返回首页

AlanEustace_2015-_我是怎样穿越平流层的_
So I grew up in Orlando, Florida. 我在佛罗里达州的奥兰多市长大
I was the son of an aerospace engineer. 我是航空工程师的儿子
aerospace:n.航空宇宙;[航]航空航天空间;
I lived and breathed the Apollo program. 阿波罗计划与我的生活息息相关
Apollo:n.阿波罗(太阳神);美男子;
We either saw the launches from our backyard or we saw it by driving in the hour over to the Cape . 我们不是在后院里看着发射器 就是开上好几个小时车到开普敦镇去看它
launches:n.汽艇(launch的复数);v.[航]发射;下水;投入(launch的单三形式); backyard:n.后院;后庭; Cape:n.披肩;披风;短斗篷;地角;
I was impressed by, obviously, space and everything about it, but I was most impressed by the engineering that went into it. 显然,空间科学对我产生了深刻的影响 但最让我印象深刻的是这背后的工程学
impressed:adj.印象深刻; v.使钦佩; (impress的过去分词和过去式) engineering:n.工程;工程学;v.密谋策划;设计制造;改变…的基因;(engineer的现在分词)
Behind me you see an amazing view, a picture that was taken from the International Space Station , and it shows a portion of our planet that's rarely seen and rarely studied and almost never explored . 你看到的在我身后的壮观景象 是一幅从国际空间站拍的图片 它展示了我们星球的一部分 罕见而且极少被研究的一部分 几乎从未被探索的一个地方
Space Station:n.太空站;航天站;宇宙空间站; portion:n.部分;(食物的)一份;分担的责任;v.把…分成若干份(或部分); rarely:adv.很少地;难得;罕有地; explored:v.探索;勘探;考察;探险;(explore的过去式和过去分词)
That place is called the stratosphere . 这一部分被称为平流层
stratosphere:n.同温层;最上层;最高阶段;
If you start on the planet and you go up and up and up, it gets colder and colder and colder, until you reach the beginning of the stratosphere, and then an amazing thing happens. 如果你从地面出发一直往上往上往上 周围会变得愈来愈冷 直到你进入平流层 接下来神奇的事情发生了
It gets colder at a much slower rate, and then it starts warming up, and then it gets warmer and warmer until the point where you can almost survive without any protection, about zero degrees, and then you end up getting colder and colder, and that's the top of the stratosphere. 变冷的速度变慢了许多,然后开始暖和起来 然后越来越暖和 直到你几乎不需要任何保护措施也能生存 大约到达了零度 接下来你会愈来愈冷愈来愈冷 这就是平流层的顶部了
It is one of the least accessible places on our planet. 这是我们这个星球极少有人到达的地方之一
accessible:adj.易接近的;可进入的;可理解的;
Most often, when it's visited, it's by astronauts who are blazing up at it at probably several times the speed of sound, and they get a few seconds on the way up, 大多数情况下,当它被造访时, 那是宇航员们乘坐着火箭 以大约是音速数倍的速度穿过它 宇航员在上升时停留了几秒钟
blazing:adj.酷热的;极其愤怒的;v.熊熊燃烧;闪耀;发亮光;怒视;(blaze的现在分词)
and then they get this blazing ball of fire coming back in, on the way back in. 还有就是他们返航时,坐着烧成火球的返回舱 回到地面上
But the question I asked is, is it possible to linger in the stratosphere? 但我想问的问题是,是否有可能在平流层逗留？
linger:徘徊;继续存留;流连;逗留;持续看(或思考);苟延残喘;
Is it possible to experience the stratosphere? 是否有可能去体验平流层？
Is it possible to explore the stratosphere? 是否有可能去探索平流层？
I studied this using my favorite search engine for quite a while, about a year, and then I made a scary phone call. 我用我最喜欢的搜索引擎来研究这个问题 研究了大约有一年 然后我根据一个朋友的参考意见
search engine:n.(计算机)搜索引擎;
It was a reference from a friend of mine to call Taber MacCallum from Paragon Space Development Corporation , and I asked him the question: is it possible to build a system to go into the stratosphere? 给Taber MacCallum打了一通吓人的电话 他在Paragon空间发展公司工作 我问了他这个问题: 有没有可能 建造一个去平流层的系统？
