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Imagination became reality Wednesday when a mechanical space traveler called the Philae probe plunked down on its target, a comet with a much less romantic name -- 67P -- some 310 million miles from Earth. |
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想像在週三成真了，一具名叫菲萊號探測器的機械太空飛行船降落在目標上，那是一顆名稱乏味得多的彗星 67P，距離地球三億一千萬英里左右。 |
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European Space Agency scientists and executives high-fived and hugged each other when the landing was confirmed. |
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Spacecraft have crashed into comets before, but this is the first soft, or controlled, landing, in history. |
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登陸成果一獲得確認，歐洲太空總署（ESA）的科學家與高階主管紛紛互相擊掌與擁抱。以前也曾有太空船墜落在彗星上，但這是史上第一次軟著陸，或稱為控制著陸。 |
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After leaving the mother ship Rosetta and descending, Philae may have bounced, rather than gently settled, on the surface of the comet, ESA scientists said at a news conference. |
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Comet 67P has very weak gravity, so anchoring harpoons were designed to shoot into the comet to fix the spacecraft to the surface. |
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They failed to fire and Philae is not firmly secure, ESA said. |
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離開母船羅塞塔號而降落之後，菲萊號可能在彗星表面上彈跳了一下，而不是和緩落地，ESA 科學家在一場記者會上表示。67P 彗星的重力非常微弱，所以設計了固定叉來射入彗星，以便讓菲萊號固定於地表。不過，那些固定叉沒有射出，因此菲萊號在彗星上並不穩固，歐洲太空總署表示。 |
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"So maybe we didn't land once -- we landed twice," Philae lander manager Stephan Ulamec said. |
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"Did we land in a soft sandbox, or is there something else happening? |
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We don't fully understand what happened." |
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「所以，我們可能不是降落一次，而是降落了兩次，」菲萊號登陸器負責人史帝芬•烏拉梅克說：「我們是降落在柔軟的沙地上，還是發生了什麼事情？我們不完全瞭解當時的狀況。」 |
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Ulamec said scientists hope to know more on Thursday. |
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In the meantime, ESA isn't letting that problem ruin its big day. |
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烏拉梅克表示，科學家希望在週四能夠獲得更多瞭解。在這期間，ESA 不打算讓那個問題破壞他們的大日子。 |
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Rosetta took off from Earth 10 years ago carrying Philae and traveled 6.4 billion miles before arriving in early August at the comet. |
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羅塞塔號在十年前載著菲萊號從地球升空，飛行了六十四億英里之後，八月初才抵達那顆彗星。 |
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The Philae lander separated from the orbiting Rosetta around 3:30 a.m. ET Wednesday and landed on the comet seven hours later. |
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菲萊號登陸器在美東時間週三凌晨三點三十分脫離繞行著軌道運轉的羅塞塔號，七個小時後降落於彗星上。 |
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ESA lander system engineer Laurence O'Rourke told CNN that the orbiter Rosetta had to be in the right position to allow the lander, which had no thrusters, to "free fall" on the correct trajectory so it landed on the comet. |
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ESA 登陸器系統工程師羅倫斯•奧羅克向本台表示，軌道載具羅塞塔號必須先處於正確的位置，才能讓沒有推進器的登陸器沿著正確的軌道「自由墜落」，才能降落在彗星上。 |
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