美国国家航空航天局的“旅行者1号”探测器即将迎来超远距离里程碑威廉·邓纳姆报道华盛顿，11月14日——自1977年发射以来，“旅行者1号”（Voyager 1）的飞行距离已经超过了人类历史上任何其他航天器。这个探测器多年前已驶出太阳系，正在星际空间中穿行，如今它即将迎来一个非凡的里程碑——穿行一光日，即光在24小时内行进的距离。
NASA's Voyager 1 probe poised to achieve mega-distance milestone By Will Dunham WASHINGTON, Nov 14 - NASA's Voyager 1 has already traveled farther than any other spacecraft from Earth since its launch in 1977. The probe, which exited our solar system years ago and is journeying through interstellar space, is now on the cusp of a remarkable milestone — traversing a light-day, the distance light travels in 24 hours.
一光日约为160亿英里（260亿公里）。美国太空机构表示，“旅行者1号”正以每小时近3.8万英里（6.1万公里）的速度在近乎真空的太空中飞行，并将于美国东部时间周三上午5点16分（格林尼治标准时间1016）达到这一距地球的距离。这个机器人航天器拥有距离地球最远的人造物体的殊荣。
A light-day is about 16 billion miles (26 billion km). The US space agency said Voyager 1, flying at almost 38,000 miles per hour (61,000 kph) through the virtual vacuum of space, will reach that distance from Earth on Wednesday at 5:16 a.m. ET (1016 GMT). The robotic spacecraft has the distinction of being the most distant human-made object.
加州理工学院太空辐射实验室高级研究员、自1973年以来一直担任“旅行者”项目科学家的天体物理学家艾伦·卡明斯表示：“我认为这是一个工程里程碑，标志着‘旅行者1号’惊人的寿命——这也是一项能够在如此遥远距离与‘旅行者1号’进行通信的工程成就。”
"I view it as an engineering milestone, marking the amazing longevity of Voyager 1 — and also an engineering achievement to be able to communicate with Voyager 1 at its distance," said astrophysicist Alan Cummings, a senior research scientist in the Space Radiation Laboratory at Caltech who has been a Voyager program scientist since 1973.
对许多人来说，光年可能是一个更熟悉的概念，这是用于衡量巨大宇宙距离的度量标准。光年是被称为光子的光粒子在一年中行进的距离——约为5.9万亿英里（9.5万亿公里）。例如，太阳系外最近的恒星是构成半人马座阿尔法星系的3颗恒星，距离约4.24光年。姊妹航天器“旅行者1号”与其姊妹航天器“旅行者2号”于49年前发射，在继续前行之前，它们曾探索外太阳系行星。
A light-year may be a more familiar concept for many people, a metric used for vast cosmic distances. It is the distance a particle of light, called a photon, travels in a year — about 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). For instance, the closest stars beyond our solar system are the three that make up the Alpha Centauri system, about 4.24 light-years away. TWIN SPACECRAFT Voyager 1 and twin spacecraft Voyager 2 were launched 49 years ago, exploring planets in the outer solar system before continuing onward.
“旅行者1号”于1977年9月5日在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角搭乘“大力神3E-半人马座”火箭被送入太空，比“旅行者2号”的发射晚了16天，但在几个月内就超越了它的姊妹探测器。
Voyager 1 was carried into space on September 5, 1977, atop a Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida 16 days after the launch of Voyager 2, but overtook its twin within months.
卡明斯说：“‘旅行者1号’带回了关于木星、土星及其卫星的大量新信息。”
"Voyager 1 returned a wealth of new information about Jupiter and Saturn, and their moons," Cummings said.
它发现了木星周围的一条薄环，以及两颗此前未被探测到的木星卫星——忒拜和墨提斯。随后，它又在土星周围发现了五颗新卫星，以及一条被称为G环的行星环。
It discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and two previously undetected Jovian moons, Thebe and Metis. It then spotted five new moons around Saturn as well as a ring called the G-ring.