reference:n.参考,提及;参考书目;证明书;v.引用; Taber:n.美国泰伯尔品牌; Paragon:n.模范;完美之物;优秀之人;adj.完美的; Corporation:n.法人;(大)公司;法人团体;市政委员会;
And he said it was. 他回答说, “可以。”
And after a period of about three years, we proceeded to do just that. 此后大约过了三年,我们开始着手筹划
proceeded:v.继续做;接着做;继而做;行进;前往;(proceed的过去分词和过去式)
And on October 24 of last year, in this suit, 在去年的十月24号 穿着这套设备
I started on the ground, 我从地面出发
I went up in a balloon to 135,890 feet -- but who's counting? 我在一个气球中上升到离地135,890英尺的高度 但谁关心数字呢？
(Laughter) （笑声）
Came back to Earth at speeds of up to 822 miles an hour. 回地球的速度高达822公里每小时
It was a four-minute and 27-second descent . 我下降了四分27秒
descent:n.下降;血统;袭击;vt.除去…的气味;使…失去香味;
And when I got to 10,000 feet, I opened a parachute and I landed. 当我到达10,000英尺,我打开降落伞然后在地面着陆
parachute:n.降落伞;vi.跳伞;空投;
(Applause) （鼓掌喝彩）
But this is really a science talk, and it's really an engineering talk, and what was amazing to me about that experience is that Taber said, yes, I think we can build a stratospheric suit, and more than that, come down tomorrow 但这是一次关于科学的演讲, 关于工程技术的演讲 这次体验让我感到不可思议的是 Taber说,我们可以制作一套适用于平流层的装备, 不止如此,明天过来
stratospheric:adj.平流层的;同温层的;
and let's talk to the team that formed the core of the group that actually built it. 让我们和制作出装备的小组的 核心人员深入探讨。
core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核;
And they did something which I think is important, which is they took the analogy of scuba diving . 他们做了一些我认为很重要的事情, 他们参考了潜水器的设计。
analogy:n.类比;类推;类似; scuba:n.水肺;水中呼吸器; diving:n.潜水;跳水;跳水运动;v.下潜;跳水;潜水;(dive的现在分词)
So in scuba diving, you have a self-contained system. 在潜水器里, 有一个自携装置。
self-contained:adj.独立的;设备齐全的;沉默寡言的;
You have everything that you could ever need. 你所需要的一切都有。
You have a scuba tank. 你有一个氧气瓶。
You have a wetsuit . 你有潜水服。
wetsuit:n.潜水服;防寒泳衣;湿式保暖服;
You have visibility . 你有可视装置。
visibility:n.可见性;能见度;能见距离
And that scuba is exactly this system, and we're going to launch it into the stratosphere. 潜水装置就是我们想要的系统, 我们要把一种类似的装置发射到平流层去。
Three years later, this is what we have. 三年研究后,这是我们的改良装置。
We've got an amazing suit that was made by ILC Dover . ILC Dover为我们制作了一套令人惊叹的服装装置。
Dover:n.多佛;
ILC Dover was the company that made all of the Apollo suits and all of the extravehicular activity suits. ILC Dover公司提供了阿波罗计划的所有保护套装 和所有外太空活动的保护套装
extravehicular:adj.太空船外的;在宇宙飞船外部活动的;
They had never sold a suit commercially , only to the government, but they sold one to me, which I am very grateful for. 他们从来不向私人出售, 只和政府打交道, 但他们向我提供了一套,我对此很是感激。
commercially:adv.商业上;通商上;
Up here we have a parachute. This was all about safety. 在这里我们有一个降落伞包。安全起见。
Everyone on the team knew that I have a wife and two small children -- 10 and 15 -- and I wanted to come back safely. 我们团队里的人都知道 我有妻子和两个很小的孩子 -- 一个十岁另一个十五岁 —— 我想平安地回来。
So there's a main parachute and a reserve parachute, and if I do nothing, the reserve parachute is going to open because of an automatic opening device . 有一个主降落伞包和一个备用降落伞包, 如果我什么都不做（译注:失去意识或行为能力）, 备用降落伞包将会被自动启用装置打开。
