漫遊太陽系(二)
林光餘譯
10. Hurricane Isaac acquired early on August 28, 2012, by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite, also capturing the cities near the Gulf Coast of the United States. The clouds of Isaac were lit by moonlight.
2012年8月28日，由Suomi-NPP衛星的「可見紅外光影像輻射計」拍攝到的早期埃賽克颶風全貌，以及美國墨西哥灣附近一些城市的燈光。埃賽克颶風的雲層則受月光影響而顯得輪廓分明。
11. The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft floats down to Earth with Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia and Flight Engineers Don Pettit of NASA and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency on board in their Soyuz TMA-03M capsule in a remote area of the Kazakh Steppe on July 1, 2012 near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers returned from more than six months onboard the International Space Station, where they served as members of the Expedition 30 and 31 crews.
2012年7月1日，聯合號TMA-03M太空夾艙正緩緩朝地面下降。目前位置在哈薩克斯坦柴茲卡茲根市(Zhezkazgan, Kazakstan)附近的哈薩克草原偏遠地區上空。艙內載有遠征31號俄籍指揮官奧列格‧寇農能科，美國太空署的飛行指揮官唐‧帕替特，以及歐洲太空中心的安德烈‧庫伊伯。這三位太空人已在國際太空站留駐超過六個月，他們分別擔任遠征30與遠征31組員。(譯注：太空夾艙譯名來自capsule (Soyuz TMA-03M capsule)一字。我意在讓它(Soyuz TMA-03M capsule)與仍在軌道上運行的主太空艙(船)──「國際太空站」在名稱上有所區別，當然並非絕對必要。我們當然可以稱聯合號TMA-03M是太空艙、太空船等等。但另外，capsule一字已被廣泛使用於今日戰鬥機的機身或翼下所掛載的「武器夾艙」或「電子儀器夾艙」上，所以將capsule譯為「聯合號太空夾艙」也無妨。而且更重要是，當這聯合號capsule與主太空艙──「國際太空站」接合在一起工作時，小小聯合號capsule真有「夾艙」味。)
12. A model of the 70-metric-ton configuration of the SLS rocket, designed to carry the Orion spacecraft, is tested in the Trisonic Wind Tunnel at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, on August 23, 2012. This view uses special cameras and a deflection of light (Schlieren flow visualization) directed through the windows in the tunnel to show the shadows of airflow as it changes angles at high speeds, helping visualize the various intense pressures of atmosphere on the model.
2012年8月23日，設計用來載運獵戶座太空船的70公噸級SLS火箭模型，正在美國太空署馬歇爾太空飛行中心的「三倍音速風洞」接受測試。此圖運用特殊照相機與射入風洞窗口的偏光(紋影視流)，藉氣流在各種高速下變更角度時所顯示的陰影，來觀察該火箭模型所承受的各種劇烈大氣壓力變化。
13. NASA's project Morpheus lander is seen bursting into flames during a test at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 9, 2012. During a free-flight test of the Project Morpheus vehicle at the Shuttle Landing Facility, the vehicle lifted off the ground and then experienced a hardware component failure, which prevented it from maintaining stable flight. No one was injured and the resulting fire was extinguished by Kennedy fire personnel. Project Morpheus is a vertical test bed designed by NASA, demonstrating new green propellant propulsion systems and autonomous landing and hazard detection technology.
2012年8月9日，美國太空署的夢神計畫著陸器在佛羅里達州甘迺迪太空中心「太空梭著陸場」進行自由飛行測試時，機件突生故障，無法維持穩定飛行而墜毀起火；現場無傷亡，火勢隨即為消防人員撲滅。夢神計畫為太空署所設計的垂直起降測試平台，用於測試新型環保(綠色)燃料推進系統、自動著陸與危障偵測技術。
14. The "Mighty Eagle" soars above the tree line on August 16, 2012. The vehicle was "open loop" -- navigating autonomously without the command of the onboard camera and flying on a preprogrammed flight profile. This NASA robotic prototype lander sailed to an altitude of 100 feet during another successful free flight August 28 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The test is part of a new series of free flights testing the robotic prototype lander's autonomous rendezvous and capture capabilities.
