rivers and lakes. Even its day is 24 hours...and 37 minutes. But with everyone talking about

覆蓋著。它一天也有24小時...37分鐘。不過當大家在討論

manned missions to mars, could we actually successfully colonize the red planet with

登陸火星, 人類真的可以成功的開拓這個紅色星球嗎?

humans?

先說好事: 那裡有很多水。據估計，

Let’s start with the good news: there’s plenty of water. It’s been estimated that

在北極和南極有超過500萬立方公里的水結冰。

there are more than 5 million cubic kilometres of water frozen into ice caps at the northern

溶化後將可以把整個星球覆蓋在

and southern poles. Melt all this down and there would be enough to cover the planet

35米深的海洋裡。

in an ocean 35 metres deep.

這些水也可以解決第二個問題: 找到能讓我們呼吸的東西。

And this water could help solve a second problem: finding something to breathe. Mars’s atmosphere

火星的大氣層非常稀薄，幾乎都是二氧化碳，不是我們人類適應的氧氣。

is very thin and made almost entirely of carbon dioxide, not the oxygen us humans have adapted

不過殖民者可以用電力來分把水(H2O)分裂為為氫氣和氧氣。

to breathe. But, colonists could use electricity to split the H20 in hydrogen and oxygen. Take

在把氧氣泵入一個密閉建築物，現在你就有一個地方可以開派對了!

that oxygen and pump it into air-tight living structures, and now you’ve got somewhere

當然食物又是一大障礙。把動物運到火星...嗯...很複雜。

to party!

所以殖民者一開始必須吃素。因為植物需要陽光,

Of course, food would be another barrier. Shipping animals to Mars would be...eh, complicated,

火星離太陽的距離是地球的1.5倍，表示它只收到

so colonists would need to start out as vegetarians. And since plants need sunlight, the fact that

太陽一半的輻射。不過科學家有做一項實驗

Mars is about 1.5 times as far from the sun as Earth is, means they would only receive

在戴文島(Devon Island)有一個火星模擬殖民地

about half the average solar irradiance. But scientists have actually experimented with

位於加拿大北端和火星接收到同等的太陽輻射。

this; in fact, there is a Mars simulation colony in Devon Island, way up in Northern

實驗證實，火星不僅有足夠的光線來維持植物生存，

Canada which receives an equivalent solar radiation as Mars. And it’s been confirmed

而且像番茄，胡蘿蔔等農作物也可以生長在模擬火星土壤裡。

that there would not only be enough light to sustain plants on Mars, but that things

當然，栽種太多的植物會產生許多額外的氧氣而因此

like tomatoes, carrots and other crops could grow in simulated Martian soil.

造成火災。來抵消，氧氣需要與其他非反應性氣體像氮氣來稀釋，

Of course, growing enough food could actually create so much extra oxygen that it would

其火星具有非常少有。但從地球帶去又會增加

become a fire hazard. To counteract this, oxygen would have to be diluted with non-reactive

旅程成本。

gas like nitrogen, which Mars has very little of. But bringing it from home would only add

說道從地球帶東西，某些時候機器或系統會故障

to the cost of the trip.

且要零件更換是無法避免的。從地球到火星

Speaking of bringing things from home, it’s inevitable that at some point a machine or

最短的距離是55萬公里，但有時這兩個行星在太陽的兩端。

system would break down and require a replacement part. The shortest distance from Earth to

所以合理來說，宇宙飛船只能每26個月去一次火星。

mars is 55 million km, but at times the two planets are on opposite sides of the sun.

考慮一下國際太空站，我們目前在太空生活最久的實驗，

So, for practical reasons, spacecraft can only be sent to Mars every 26 months. Considering

每90天左右就需要重新補給，2年1月個的等待時間可能有點太長了。

the International Space Station, our longest standing experiment with living in space,

加上發射設備進入太空的成本，大約每磅是一萬元美金，

needs to be re-supplied every 90 days or so, 2 years and 2 months wait time may be pushing

運送零件變成一個重大的挑戰。

it. Add to that the cost of launching equipment into space, which is around $10,000 per pound,

最後還有一些對人體健康的威脅。 火星比地球還要小，它的地心吸力

and delivering spare parts becomes a major challenge.

僅是地球的三分之一，對跳高或以輕材料

Finally, there are threats to human health. Mars is smaller than Earth, and its gravity

來建築是很棒，但對我們身體很不是很好。我們依靠地心引力的壓力

is only ⅓ what we’re used to, which is awesome for jumping high and creating structures

來建立我們的骨骼和肌肉; 事實上，太空人必須在太空裡定期進行鍛煉，

of lighter materials, but not so great for our bodies. We depend on the constant pressure

以保持身體良好的狀態。

of gravity to build up our bones and muscles; in fact, astronauts must undergo regular exercise

不過更糟糕的是宇宙的輻射。太陽不停噴出十幾億的高能量粒子

in space to keep themselves in shape.

破壞我們的DNA並導致癌症。幸好地球有強壯的磁場能把99.9%的粒子轉向

But even worse is the cosmic radiation. The sun spews out billions of high-energy particles

能把99.9%的粒子轉向，但火星沒有磁場，表示

that can damage our DNA and cause cancer. Luckily, Earth has a powerful magnetic field

旅行者在旅行期間內將完全沒有保護。 在最短的旅行時間內，

that deflects 99.9% of these particles, but Mars has no magnetic field, meaning travellers

一個人得到癌症的機會將會提升3%。

would be completely unprotected on their journey. On the shortest possible trip, this would

理論上來說, 沒有問題是不能克服的。說不定我們可以發明一個

raise an individual's risk of developing cancer by more than 3 percent.

超級磁鐵來抵擋輻射，先進的推進係統可以減少

Theoretically, none of these problems are completely insurmountable. Perhaps supermagnets

需要去火星的時間，我們也有可能發展下一代的3D印表機運用火星上原有的材料

could be created to ward off radiation, advanced propulsion systems could reduce the time it

來生產不同的零件。 不過這都超越了

takes to get to Mars, and we might even develop next-generation 3D printers that could produce

我們現有的科技程度。但說不定，

spare parts on site from Martian materials. But all of this will require significant advances

能製造這些科技的人已經出生了。有可能就是你...你會變成

in technology beyond what we have now. That being said, it is possible that the people

火星人嗎？ 翻譯者: Tammy Yeh

who will create this technology have already been born. Maybe it’s you...will you become

感謝Audible.com贊助和給你一個免費的有聲書

a martian?

在audible.com/asap

Special thanks to Audible.com for supporting this episode and giving you a free audio book

Audible有超過150,000本有聲書提供下載。我們建議

of your choice at audible.com/asap. Audible is the leading provider of audiobooks with

"Packing for Mars" 一本以幽默的方式來解釋如何去太空旅行的書。

over 150,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature. We recommend the book

你也可以在audible.com/asap免費下載自己歡的書。

“Packing For Mars” which is a hilarious explanation of everything it takes to venture

當你訂閱時就可以一個月免費下載一本書。

into space! You can download this audio book or another of your choice, for free, at audible.com/asap.

感謝Audible對這個影片的贊助與幫忙。

And with a subscription you get one free book a month! Special thanks Audible for making

如果想看更多有關科學的影片,請訂閱！ Translated by: Tammy Yeh

these videos possible!

And subscribe for more weekly science videos!