NASA SpaceX and blue origin are practically synonymous with rockets.

NASA SpaceX和藍色起源幾乎是火箭的代名詞。

Those massive, powerful vehicles allow us to travel beyond Earth.

那些巨大的、強大的飛行器讓我們能夠超越地球。

But while the ongoing competition to launch the world's next best rocket tends to dominate news headlines, there's a little known mission and NASA to develop a new kind of space telescope.

但是，當正在進行的發射世界上下一個最好的火箭的競爭往往佔據新聞頭條時，有一個鮮為人知的任務和NASA開發一種新的太空望遠鏡。

And this project is using something else entirely.

而這個項目使用的是完全不同的東西。

BALLOONS.

氣球。

You can do more science in a single balloon flight than you could do from years and years of observing from any of these existing observatory's.

你可以做更多的科學 在一個單一的氣球飛行 比你可以做 從年和年的觀察 從任何這些現有的天文臺的。

You can take technological risks on a balloon that you would never be able to take on a space mission so you can do all kinds of crazy things, like sending massive telescopes that are cool to near absolute zero to the edge of space.

你可以在氣球上承擔你在太空任務中永遠無法承擔的技術風險，所以你可以做各種瘋狂的事情，比如把酷到接近絕對零度的巨大望遠鏡送到太空邊緣。

These ultra cold balloon telescopes could heighten our understanding of the universe overnight.

這些超冷氣球望遠鏡可以在一夜之間提高我們對宇宙的認識。

So not only can you see things that you wouldn't be able to see with these existing observatory's, but you can look for things well beyond our own galaxy and even to the edge of the universe, all the way back to the Big Bang.

是以，你不僅可以看到現有天文臺無法看到的東西，而且你可以尋找遠在我們自己的星系之外的東西，甚至到宇宙的邊緣，一直到大爆炸。

They're a little bit more complicated than just a simple balloon.

它們比簡單的氣球要複雜一些。

We can get 220,000 ft, and we can keep you at that altitude for a day to two days to, you know, the longest week loan is 55 the sheer size of these NASA balloons can be massive.

我們可以得到22萬英尺的高度，我們可以讓你在這個高度保持一天到兩天，你知道，最長的一週貸款是55這些美國宇航局氣球的規模可以是巨大的。

They can reach up to 1.7 million cubic meters in volume, which is equivalent to more than 200 Goodyear blimps.

它們的體積可以達到170萬立方米，相當於200多架固特異飛艇。

And they can stretch to a diameter of more than 160 m when floating, which is about the size of an entire football stadium.

而且它們在漂浮的時候可以延伸到直徑160多米的地方，也就是整個足球場的大小。

A lot of people have no knowledge that a balloon program even exists, and we can take payloads as big as a small car up to the stratosphere.

很多人都不知道氣球計劃的存在，我們可以把小汽車那麼大的有效載荷帶到平流層。

Four times as high as a plane flies, we fly a lot of astrophysics payloads.

四倍于飛機飛行的高度，我們飛了很多天體物理學的有效載荷。

We have some Helio physics payloads, and almost every technology that has flown on a space mission has flown first on a balloon.

我們有一些 "太陽神 "物理學有效載荷，幾乎每一項在太空任務中飛行的技術都是先在氣球上飛行的。

The balloon program tested the supersonic parachute that would later help the Perseverance Rover successfully land on the surface of Mars.

氣球計劃測試了超音速降落傘，後來幫助 "毅力號 "探測器成功登陸火星表面。

So when Mars perseverance was coming in, I got chills when we knew that the parachutes deployed and started slowing down the rover and brought it into the atmosphere because the balloon program, in our own little way, help them to advance the technology so that ultimately they were successful perseverance faithfully on the surface of Mars.

所以當火星毅力進來的時候，當我們知道降落傘部署好了，並開始減緩火星車的速度，並把它帶入大氣層的時候，我感到很寒心，因為氣球計劃，以我們自己的小方式，幫助他們推進技術的發展，所以最終他們成功的毅力忠實於火星表面。

It's one of those things that I never knew about growing up and really never had even thought about.

這是我從小到大都不知道的事情，真的連想都沒想過。

But ballooning can open up so many avenues for science.

