Nasa extracts breathable oxygen from thin Martian air

NASA从火星稀薄的空气中提取可呼吸的氧气

LOS ANGELES: Nasa has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxde from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

洛杉矶：美国宇航局周三表示，在其最新的火星任务中，NASA创下了又一个外星第一：将火星大气中的二氧化碳转化为纯净的可呼吸氧气。

The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet February 18 after a seven-month journey from Earth.

周二，“毅力”号上的一个实验设备实现了氧气提取，即从火星稀薄的空气中提取氧气，这是史无前例的。“毅力”号是一辆六轮科学探测车，在离开地球后经历了七个月的飞行，于2月18日登陆火星。

In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes' worth of breathing for an astronaut, Nasa said. Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resources from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans.

NASA称，这个被称为MOE（火星氧气原位资源利用实验的简称）的装置只有烤面包机大小，在第一次启动时，产生了大约5克氧气，相当于宇航员10分钟的呼吸量。虽然最初的产出并不高，但这一壮举标志着人类首次从另一个星球的环境中直接提取可供人类直接使用的自然资源。

"MOE isn't just the first instrument to produce oxygen on another world," Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations within Nasa's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement. She called it the first technology of its kind to help future missions "live off the land" of another planet.

美国宇航局空间技术任务理事会技术演示主任特鲁迪·科特斯在一份声明中说:“MOE不仅仅是第一个在另一个世界制造氧气的仪器。”她称这是第一项此类技术，可以帮助未来“在另一个星球上生活”的任务。

The instrument works through electrolysis, which uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxde, which accounts for about 95% of the atmosphere on Mars.

该仪器的工作原理是电解，利用极热将氧原子从二氧化碳分子中分离出来，二氧化碳占火星大气的95%。

The remaining 5% of Mars' atmosphere, which is only about 1% as dense Earth's, consists primarily of molecular nitrogen and argon. Oxygen exsts on Mars in negligible trace amounts.

火星大气中其余的5%，密度只有地球大气的1%，主要由分子氮和氩气组成。氧在火星上的含量可以忽略不计。

But an abundant supply is considered critical to eventual human exploration of the Red Planet, both as a sustainable source of breathable air for astronauts and as a necessary ingredient for rocket fuel to fly them home.

但是，丰富的空气供应被认为是人类最终探索这颗红色星球的关键，因为它不仅是宇航员可呼吸空气的可持续来源，也是宇航员返回地球所需的火箭燃料的必要成分。

以下是印度时报读者的评论：译者：Jessica.Wu

Ganesh Kumar

And Indian Govt is struggling to provide Oxygen to its citizens...

印度政府正努力为本国公民提供氧气呢…

Vipul Arya

Give them contract for solving india Oxygen Problem.

向他们订购，解决印度的供氧问题。

sammychennai

good..now time to send Amit Shah and Modi to mars so they can be safe from making India unsafe.

很好，现在该把阿米特·沙阿和莫迪送去火星了，这样印度就安全了。

Vikki Kumar

What about his followers they will make mars dirty as well

还有他们的追随者呢，他们也会把火星弄脏的

Ketan Khairatkar

nice idea. i think you should also go there and arrange an orientation for them for a few days.

好主意。我认为你也应该去火星，给他们当向导。

Jerry

First cylinder order from Motuji.

莫迪会第一个下单

Punit Issar

dont let feku read this or less he will come up with his own idea in giving that oxygen to us in his next election campaign.

别让莫迪看到这篇文章，他会在下次竞选中承诺给我们提供这种氧气。

Guest

definitely some Indians will go there shortly, sitting on top of some rocket and start populating

很快印度人就会坐火车去那里，然后开始繁衍人口

Giant Frog

With Moxe's success, NASA scientists will breath a sigh of relief. Well done !

随着Moxe的成功，NASA的科学家们松了一口气。做得好!

Prakash Kumar

Why are we not able to do these things? It's always America or Europe. But Modiji always thumps his chest and says we're better than America. Atleast he can stop saying nonsense.

为什么我们做不到?

总是美国或欧洲抢先一步。

莫迪总是捶着胸脯说我们比美国更强。

希望他以后别再胡说八道了。

Mithilesh Gupta

All country's resources are exhausted by huge population which is growing unabated.

所有国家的资源都将被不断增长的人口所耗尽。

Dr Ahmed Khan

What a terrible waste of money by NASA. Millions of poor people in the world need our help especially in poor Muslim African countries. This money could have easily helped those families. SHAME on NASA for wasting resources and money on projects that will not help humans on Earth.

NASA真是太浪费钱了。世界上数以百万计的穷人需要我们的帮助，特别是贫穷的非洲国家。这笔钱本可以用来帮助那些家庭的。NASA把资源和资金浪费在对人类无益的项目上，真可耻。

Hithu T.R.

Why dont you donate all your money to the poor its always easy for morons to lecture on others money

你为什么不把自己所有的钱都捐给穷人?

傻瓜们总是喜欢对别人说教

Bhagawati Bajaj

What about Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia why don't they come and help their needy brethren. You people curse the Western countries and the Europeans and still want their green bucks.

沙特阿拉伯、伊朗、伊拉克、马来西亚呢?

为什么他们不帮助需要帮助的同胞呢?

你们这些人诅咒西方国家和欧洲人，却仍然想要他们的美元。

Sam Hermington

It is the money of American taxpayers. If they don't have a problem with Nasa who are we to say anything.

NASA用的是美国纳税人的钱。如果他们没有意见，我们还能说什么呢？

Jagdesh Pandey

There is little economics here too.

这没什么经济效益啊。

Kabir

waste of money .... you have everything in abundance on earth and still these stupid people in the name of science are doing stupidity while being unable to save earth from devastation ....

浪费钱....你们在地球上拥有一切，这些愚蠢的人仍然打着科学的幌子做着愚蠢的事，却无法拯救地球免于毁灭....

Balaji B

please send martian oxygen to India.

请把火星上的氧气送到印度来。

Vikki Kumar

In few years from now you will see americans living in mars

几年后，你们会看到美国人移民火星的