原文標題：
Terraforming Mars
Engineered dust could help make Mars habitable
Restoring water on Mars may be easier than you think
改造火星
人造塵埃有助於使火星成為宜居星球
恢復火星上的水源可能比你想象的要容易
[Paragraph 1]
IF YOU WANT to live elsewhere in the solar system, Mars is the least-bad choice.
若你夢想在太陽系的其他星球上居住，火星或許是較為理想的選擇。
These days, the planet is a
frigid
, poison-
soaked
desert. But as the dry river valleys that cross its surface suggest, things were
balmy
enough in the past to allow liquid water.
目前，火星是一片寒冷、充滿毒氣的荒漠。但是，從火星表面縱橫交錯的幹涸河谷來看，它曾經歷過氣候溫和、液態水存在的時期。
[Paragraph 2]
For decades, scientists and science-fiction authors have
toyed
with the idea of restoring Mars to that warmer state by 「terraforming」 it—changing the planet’s climate to make it friendly to
Earthlings
.
幾十年來，科學家和科幻小說作家們一直在考慮「改造」火星--改變火星的氣候，使其適合地球人居住--使火星恢復到更溫暖的狀態。
Their proposals tend to involve
heroic
engineering: injecting vast quantities of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere, say, or using nuclear explosives to melt underground ice.
他們的設想往往涉及宏大的工程計劃：比如向火星大氣中註入大量溫室瓦斯，或者利用核爆炸融化火星地下的冰層。
[Paragraph 3]
A paper published this week in Science Advances offers an easier method.
本周發表在【科學進展】上的一篇論文提供了一種更簡單的方法。
Samaneh
Ansari, a graduate student at Northwestern University, in Illinois, and
her colleagues reckon that pumping engineered dust into the atmosphere
could warm Mars to the point where much of the water ice that lies
beneath its surface would melt, at least in the Martian summer.
伊利諾州西北大學的研究生薩曼·安薩里和她的同事們認為，向大氣中註入人工塵埃可以使火星變暖，至少在火星的夏天，地表下的大部份水冰都會融化。
[Paragraph 4]
The dust would be made of tiny metallic rods each around nine millionths of a metre long.
人造塵埃將由細小的金屬棒組成，每根金屬棒的長度約為九百萬分之一米。
That
size is carefully chosen to ensure that the particles reflect heat,
which would otherwise escape to space, back down to the planet’s
surface.
精心選擇這種尺寸是為了確保粒子將熱量反射回火星表面，否則熱量會逃逸到太空。
Climate
models suggest that pumping 30 litres of the dust per second into the
atmosphere could boost the average temperature by 30°C or more within
decades.
根據氣候模型的估算，如果每秒向火星大氣中註入30升人造塵埃，那麽在未來幾十年內，火星的平均氣溫可能會上升30攝氏度或更高。
[Paragraph 5]
That is a fair amount of dust. But it represents a big improvement on the state of the art.
這是相當大的塵埃量。但它代表了對現有技術的重大改進。
Another paper, published in 2005, investigated
chlorofluorocarbons
, a class of potent greenhouse gases, and concluded that hundreds of millions of tonnes would be required.
2005年發表的另一篇論文研究了氟氯碳化物——一種強效的溫室瓦斯，並得出需要數億噸才能有效的結論。
Ms Ansari reckons that, in mass terms, her method is around 5,000 times more efficient.
安薩里估計，就品質而言，她的方法效率要高出約5000倍。
[Paragraph 6]
And
the paper is just a proof of concept, with plenty of room to make
things more efficient still, says Edwin Kite, a planetary scientist at
the University of Chicago and one of its authors.
芝加哥大學行星科學家艾德溫·凱特也是該論文的作者之一，他說："這篇論文僅僅是一個概念驗證，其中還有很大的提升空間，以便使各項操作更加高效。」
As planets go, Mars is certainly a
fixer-upper.
But the renovations might be a bit easier than you think.
就行星而言，火星無疑是一個有待改造的星球。但改造過程可能比你想象的容易一些。
（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯336左右）
原文出自：2024年8月10日【TE】Science & technology版塊
精讀筆記來源於：自由英語之路
本文轉譯整理: Irene
本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。
IF YOU WANT to live elsewhere in the solar system, Mars is the least-bad choice.
若你夢想在太陽系的其他星球上居住，火星或許是較為理想的選擇。
Climate
models suggest that pumping 30 litres of the dust per second into the
atmosphere could boost the average temperature by 30°C or more within
decades.
根據氣候模型的估算，如果每秒向火星大氣中註入30升人造塵埃，那麽在未來幾十年內，火星的平均氣溫可能會上升30攝氏度或更高。
Ms Ansari reckons that, in mass terms, her method is around 5,000 times more efficient.
安薩里估計，就品質而言，她的方法效率要高出約5000倍。#深度好文計劃#
自由英語之路