但是，熱氣球可以為科學開闢很多途徑。

One such avenue is using these balloons as affordable and efficient space viewing Observatory's.

其中一個途徑就是利用這些氣球作為經濟實惠、高效的空間觀測天文臺的。

The best comparison is that balloon telescope can do 90% of what a space telescope could do for maybe 10% of the cost, and it can do 100,000 times better than a ground based telescope.

最好的比較是，氣球望遠鏡可以做到太空望遠鏡的90%，而成本可能只有10%，它比地面望遠鏡好10萬倍。

These floating observatory's can help answer questions we have about our universe that ground telescopes can always do.

這些浮動天文臺可以幫助回答我們關於宇宙的問題，而地面望遠鏡總是可以做到。

99% of all the photons in the universe come from the Big Bang, actually, and over 90% of the light after the big bang emitted by stars is actually at infrared wavelengths.

宇宙中99%的光子都來自於宇宙大爆炸，其實，恆星在大爆炸後發出的光90%以上其實是紅外波長。

Now, in order to see this, you need to be above the atmosphere.

現在，為了看到這一點，你需要在大氣層之上。

That's because Earth's atmosphere absorbs a lot of the infrared light that passes through it.

那是因為地球的大氣層吸收了很多通過它的紅外光。

Already, existing space telescopes like Hubble do a wonderful job of peering back in time to take images of the distant universe.

現有的太空望遠鏡，如哈勃，已經做了很好的工作，可以回溯時間，拍攝遙遠宇宙的影像。

But the space missions are relatively few and far between, and they tend to be expensive.

但太空任務相對較少，而且往往價格昂貴。

The price tag starts at about $100 million and creeps up from there, whereas the balloons, they're much cheaper and you get to payload back.

價格從1億美元開始，並從那裡開始攀升，而氣球則便宜得多，而且你還能得到回報。

So if you try something that's really cutting edge and it doesn't quite work the first time, you can get it back, tweak it, fly it again the next year.

所以，如果你嘗試了一些非常前沿的東西，第一次沒有完全成功，你可以拿回來，調整一下，第二年再飛。

That's where Bob Cat comes in.

這就是鮑勃貓的作用。

This NASA project is short for the balloon born cryogenic telescope test bed.

這個NASA項目是氣球出生低溫望遠鏡試驗檯的簡稱。

Its purpose is to fly large telescopes on balloons above the atmosphere.

其目的是在大氣層上方的氣球上飛行大型望遠鏡。

But it's easier said than done.

但說起來容易做起來難。

If you're trying to put a large telescope up on a balloon, you've got to protect it.

如果你想把一個大型的望遠鏡放在氣球上，你得保護好它。

You've got to find some way of keeping it cold.

你得想辦法讓它保持低溫。

That's because most of the light in the universe is emitted as heat radiation in the infrared wavelength range, so heat from the telescope could obscure the image, so we typically would put it into a doer flask.

這是因為宇宙中大部分的光都是以紅外波長範圍內的熱輻射形式發射的，所以望遠鏡的熱量會遮擋住影像，所以我們一般會把它放在做器燒瓶裡。

It's an insulating container, very much like a travel mug, except instead of putting hot coffee into it, we put ultra cool liquid helium into it.

這是一個保溫容器，很像一個旅行杯，只不過我們不是把熱咖啡放進去，而是把超低溫的液氦放進去。

That's only a couple of degrees above absolute zero.

這隻比絕對零度高几度。

But the problem is, if we make the doers three or four times larger, the door itself weighs four or five tons, and it's more weight than the balloons can carry.

但問題是，如果我們把做功器做大三四倍，門本身就有四五噸重，比氣球能承受的重量還要大。

So Alan, his team are working on a cool way to lighten the load.

所以艾倫，他的團隊正在研究一種很酷的減負方式。

What we're doing with Bobcat is realizing that we're never going to look through this telescope on the ground.

我們對 "山貓 "所做的事情就是意識到，我們永遠不會在地面上通過這臺望遠鏡進行觀察。

We're going to look through the telescope when it's up there, 25 miles up at the edge of outer space.