reserve:n.储备,储存; vt.储备; vi.预订; automatic:adj.自动的;无意识的;必然的;n.自动步枪;自动换挡汽车; device:n.装置;策略;图案;
The suit itself can protect me from the cold. 这套保护服会为我御寒。
This area in the front here has thermal protection. 前面的部分有高温保护装置。
thermal:adj.热的;热量的;保热的;n.上升的热气流;
It will actually heat water that will wrap around my body. 它会加热环绕我身体的水。
wrap:v.缠绕;隐藏;掩护;包起来;缠绕;穿外衣;n.外套;围巾;
It has two redundant oxygen tanks. 它有两个冗余的氧气瓶。
redundant:adj.多余的,过剩的;被解雇的,失业的;冗长的,累赘的;
Even if I was to get a quarter-inch hole in this suit, which is extremely unlikely , this system would still protect me from the low pressure of space. 即使我在这套保护服上弄出一个四分之一英寸的小孔, 当然这个几率很小, 这套装置依然能在低压环境中保护我。
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地; unlikely:adj.不大可能发生的;非心目中的;非想象的;难以相信的; low pressure:adj.低压的;悠然自得的;
The main advantage of this system is weight and complexity . 这套系统主要的优点是重量很轻,复杂性相对教低。
advantage:n.有利条件:优势:优点: complexity:n.复杂性;难以理解的局势
So the system weighs about 500 pounds, and if you compare it to the other attempt recently to go up in the stratosphere, they used a capsule . 整套系统重500磅, 如果跟其它穿越平流层的装备比的话, 别人使用的是太空舱。
compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较; attempt:n.企图,试图;攻击;v.企图,试图;尝试; recently:adv.最近;新近; capsule:n.太空舱;荚;航天舱;(装药物的)胶囊;adj.简略的;小而结实的;v.节略;
And to do a capsule, there's an amazing amount of complexity that goes into it, and it weighed about 3,000 pounds, and to raise 3,000 pounds to an altitude of 135,000 feet, which was my target altitude, it would have taken a balloon that was 45 to 50 million cubic feet. 制作太空舱需要极其复杂的工艺, 重量约为3000磅, 要让3000磅的装置升到135,000英尺, 那是我的目标高度, 需要一个4.5到5千万立方英尺的气球。
altitude:n.海拔;海拔高度;高程;(海拔高的)高处;
Because I only weighed 500 pounds in this system, we could do it with a balloon that was five times smaller than that, and that allowed us to use a launch system that was dramatically simpler than what needs to be done for a much larger balloon. 而整个系统加我在内只有500磅, 我们可以用一个小五倍的气球代替, 这样我们就可以用一个简便多了的发射系统 不需要那些大气球需要的复杂装备。
dramatically:adv.戏剧地;引人注目地;adv.显著地,剧烈地;
So with that, I want to take you to Roswell, New Mexico, on October 24. 现在,我带你们看看10月24日的罗斯威尔市,在新墨西哥州。
We had an amazing team that got up in the middle of the night. 我们有一个在深夜工作的伟大的团队。
And here's the suit. 这就是保护服。
Again, this is using the front loader that you'll see in a second , and I want to play you a video of the actual launch. 再次说明,这是用抓钩机吊起来的,你们马上会再见到, 我想放一段发射现场的视频。
loader:n.装货的人;载入程序;装货设备;装填器; in a second:立刻,很快;
Roswell's a great place to launch balloons, but it's a fantastic place to land under a parachute, especially when you're going to land 70 miles away from the place you started. 罗斯威尔是发射气球的好场所, 更是一个降落伞降落的绝佳场所, 尤其是你要从70英里的高空降落时。
fantastic:奇异的,空想的 especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
That's a helium truck in the background. 背景里的是一辆装氢气的卡车。
helium:n.[化学]氦(符号为He,2号元素);
It's darkness. 天黑了。
I've already spent about an hour and a half pre-breathing. 我已经花了一个半小时调整呼吸。
And then here you see the suit going on. 然后你看到的是装备保护服的过程。
It takes about an hour to get the suit on. 整个过程用了一个小时。