卡明斯说：“旅行者2号在1977年发射后走了一条不同的太阳系路径，以便探访天王星和海王星。旅行者2号有望在九年后，即2035年11月，距离地球一光日。”
"Voyager 2 took a different path through the solar system after they launched in 1977, in order to visit Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 is on pace to be one light-day away from Earth in nine more years, in November 2035," Cummings said.
旅行者1号于2012年穿越了日球层的外边缘——这是一个由太阳产生的粒子和磁场组成的保护性气泡——并进入星际空间，继续收集数据。
Voyager 1 crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere, a protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields produced by the sun, and entered interstellar space in 2012, continuing to collect data.
卡明斯是宇宙射线专家，他说：“它是第一艘报告低能量下银河宇宙射线（快速运动的高能粒子）能谱的航天器。由于太阳风的阻挡作用，这些高能粒子在日球层内部无法被观测到。这是低能宇宙射线物理学的圣杯。”旅行者2号于2018年进入星际空间。“职业生涯的支柱”卡明斯因一次意外成为了旅行者科学团队的一员。此前，一个作为他加州理工学院博士论文基础的气球载荷宇宙射线实验，未能按计划降落在加拿大北部。
"It was the first spacecraft to report the energy spectra of galactic cosmic rays (fast-moving energetic particles) at low energies. Those energetic particles are not observable inside the heliosphere because of the push-back by the solar wind. This was the holy grail of low-energy cosmic ray physics," said Cummings, an expert in cosmic rays. Voyager 2 entered interstellar space in 2018. 'THE BACKBONE OF MY CAREER' Cummings became part of the Voyager scientific team by accident after a balloon-borne experiment concerning cosmic rays that was the basis of his Caltech doctoral thesis failed to land in northern Canada as planned.
卡明斯说：“它绕地球飞了一圈半，最终被苏联捕获。它显然是在没有降落伞减速的情况下着陆，基本被毁了。”
"It went around the world a time and a half, and was eventually captured by the Soviet Union. It landed apparently without the benefit of the parachute and was essentially destroyed," Cummings said.
他说：“随后决定实验结束，在1973年旅行者宇宙射线子系统（仪器）开始研发不久后，我获得了一份参与该项目的工作。气球的丢失对我来说是幸运的，因为旅行者任务一直是我职业生涯的支柱。我已经在这个项目上工作并分析其数据53年了。”他29岁加入旅行者团队，现年82岁。
"It was decided that the experiment was finished, and I was offered a job on the Voyager Cosmic Ray Subsystem (instrument) fairly soon after it began development in 1973. The loss of the balloon was lucky for me as the Voyager mission has been the backbone of my career. I've been working on it and analyzing data from it for 53 years," Cummings said. He joined the Voyager team at age 29 and is now 82.
这两艘“旅行者”号探测器都携带着一张“金唱片”，这是一个旨在向可能遇到该 spacecraft 的任何智慧外星生命传达地球故事的装置。这张留声机唱片是一个12英寸（30.5厘米）的镀金铜盘，包含各种图像和声音，以传达我们星球的文化。
Both Voyagers carry a Golden Record, a device intended to communicate Earth's story to any intelligent extraterrestrial beings who may encounter the spacecraft. The phonograph record, a 12-inch (30.5-cm) gold-plated copper disk, contains various images and sounds to convey our planet's culture.
唱片收录了摇滚乐手查克·贝里的《约翰·B·古德》、贝多芬第五交响曲以及澳大利亚土著歌曲等音乐，还有55种语言的口头问候以及定位地球的说明。
It features music like rocker Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Aboriginal songs from Australia, as well as spoken greetings in 55 languages and instructions for locating Earth.
一些专家后来对提供通往我们星球的方位指引这一做法的明智性提出了质疑，以防贪婪的敌对生物偶然发现这张“金唱片”。
Some experts have subsequently questioned the wisdom of providing directions to our planet, in case covetous hostile beings come across the Golden Record.
卡明斯说：“这些年来我偶尔听到过这种担忧，但我从不为此担心。外星人找到它的可能性微乎其微。”
"I've heard that concern a little over the years but I never worried about it. It's pretty unlikely the aliens will find it," Cummings said.