WEBVTT

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Will NASA's Curiosity find life on Mars? Well, the brand-new rover is set to launch on Saturday. 
美國太空總署的好奇號會不會在火星上發現生物呢？這具全新的探測車預定在週六發射升空。

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It will be the biggest, most expensive and most sophisticated rover ever to hit the Red Planet. 
在有史以來登上紅色行星的探測車當中，這將是體積最大、造價最昂貴而且也最精密的一部。

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And John Zarrella joins us from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with all the details. Hello, John.
約翰‧札瑞拉在佛羅里達的甘迺迪太空中心與我們連線，帶來詳細報導。哈囉，約翰。

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Hey, Anna, I'm inside NASA's vehicle assembly building, which is the fourth-largest building in the world. 
嘿，安娜。我現在身在太空總署的飛行器組裝大樓裡，這是全世界第四大的建築。

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You can see the enormity of it. 
你可以看到這裡有多麼龐大。

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And the VAB is where the Apollo moon rockets were stacked and where the space shuttle orbiters were stacked to the external tank and the solid rocket booster.
這棟大樓就是阿波羅登月火箭停棧的地方，也是軌道太空梭和外部燃料槽及固態火箭推進器棧放在一起的地方。

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In fact, take a look over here, little bit of a treat for the viewers. 
實際上，來看看這邊，這是特別拍給我們觀眾看的。

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That's the space shuttle Endeavor. It's sitting here until the museum in California is ready to accept it.
那是奮進號太空梭，先停放在這裡等待加州的博物館準備好接收它。

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So, you know, with the space shuttle program now over, NASA is turning its attention to deep-space exploration. 
那麼，現在太空梭計畫已經結束，太空總署便將注意力轉向外太空探索。

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And as you mentioned, they're getting ready -- in fact, tomorrow morning -- to launch the largest rover they've ever sent to Mars.
如同你所提到的，他們正在準備——其實就在明天上午——發射有史以來送往火星最大的探測車。

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Mars: does life exist there? Did it ever? 
火星：那裡有沒有生物存在？曾經有過嗎？

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NASA is poised to take its boldest step towards answering questions that could change forever our view of humanity's place in the universe.
太空總署準備為了尋找答案踏出最大膽的一步，而這些問題可能從此改變我們對於人類在宇宙中之地位的看法。

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I think the best way of saying why we're so excited about this mission is that 
我想，要說明我們為什麼對這項任務感到如此興奮，最好的說法就是

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it sets us up for the future of finally answering that, you know, really age-old question of 
這項任務可為我們奠定基礎，以備未來終究能夠回答這個有夠古老的問題：

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"Does life exist on other planets?"
其他行星上是否有生命存在？

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The mission is called the Mars Science Laboratory or MSL. 
這項任務稱為「火星科學實驗室」，或簡稱 MSL。

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The most sophisticated vehicle ever sent to Mars, it has the capability to detect signs of life. 
這部有史以來送上火星最精密的探測車具備偵測生物跡象的能力。

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If it works, come next August, after traveling 350 million miles, 
如果一切順利，那麼明年八月，在航行三億五千萬英里之後，

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a 2,000-pound six-wheel rover called Curiosity will arrive at the Red Planet.
這部兩千磅重、名為「好奇號」的六輪探測車就會抵達紅色行星。

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Using a tether system never tried before, it will be lowered down to a place called the Gale Crater. 
這部探測車將會用一種以前不曾使用過的繫鏈，垂降到一個叫做蓋爾隕石坑的地方。

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The size of a small car, Curiosity is the Cadillac of rovers.
好奇號的大小有如一輛小型車，堪稱是探測車當中的凱迪拉克。

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We're choosing to make the rovers bigger and bigger because we want to cover more ground. 
我們選擇把探測車造得愈來愈大，因為我們想要探索更大範圍的地表。

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We want to be able to put an arm out and drill a rock.
我們希望能伸出機械手臂，然後鑽探岩石。

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Drill a rock? Why?
鑽探岩石？為什麼？

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On Mars, if you... if life exists as single-cell organisms or it ever existed, we believe it will be under the ground or inside rocks.
在火星上，如果你……如果生命是以單細胞生物體的形式存在，或曾經存在，我們相信會是在地底或岩石裡。

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Inside Gale Crater sits what scientists believe is a layered mountain, in essence, the history of Mars told in the layers. 
在蓋爾隕石坑裡，科學家認為有一座層狀沈積山地，基本上岩層就能呈現出火星的歷史。

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And if water ever flowed on Mars, it might have been in that crater. 
火星上要是曾經有水流，很可能就會在這座隕石坑裡。

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Curiosity's arm will collect samples and place them in its onboard laboratory with the ability to detect organic material.
好奇號的機械手臂將會採集樣本，放入車上能夠偵測有機物質的實驗室。

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Now, if we discover organic materials on Mars, that... then it gets very exciting. 
我們要是在火星上發現有機物質，那……那會非常令人興奮。

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And, you know, the chances of it may be low, but the payoff is huge. Organic materials are required for life as we know it.
這樣的機會也許不大，但結果的報償可不得了。一如我們所知，有機物質是生物的必備元素。

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But it won't mean life exists, just the building blocks.
可是這不表示火星上就一定有生物存在，只是有基本元素而已。

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It's... if you go to a the driest desert on Earth, can you find life on your samples if you do a robotic study? 
那……如果你到地球上最乾燥的沙漠，你若是用機器人來做檢驗，能找到你的樣本上的生物嗎？

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Probably not. It's actually quite difficult. Life has to stick up and make itself seen.
也許沒辦法。這個任務其實很困難。生物必須自己現身，才會被發現。

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Finding life itself would be left to the next wave of explorers, robotic and perhaps even human.
找尋生物的工作就留給下一批的探險家了，不論是機器人或可能是人類。