fly directly into the sun's atmosphere at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, US. May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski

A US spacecraft set to launch next year will make a series of unprecedented dives into the sun’s scorching atmosphere to see how the star works and what can be done to better predict space weather events on Earth, scientists said on Wednesday.
科学家31日表示，美国计划在明年发射“太阳探测器”，对太阳灼热的大气层进行一系列史无前例的探索，以观测太阳的工作原理，以及如何才能更好地预测地球上发生的空间天气事件。

The Parker Solar Probe will have to survive temperatures as high as 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 Celsius), impacts by supersonic particles and powerful radiation as it circles as close as 4 million miles (7 million km) to the sun.
帕克太阳探测器将能够承受2500华氏度（约合1371摄氏度）的高温，以及超音速粒子和强大辐射的影响。它将在距离太阳近达400万英里（约合700万公里）的轨道上运行。

Data sent back to Earth some 89 million miles away will help scientists figure out why the sun’s atmosphere, or corona, is hotter than its surface.
探测数据将在大约8900万英里的长途跋涉后传回地球，这些数据将帮助科学家了解为什么太阳的大气层，也就是日冕，要比其表面温度更高。

The mission, formerly known as the Solar Probe Plus, was approved in 2014. On Wednesday, the spacecraft was renamed to honor University of Chicago physicist Eugene Parker, who in 1958 correctly predicted the existence of the solar wind, a continuous stream of charged particles that come off the sun and permeate the solar system.
这一探测任务在2014年得以批准，之前名为“太阳探测+”。本周三，为纪念芝加哥大学物理学家尤金-帕克，探测器被更名。尤金-帕克在1958年正确预测了太阳风的存在。太阳风是从太阳射出并渗透进太阳系的连续的带电粒子流。

“It was a fundamental insight that forever changed the way in which we understood the sun, the heliosphere and in general interplanetary space,” said Eric Isaacs, executive vice president for research, innovation and national laboratories at the University of Chicago.
芝加哥大学研究创新国家实验室副主任艾瑞克•伊萨克斯说：“这个发现从根本上改变了我们理解太阳、太阳风层和总体星际空间的方式。”

The spacecraft, designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University laboratory, is scheduled to launch in July 2018 and fly around Venus seven times to get itself into orbit around the sun in December 2024. NASA is paying about $1.5 billion to build and launch the spacecraft.
太阳探测器由约翰霍普金斯大学实验室设计并建造，计划于2018年7月发射，探测器将围绕金星飞行7圈并在2024年12月进入太阳轨道。美国宇航局为建造和发射太阳探测器支付15亿美元。

The probe is expected to orbit the sun 24 times, edging closer on each pass. The size of a small car, it will be outfitted with five science instruments to measure and sample the sun’s corona.
据预计，太阳探测器将围绕太阳运行24圈，每一圈都更加靠近太阳。太阳探测器大小如同一辆小汽车，将配备有五台科学仪器，来对日冕进行测量和取样。

In addition to expanding knowledge of stellar physics, the information is expected to help engineers design better instruments and techniques for predicting solar storms and other events that can cripple satellites, disrupt power grids and affect aircraft travel on Earth.
除了增加对星际物理学的认知，这些信息还将帮助工程师设计出更好的装备和技术，以预测太阳风暴和其他能让卫星失效，中断电网供电、还能影响地球上的航空旅行的空间天气事件。

“We want to measure the environment there and find what the heating processes really are that make the corona hot and accelerate the solar wind,” said NASA chief scientist Thomas Zurbuchen.
美国宇航局首席科学家托马斯•祖波森说：“我们想要观测那里的环境，看看到底是什么样的加热过程使得日冕灼热，并加速了太阳风。”

英文来源：路透社
翻译&编审：yaning