2012年8月16日，美國太空署「全能鷹」在樹梢上飛翔情景。此飛行器依據「開環系統」飛行；也即它並不依靠飛行器內建之照相機指令行事，而依據電腦預設之飛行剖面圖進行自動導航飛行。本飛行器原型機稍後於8月28日在阿拉巴馬州亨次維爾馬歇爾太空飛行中心進行一次成功的自由飛行，當時曾升空至100呎高度。該測試屬於新的自由飛行系列之一部，目的在於測試原型機的自動會合與擒捕能力。
15. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft atop rocket Falcon 9 lifts off from Pad 40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Titusville, Florida. The launch made SpaceX the first commercial company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station.
安置於獵鷹9號火箭頂端的太空探險技術公司(SpaceX)蛟龍太空船，正從佛羅里達州台圖維爾鎮的卡納維爾角空軍基地第40號發射台發射升空。這次發射使太空探險技術公司一舉成為第一個發射太空船至國際太空站的商業公司。
16. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy takes part in a training session, for extra vehicular activity, at the Star City space center outside Moscow, on August 10, 2012. Novitskiy, cosmonaut Evgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station in October 2012.
2012年8月10日，俄國宇航員奧列格‧諾維次基在莫斯科市郊的星市太空中心進行一項太空艙外活動訓練。諾維次基連同另一宇航員愛福基尼‧塔利金，以及美國太空署太空人凱文‧福特準備在2012年10月飛行至國際太空站進行另一次太空任務。
17. The setting sun highlights cloud patterns -- as well as the Pacific Ocean surface itself -- in this photograph taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, on May 15, 2012. The ISS was located over the Andes Mountains of central Chile at the time. The camera view is looking back towards the Pacific Ocean as the Sun was setting in the west.
2012年5月15日，國際太空站的一位太空人拍攝了此照片。照片顯現落日餘暉所凸顯的雲團與太平洋形貌。此時，國際太空站正在日落西下中，飛越智利中部安地斯山脈上空；照相機則轉向後方朝太平洋方向拍攝。
18. On Mars, NASA's Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater. The rover used the panoramic camera (Pancam) between about 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. local Mars time to record images taken through different filters and combined into this mosaic view. Most of the component images were recorded during the 2,888th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars (March 9, 2012). At that time, Opportunity was spending low-solar-energy weeks of the Martian winter at the Greeley Haven outcrop on the Cape York segment of Endeavour's western rim. Opportunity has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. This crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter, or about the same area as the city of Seattle.
2012年3月9日是美國太空署的機會號火星漫遊車在火星上作業的第2,888火星日(太陽日)。圖為漫遊車於該日傍晚時分，拍攝自己身影所形成的影像。圖中漫遊車陰影很醒目地朝東方延伸，並延伸進入奮進(隕石)坑。漫遊車是在火星當地時間下午4:30至5:00之間，利用其全景照相機，配上各式濾鏡形成此一組合式影像。其中大多數組合影像都記錄於當天。由於這段時間正值火星格理利避風港(Greeley Haven)地區的冬季，機會號在此要度過為期數週的低太陽能期。格理利避風港位於奮進坑西緣的約克角區段。機會號於2011年8月駛抵奮進坑西緣之後， 就一直在此進行奮進坑西緣的研究工作。奮進坑徑寬14哩(22公里)，或約等於西雅圖地區的面積。
19. The landing site of NASA's newest Mars rover, seen on August 17, 2012. The descent stage crash site (left), backshell and parachute (bottom), and Curiosity Rover (right). This image was acquired by the HiRISE instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, looking more directly down (9 degree roll angle) than the prior images so the pixel scale is improved to approximately 0.27 m/pixel.
2012年8月17日由火星偵察衛星的高解析度成像儀所拍攝的美國太空署最新火星漫遊車著陸區。圖左上方是下降階段撞擊區，圖下方是太空船背部護蓋與降落傘，圖右則是好奇號本身。偵察衛星本身具有9度的滾轉角。由於這次拍攝比先前的拍攝更直接對準下方，因此像素比增加到大約0.27m/pixel。