Astronauts get this really nice air-conditioned van to go to the launch pad , but I got a front loader. 宇航员乘坐空调专车去发射点 但我是被抓钩机吊着送去的。
air-conditioned:adj.备有空调装置的; v.给…装上空调器; launch pad:n.(航天器等的)发射平台;
(Laughter) （笑声）
You can see the top. You can see the balloon up there. 你可以看见最上面。你可以看见那上面的气球。
That's where the helium is. 里面填充的是氢气。
This is Dave clearing the airspace with the FAA for 15 miles. 这是Dave和联邦航空管理局在帮我清出来15英里的飞行空间。
airspace:n.空域;领空;空间;
And there we go. 现在我们升空了。
(Laughter) （笑声）
That's me waving with my left hand. 这是我在挥动我的左手。
The reason I'm waving with my left hand is because on the right hand is the emergency cutaway. 我挥动左手的原因是 挥动右手表示紧急刹停。
emergency:n.紧急情况;突发事件;非常时刻;adj.紧急的;备用的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
My team forbade me from using my right hand. 我的团队禁止我用我的右手。
forbade:v.禁止(forbid的过去式);
So the trip up is beautiful. It's kind of like Google Earth in reverse . 向上的旅途十分美妙。有点像反过来播放的谷歌地图。
Google:谷歌;谷歌搜索引擎; reverse:n.反面; v.颠倒; adj.相反的;
(Laughter) （笑声）
It took two hours and seven minutes to go up, and it was the most peaceful two hours and seven minutes. 向上花了两个小时七分钟, 那是最平静的两小时七分钟。
I was mostly trying to relax . 大多时间我试着放松。
relax:v.放松,休息;松懈,松弛;变从容;休养;
My heart rate was very low and I was trying not to use very much oxygen. 我的心率极其缓慢 我尽可能少用氧气。
You can see how the fields in the background are relatively big at this point, and you can see me going up and up. 你可以在背景里看到地面建筑 现在还是相对比较大的, 你可以看见我一直在上升。
relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地;
It's interesting here, because if you look, 这里十分有趣,你看,
I'm right over the airport , and I'm probably at 50,000 feet, but immediately I'm about to go into a stratospheric wind of over 120 miles an hour. 我在机场的正上方,大约50,000英尺高, 但马上我就要进入平流层风带 那里风的时速超过120英里。
airport:n.机场;航空港;
This is my flight director telling me that I had just gone higher than anybody else had ever gone in a balloon, and I was about 4,000 feet from release . 这是我的飞行指导员告诉我 我比任何用气球上去的人到得更高, 我离自由落体点还有4,000英尺。
release:v.释放;发射;让与;允许发表;n.释放;发布;让与;
This is what it looks like. 终于抵达了最终的高度
You can see the darkness of space, the curvature of the Earth, the fragile planet below. 你可以看见太空中的暗处,地球的曲线, 底下的脆弱的星球。
curvature:n.弯曲,[数]曲率; fragile:adj.脆的;易碎的;
I'm practicing my emergency procedures mentally right now. 当时正在脑海中演练紧急情况处理流程。
procedures:n.程序;规程(procedure的复数); mentally:adv.精神上,智力上;心理上;
If anything goes wrong, I want to be ready. 如果有意外发生,我希望能稳妥应对。
And the main thing that I want to do here is to have a release and fall and stay completely stable . 在这里的我想做的主要事情是 稳稳当当地降落在目的地。
stable:n.马厩;牛棚;adj.稳定的;牢固的;坚定的;vi.被关在马厩;赶入马房;
(Video) Ground control . Everyone ready? （视频）地面控制台。所有人都准备好了吗？
Ground control:n.地面制导设备;
Five. Four. Three. Two. One. 五！四！三！二！一！
Alan Eustace: There's the balloon going by, fully inflated at this point. 现在飘过去的是气球,已经充好气了。
inflated:adj.通货膨胀的; v.膨胀(inflate的过去式和过去分词);
And there you can see a drogue parachute, which I'll demonstrate in just a second, because that's really important. 现在你看到的是减速伞,我马上会介绍, 因为这非常重要。
