美國宇航局近日宣布，計劃于2018年發射“太陽探測器”，探測器將在距離太陽表面近700萬公里的外大氣層軌道，觀測日冕的活動。這將是NASA第一個飛入日冕的探測器，也是人類首次近距離接觸太陽。

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA (R), speaks as Dr. Eugene Parker, University of Chicago astrophysicist (L), Dr. Nicola Fox, project scientist for the Solar Probe Plus and Dr. Rocky Kolb, from University of Chicago (2nd R), listen during the NASA announcement on its first mission to fly directly into the sun's atmosphere at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, US. May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski

A US spacecraft set to launch next year will make a series of unprecedented dives into the sun’s scorching atmosphere to see how the star works and what can be done to better predict space weather events on Earth, scientists said on Wednesday.
科學家31日表示，美國計劃在明年發射“太陽探測器”，對太陽灼熱的大氣層進行一系列史無前例的探索，以觀測太陽的工作原理，以及如何才能更好地預測地球上發生的空間天氣事件。

The Parker Solar Probe will have to survive temperatures as high as 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 Celsius), impacts by supersonic particles and powerful radiation as it circles as close as 4 million miles (7 million km) to the sun.
帕克太陽探測器將能夠承受2500華氏度（約合1371攝氏度）的高溫，以及超音速粒子和強大輻射的影響。它將在距離太陽近達400萬英里（約合700萬公里）的軌道上運行。

Data sent back to Earth some 89 million miles away will help scientists figure out why the sun’s atmosphere, or corona, is hotter than its surface.
探測數據將在大約8900萬英里的長途跋涉后傳回地球，這些數據將幫助科學家了解為什么太陽的大氣層，也就是日冕，要比其表面溫度更高。

The mission, formerly known as the Solar Probe Plus, was approved in 2014. On Wednesday, the spacecraft was renamed to honor University of Chicago physicist Eugene Parker, who in 1958 correctly predicted the existence of the solar wind, a continuous stream of charged particles that come off the sun and permeate the solar system.
這一探測任務在2014年得以批準，之前名為“太陽探測+”。本周三，為紀念芝加哥大學物理學家尤金-帕克，探測器被更名。尤金-帕克在1958年正確預測了太陽風的存在。太陽風是從太陽射出并滲透進太陽系的連續的帶電粒子流。

“It was a fundamental insight that forever changed the way in which we understood the sun, the heliosphere and in general interplanetary space,” said Eric Isaacs, executive vice president for research, innovation and national laboratories at the University of Chicago.
芝加哥大學研究創新國家實驗室副主任艾瑞克?伊薩克斯說：“這個發現從根本上改變了我們理解太陽、太陽風層和總體星際空間的方式。”

The spacecraft, designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University laboratory, is scheduled to launch in July 2018 and fly around Venus seven times to get itself into orbit around the sun in December 2024. NASA is paying about $1.5 billion to build and launch the spacecraft.
太陽探測器由約翰霍普金斯大學實驗室設計并建造，計劃于2018年7月發射，探測器將圍繞金星飛行7圈并在2024年12月進入太陽軌道。美國宇航局為建造和發射太陽探測器支付15億美元。

The probe is expected to orbit the sun 24 times, edging closer on each pass. The size of a small car, it will be outfitted with five science instruments to measure and sample the sun’s corona.
據預計，太陽探測器將圍繞太陽運行24圈，每一圈都更加靠近太陽。太陽探測器大小如同一輛小汽車，將配備有五臺科學儀器，來對日冕進行測量和取樣。

In addition to expanding knowledge of stellar physics, the information is expected to help engineers design better instruments and techniques for predicting solar storms and other events that can cripple satellites, disrupt power grids and affect aircraft travel on Earth.
除了增加對星際物理學的認知，這些信息還將幫助工程師設計出更好的裝備和技術，以預測太陽風暴和其他能讓衛星失效，中斷電網供電、還能影響地球上的航空旅行的空間天氣事件。

“We want to measure the environment there and find what the heating processes really are that make the corona hot and accelerate the solar wind,” said NASA chief scientist Thomas Zurbuchen.
美國宇航局首席科學家托馬斯?祖波森說：“我們想要觀測那里的環境，看看到底是什么樣的加熱過程使得日冕灼熱，并加速了太陽風。”

英文來源：路透社
翻譯&編審：yaning