我們要通過望遠鏡去看，當它在上面，25英里高的外太空邊緣。

At that altitude, the doer experiences a fraction of atmospheric pressure would encounter closer to the ground, so the door walls, instead of being real heavy, thick stainless steel.

在這個高度，做者經歷了大氣壓力的一小部分會遇到更接近地面，所以門壁，而不是真正的沉重，厚厚的不鏽鋼。

They're stainless steel not much thicker than a beer can.

它們是不鏽鋼的，比啤酒罐厚不了多少。

So when sometimes we call this, the beer can project.

所以當有時候我們叫這個，啤酒罐頭項目。

The NASA team first tested this crowd and a concept on a balloon in 2019 Bobcat one was a relatively short flight.

美國宇航局團隊首次在氣球上測試了這一人群和概念，2019年山貓一是飛行時間比較短。

Once we were up there we were able to perform our cries and transfer and measure the helium boil off rate.

上去後，我們就可以進行喊話和轉移，並測量氦氣的沸騰速度。

The next step, which we hope to do this summer, is to fly the first version of an ultralight duer, which has maybe a 20% of the weight of a conventional duer to show that these, uh, construction techniques that we're talking about actually work.

下一步，我們希望能在今年夏天完成，就是飛出第一版的超輕型杜爾機，它的重量可能只有傳統杜爾機的20%，以證明我們所說的這些結構技術確實有效。

The actual telescope will come a few years in the future.

真正的望遠鏡將在未來幾年內出現。

Once we've demonstrated that you can build and fly these ultra light doers and that you can scale them up from the size of a couch to the size of a whole living room.

一旦我們證明了你可以建造和飛行這些超輕的做作器，並且你可以把它們從沙發大小擴展到整個客廳大小。

And a larger telescope endure comes with an increase in the telescopes sensitivity.

而更大的望遠鏡承受力也伴隨著望遠鏡靈敏度的提高。

A telescope like that, with that kind of sensitivity, could look at planets transiting in front of stars outside our own solar system.

這樣的望遠鏡，有了這樣的靈敏度，就能觀察到在太陽系外恆星前轉場的行星。

You can look at clouds of gas and dust in our galaxy to see where and how stars are forming to understand what's the process by which stars and planetary systems like our own form.

你可以觀察銀河系中的氣體和塵埃雲，看看恆星在哪裡以及如何形成，以瞭解恆星和像我們自己的行星系統形成的過程。

If you were thinking that time would be a constraining factor for these new observatory's well, think again.

如果你認為時間會成為這些新觀測站的制約因素，那就再想想吧。

The team plans to launch telescopes on balloons that stay afloat for weeks to months.

該團隊計劃在氣球上發射望遠鏡，並在氣球上漂浮數週至數月。

At that point, it's really getting observing times into the ballpark of a small satellite.

這時，它的觀測時間才真正進入小衛星的範圍。

But instead of a small satellite, you're talking about gigantic telescope.

但你說的不是小衛星，而是巨大的望遠鏡。

This approach allows the telescope to return to Earth and then launch again and again and again.

這種方法可以讓望遠鏡返回地球，然後再一次次地發射。

I would say that ballooning is an unknown gem in space science.

我想說的是，熱氣球是空間科學中未知的瑰寶。

So a lot of people don't even know we exist.

所以很多人根本不知道我們的存在。

Don't realize what has been done on balloons, and as they find out they're oftentimes amazed.

不要意識到在氣球上做了什麼，當他們發現時，他們往往會感到驚訝。

I get inspired by being able to provide a unique platform for science.

能夠為科學提供一個獨特的平臺，我就會得到啟發。

The Bobcat mission is really exciting, and when he is successful it will open up not only his science but potentially other science.

山貓任務真的很刺激，當他成功後，不僅會開啟他的科學，還有可能開啟其他科學。

The balloons really are NASA's breeding ground for new technology, and it's a wonderful capability to have the bobcat program.

氣球真的是NASA新技術的溫床，有了山貓計劃，是一種奇妙的能力。

Here is the first step towards showing that this technology actually can work, that we understand all the problems and can demonstrate them in the harsh conditions that exist at the edge of outer space.

這是向證明這項技術確實能夠發揮作用的第一步，我們瞭解所有的問題，並能在外太空邊緣的惡劣條件下證明這些問題。