drogue:n.浮标;风向指示筒; demonstrate:vt.证明;展示;论证;vi.示威;
There's the balloon going by a second time. 这是第二次看到气球
Right now, I'm about at the speed of sound. 现在,我马上要以音速飞行。
There's nothing for me to tell it's the speed of sound, and very soon I will actually be as fast as I ever get, 822 miles an hour. 我对音速没有什么好描述的, 很快我就到达了所能达到的最高速, 时速822英里。
(Video) Ground control: We lost the data. （视频）地面控制台:我们的通信中断了
AE: So now I'm down low right now and you can basically see the parachute come out right there. 现在我开始下降了、 你们能看见降落伞在这边出现。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
At this point, I'm very happy that there's a parachute out. 那时,我非常开心降落伞打开了。
I thought I was the only one happy, but it turns out mission control was really happy as well. 我以为我是唯一一个觉得开心的人, 但我发现任务控制中心也非常开心。
mission:n.使命,任务;代表团;布道;v.派遣;向…传教;
The really nice thing about this is the moment I opened -- 最妙的时刻是我打开降落伞时 --
I had a close of friend of mine, Blikkies, my parachute guy. 我的好朋友,Blikkies,我的降落伞教练,
He flew in another airplane , and he actually jumped out and landed right next to me. 他乘坐另一架飞机,他真的在机上跳下来 然后在我身旁降落。
airplane:n.飞机;
He was my wingman on the descent. 他是我下降过程的军师。
wingman:n.僚机;僚机驾驶员;(足球的)边锋;
This is my landing, but it's probably more properly called a crash. 这是我的降落过程,更准确的说是撞击地面的过程。
(Laughter) （笑声）
I hate to admit it, but this wasn't even close to my worst landing. 我非常不愿意承认,这是我最最槽糕的降落。
(Laughter) （笑声）
(Applause) （掌声）
(Video) Man: How are you doing? （视频）男人:你好吗？
AE: Hi there! AE:你好啊！
Yay. 棒极了。
(Laughter) （笑声）
So I want to tell you one thing that you might not have seen in that video, but one of the most critical parts of the entire thing was the release and what happens right after you release. 我想告诉你们一件事情 你可能没有在视频里看过, 但是整件事情中最重要的部分是刚刚脱离时 和接下来的十几秒钟。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的;
And what we tried to do was use something called a drogue parachute, and a drogue parachute was there to stabilize me. 我们尝试用了降速伞, 降速伞是帮助我平稳下降的。
stabilize:vt.使稳固,使安定;vi.稳定,安定;
And I'll show you one of those right now. 我马上要给你展示其中一个。
If any of you have ever gone tandem skydiving , you probably used one of these. 如果你们中有人试过串联跳伞, 你可能用过这个。
tandem:n.串联;串座双人自行车;adj.串联的;adv.一前一后地;纵排地; skydiving:n.延缓张伞跳伞运动;特技跳伞运动
But the problem with one of these things is right when you release, you're in zero gravity . 但还有一个问题 当你自由落体是,你处于零重力。
zero gravity:[物]失重;
So it's very easy for this to just turn right around you. 所以这个东西就很容易绕着你打转。
And before you know it, you can be tangled up or spinning , or you can release this drogue late, in which case what happens is you're going down at 800 miles an hour, and this thing is going to destroy itself and not be very useful. 在你反应过来之前,就会被缠住或者打起转来, 如果你晚一点打开减速伞, 这时候你就会以800英里的时速下降, 这东西就会自己被破坏 变得毫无用处。
tangled:adj.缠结的; v.使缠结; (tangle的过去分词和过去式) spinning:n.纺纱(手艺):纺线v.(使)旋转:纺线:纺纱;(spin的现在分词)
But the guys at United Parachute Technologies came up with this idea, and it was a roll that looks like that, but watch what happens when I pull it out. 但联合降落伞科技的人想出这种办法, 翻转看起来是这样的, 但我把它拉出来以后。
