  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru will send an orbiter to Venus in 2023 and has invited scientists from around the world to submit proposals for instruments to carry along. 位于班加罗尔的印度空间研究组织(ISRO)将于2023年向金星发射一颗轨道飞行器，并邀请来自世界各地的科学家提交携带仪器的建议。 The plan, which will include a balloon dropped into the planet’s atmosphere, has received a warm welcome from Venus scientists, many of whom feel that, compared with the moon and Mars, their planet has received short shrift in the past 2 decades. 这一计划包括了要将一个气球下落进入金星的大气层，受到了金星科学家的热烈欢迎，许多科学家认为，与月球和火星相比，金星在过去20年里受到了冷落。  The as-yet-unnamed spacecraft is likely to weigh 2500 kilograms and may have a 100-kilogram payload; it will be launched on India’s heaviest rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. 这艘尚未命名的航天器可能重2500公斤，有效载荷可能为100公斤;它将搭载印度最重型的火箭，即地球同步卫星运载火箭马克 III发射。 The orbiter will initially be placed in a large elliptical orbit around Venus that is gradually shrunk. 轨道飞行器最初将被放置在金星周围一个逐渐缩小的椭圆形轨道上。  Like Earth, Venus is some 4.5 billion years old; the planets are of similar size and mass. 和地球一样，金星也有45亿年的历史;金星与地球的大小和质量相似。 But Venus has witnessed a runaway greenhouse phenomenon, leading to a dense, carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere that may offer scientists clues about the development of Earth’s atmosphere. 但是金星已经见证了一次失控的温室效应现象，导致了一种密度大、富含二氧化碳的大气层，这可能为科学家提供有关地球大气层发展的线索。 “Planetary comparative climatology is an area of continued interest and research. The opportunity to explore Venus together is welcome,” says Lori Glaze, acting head of NASA’s planetary science division in Washington, D.C. “行星比较气候学是一个持续受到关注和研究的领域。这次一起探索金星的机会是很受欢迎的。”美国航空航天局的行星科学部代理主任洛瑞.格雷茨说。  Venus is a hostile planet to study: Its thick clouds make research from an orbiter difficult, while heat, high pressure, and sulfuric acid droplets make descending to the surface a technological nightmare. 金星要研究起来，环境是很恶劣的:它厚厚的云层使得从轨道飞行器上进行研究变得困难，而高温、高压和硫酸液滴使得降落到地表成为一场技术员的噩梦。 Of the more than 40 Venus missions so far, roughly half have failed, and only a handful spacecraft have touched down on the planet’s surface. 到目前为止，在40多个金星探测任务中，大约有一半失败了，只有少数航天器在金星表面着陆。  That’s why the crowd gathered at a meeting of NASA’s Venus Exploration Analysis Group in Laurel, Maryland, was “very excited” to hear India’s call for collaboration on 6 November, says Patrick McGovern of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. 所以11月6日聚集在马里兰州劳雷尔的美国宇航局金星探测分析小组会议上的人群听到印度呼吁合作时才会“非常激动”，德克萨斯州休斯顿月球和行星研究所的帕特里克·麦戈文说。 “In the absence of new Venus missions and data, it is increasingly difficult to generate support for students and early-career researchers interested in Venus,” he says. 他说:“由于没有新的金星探测任务和数据，越来越难以为对金星感兴趣的学生和早期职业研究人员提供支持。” That keeps the Venus community small, which “in turn affects the ability to rally support for new missions,” McGovern says. 麦戈文说，这使得金星群体规模较小，“反过来又会影响为新任务争取支持的能力”。 “In my view we are presently at the reconnaissance stage of [Venus] exploration, equivalent to that of pre-1997 Mars.” “在我看来，我们目前正处于(金星)探测的侦察阶段，相当于1997年前火星的侦察阶段。”  ISRO has already selected 12 instruments, proposed by Indian scientists, including cameras and chemical analyzers to study the atmosphere. 印度空间研究组织已经选择了印度科学家提出的12种仪器，包括照相机和化学分析仪来研究大气层。 Now, it’s hoping other scientists will join. 现在，他们欢迎别的科学家也加入进来。 “Planetary exploration should be all about global partnerships,” says Kailasavadivoo Sivan, a rocket scientist and ISRO’s chair. (The deadline for submitting proposals is 20 December.) ISRO主席、火箭科学家凯拉萨瓦迪沃·西万(Kailasavadivoo Sivan)表示:“行星探索应该都是全球合作才对。”(提交建议书的截止日期为12月20日。) McGovern hopes to send a radar instrument that could penetrate the thick clouds and make sharper maps of the surface, which could help address questions remaining after NASA’s 1989 Magellan mission to Venus. 麦戈文希望发射一种雷达仪器，能够穿透厚厚的云层，绘制出更清晰的金星表面地图，这将有助于解决1989年美国国家航空航天局麦哲伦金星任务后遗留下来的问题。  Planetary scientist Larry Esposito of the University of Colorado in Boulder says he’d like to contribute instruments that would study the planet’s atmosphere. 科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的行星科学家拉里·埃斯波西托说，他愿意贡献一些仪器来研究这颗行星的大气层。 He’s particularly interested in Venus’s clouds and how they could be responding to possible ongoing volcanic eruptions. 他特别感兴趣的是金星上的云，以及它们对可能持续的火山爆发是如何反应的。 “The past ISRO missions provide confidence,” Esposito says. “过去的ISRO任务给我们带来了信心，”埃斯波西托说。 (India visited the moon in 2008 and Mars in 2014; it has another moon mission scheduled next year and a new visit to Mars in 2022.) （印度在2008年访问了月球，2014年访问了火星;印度计划明年再进行一次探月任务，并于2022年再次访问火星。）  Astrophysicist Jacques Blamont, a former head of France’s National Center for Space Studies in Paris, several years ago proposed producing metallic balloons that could dip in and out of Venus’s hot atmosphere to study its chemistry. 法国国家空间研究中心(National Center for Space Studies)前主任、天体物理学家雅克·布拉蒙特(Jacques Blamont)几年前曾提议制造金属气球，可以在金星炽热的大气层中进进出出，研究金星的化学成分。 ISRO has adopted that idea, says Sivan, but will develop the balloon in-house. Sivan说，ISRO已经采纳了这个想法，但将自行开发气球。 It will carry 10 kilograms of instruments and float down to 55 kilometers above the surface. 这个气球将携带10公斤的仪器，漂浮在离地面55公里的地方。  对于印度的这次金星计划，朋友们有什么看法呢？欢迎给amber留言哦！ |
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