探索
以人生之短暂
探求宇宙奥秘之无穷
今天就带朋友们跟随
科学家们的脚步
一起探访我们邻居——金星
29.35°N，106.33°E
金星表面
Tue. Dec. 12
Venus is Earth's cousin, closest in composition and size, but for decades it has remained veiled.
金星是地球的邻近行星，在组成和大小上都是最接近的，但几十年来它一直笼罩着神秘的面纱。
NASA hasn't sent a mission there since 1989; more recent European and Japanese orbiters have made halting progress that stops largely at the planet's thick sulfur clouds.
美国航空航天局在1989年以后就没有新计划了；后来，欧洲和日本的卫星取得了一些中断了的进展，大部分瓶颈在于这颗行星厚重的硫云。
难怪它要叫金星哦！
No craft has touched down since 1985, when the last of a series of advanced Soviet landers clad in armored pressure vessels endured a couple hours before succumbing to the deep-ocean pressure and furnacelike temperature of the planet's surface.
在1985年后就再没有飞船造访金星表面，当最后一系列先进的苏联装甲着陆飞行器也被这颗行星表面深海般巨大的压强和熔炉般的高温吞噬之后。
The baleful conditions and lack of funding have made Venus, Earth's closest neighbor, feel more distant than ever.
严酷的环境和资金的缺乏使得金星这位地球邻居显得比以往似乎更加遥远。
Hot as hell！
绚丽的金色意味着炼狱般的高温！
In September, Phil Neudeck, an electrical engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center, a complex abutting the main airport in this Rust Belt city, sat watching purple and turquoise waveforms on a display.
九月份时，菲儿耐德克，一名NASA格伦研究中心的电子工程师，正坐着观看显示器上的紫色和蓝绿色的波形，该中心位于铁锈地带的城市大机场周围。
It was his window into the Venus next door.
这台显示器是他观察金星的一扇窗口。
Behind sealed doors stood a 14-ton stainless steel tank, its massive ports sealed to hold pressures so high that the screws to secure its nuts have their own nuts.
在密封门后面是一台14吨的不锈钢体，它巨大的舱门被密封着，可以承受超高的压强，因此它用于拴紧螺栓的紧固螺丝需要特制的螺帽。
For 33 days, the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER) had run nonstop, simulating an atmosphere at 460°C and flooded with carbon dioxide at pressures that render it supercritical, both liquid and gas.
在持续33天的日子里，这台格伦极限环境设备一直不停运行，来模拟金星的460°C的大气环境，并且涌动着因为高压而处于气液临界态的二氧化碳。
Inside sat two microchips, pulsing with metronomic accuracy.
里面搭载有两枚微型芯片，正准确而有节奏地发出脉冲。
Neudeck was running a clock on Venus, and it was keeping perfect time.
耐德克用的是金星时间，并且保持完美无误。
Meanwhile, back here in Cleveland, the latest endurance test has wound up.
同时，在克利夫兰，最后的耐受测试结果已经出炉。
Neudeck reports that his microchips worked the whole way through, and could have run longer.
耐德克说他的微型芯片全程通过了测试，并且还能够运行更久。
One day, he is confident, devices like these will brave the hellish surface of Venus.
他坚信有一天，像这样的设备能够顺利穿越金星地狱般的表层。
Until they are ready, he will keep putting them through their paces, marking time in the little hell next door.
在准备好之前，他会持续推进研究的脚步，记录好我们隔壁的小炼狱邻居的时间。
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