翻译练习：NASA Rover Lands On Mars To Look For Signs Of Ancient Life(3)

NASA Rover Lands On Mars To Look For Signs Of Ancient Life(3)

NASA登陆车在火星降落，寻找远古生命迹象（3）

火星降落很容易失败

Perseverance was on its own during its descent, a maneuver often described by NASA as "seven minutes of terror."

在降落的过程中，毅力号只能靠它自己，NASA常把这个降落的演练过程称为“惊魂七分钟”。

Flight controllers waited helplessly as the preprogrammed spacecraft hit the thin martian atmosphere at 12,100 mph(19,500kph), or 16 times the speed of sound, slowing as it plummeted. It released its 70-foot(21-meter)parachute and then used a rocket-steered platform known as a sky crane to lower the rover the final 60 or so feet(18 meters) to the surface.

当这台已经预编程序的飞行器以1.2万英里每小时（1.9万公里每小时）——即音速的16倍——冲入火星稀薄的大气时，飞行控制组的人们只能无助的等待着它快速降落及逐渐的减速。探测器释放出它70英尺（21米）的降落伞，然后利用一个火箭平台——被称为天空起重机——来完成最后60英尺（18米）的降落过程。

It took a nail-biting 11minutes for the signal confirming the landing to reach Earth, setting off back-slapping and fist-bumping among flight controllers wearing masks against the coronavirus.

又花了令人焦虑不安的11分半钟，确认登陆成功的信号才抵达地球，为防新冠而戴着口罩的飞行控制组成员们开始相互拍背，击肘祝贺。

Perseverance promptly sent back two grainy, black-and-white photos of Mars' pockmarked, pimply-looking surface, the rover's shadow visible in the frame of one picture.

毅力号很快传回了两张低像素的黑白照片，上面显示出火星坑坑洼洼，如丘疹般的火星表面，在一张照片中，探测器的阴影清晰可见。

"Take that, Jezero!" a controller called out.

“来吧，泽耶罗！”控制组一名成员高喊道。

NASA said that the descent was flawless and that the rover came down in a "parking lot" - a relatively flat spot amid hazardous rocks. Hours after the landing, Matt Wallace, NASA deputy project manager, reported that the spacecraft was in great shape.

NASA表示降落很完美，探测器降落在一处“停车场”——那是一片杂乱分布的岩石中相对平坦的地点。降落后数小时，NASA项目副经理马特・华莱士报告称航天器状态良好。

Mars has proved a treacherous place for the world's spacefaring nations, the U.S. included. In the span of less than three months in 1999, a U.S. spacecraft was destroyed upon entering orbit because engineers had mixed up metric and English units, and an American lander crashed on the surface after its engines cut out prematurely.

火星对全世界的太空飞行来说都是一个危险重重的地方，美国也不例外。在1999年不到三个月的时间，一艘美国航天器就在进行轨道时因为工程师弄混了米制与英制单位而被毁，一个美国登陆器也因为它的引擎过早关闭而坠毁在火星表面。