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式) Technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数);
It's forming a pipe. 它形成了一个管道。
This pipe is so solid that you can take this drogue parachute and wrap it around, and there's no way it will ever tangle with you. 这个管道非常坚固 让你可以把减速伞包裹在上面, 它就无法缠扰你了。
And that prevented a very serious potential problem. 这避免了非常危险的潜在问题。
potential:n.潜能;可能性;[电]电势;adj.潜在的;可能的;势的;
So nothing is possible without an amazing team of people. 当有一个梦幻的团队是没有事情是不可能的。
The core of this was about 20 people that worked on this for the three years, and they were incredible . 队伍的核心是20个成员 他们在这上面花了三年, 他们非常了不起。
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的;
People asked me what the best part of this whole thing was, and it was a chance to work with the best experts in meteorology and ballooning and parachute technology and environmental systems and high altitude medicine. 人们问我整件事情最美妙的部分在哪, 那是与最好的专业人员共事的 在气象学,热气球和降落伞科技共事的机会 还有环境系统和高空用药。
meteorology:n.气象状态,气象学; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
It was fantastic. It's an engineer's dream to work with that group of people. 那太美妙了。和他们一起共事是每个工程师梦想。
And I also at the same time wanted to thank my friends at Google, both for supporting me during this effort and also covering for me in the times that I was away. 同时我想感谢在谷歌的朋友, 感谢你们对我努力成果的支持 和在我不在的时间里为我分担。
at the same time:同时;另一方面;与此同时;
But there's one other group I wanted to thank, and that's my family. 还有另一个我想致谢的团队,我的家庭。
Yay. 你们真棒。
(Applause) （掌声）
I would constantly give them speeches about the safety of technology, and they weren't hearing any of it. 我会持续不断的告诉他们科学的安全性, 但他们一点也不会听进去。
constantly:adv.不断地;时常地;
It was super hard on them, and the only reason that my wife put up with it was because I came back incredibly happy after each of the 250 tests, and she didn't want to take that away from me. 这对他们来说太难了, 我妻子容忍下来的唯一一个原因 是每次当我完成测试（共250项）测试后回到家都非常开心, 她不想让我失去这份快乐。
put up with:v.忍受;容忍; incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
So I want to close with a story. 我想以一个故事收场。
My daughter Katelyn, my 15-year-old, she and I were in the car, and we were driving down the road , and she was sitting there, and she had this idea, and she goes, "Dad, I've got this idea." 我的15岁的女儿Katelyn, 和我在车里, 我们沿着路开,她坐在那 她想到一个主意,她说,“爸爸,我有一个主意。”
down the road:只要沿着这条路;将来;在路上;
And so I listened to her idea and I said, "Katelyn, that's impossible." 我听了她的主意然后说,“Katelyn,这是不可能的。”
And she looks at me and she goes, "Dad, after what you just did, how can you call anything impossible?" 她看着我 她说,“爸爸,在你做到这件事情之后, 还有什么事情可以被你称作不可能的？“
And I laughed, and I said, "OK, it's not impossible, it's just very, very hard." 我大笑,然后我说,”好的,这不是不可能的, 只是非常,非常的困难。”
And then I paused for a second, and I said, "Katelyn, it may not be impossible, it may not even be very, very hard, it's just that I don't know how to do it." 然后我停顿了一秒,接着说,“Katelyn, 或许并不是不可能,甚至也不是难, 而只是因为我不知道怎么实现它。”
Thank you. 谢谢你们
(Applause) （掌声）