TEDxBoulder 2011
Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids
菲爾•普萊特: 如何保護地球不受小行星傷害
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Readability: 3.3
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有什麽六英里寬的東西能一瞬間毀掉我們的文明？ 小行星是也--而且宇宙中這東西多的是！ 菲爾普萊特用十分幽默的語言和具體的圖像向TEDxBoulder的聽眾展示了小行星如何攻略和我們如何可以避免受攻擊。
Phil Plait - Astronomer
Phil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe. Full bio
Phil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I want to talk to you about something
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我想和你們談談一件
00:18
kind of big.
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稱得上大的事情。
00:21
We'll start here.
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我們從這裡開始吧。
00:24
65 million years ago
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六千五百萬年前
00:27
the dinosaurs had a bad day.
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恐龍群過了相當糟糕的一天。
00:30
(Laughter)
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（笑）
00:33
A chunk of rock six miles across,
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一塊六英里的巨石,
00:36
moving something like 50 times
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以比子彈還快
00:38
the speed of a rifle bullet,
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50倍的速度
00:40
slammed into the Earth.
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撞向了地球。
00:42
It released its energy all at once,
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它立刻就釋放了巨大的能量,
00:44
and it was an explosion that was
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那次爆炸真的可謂
00:46
mind-numbing.
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是無法想像。
00:48
If you took every nuclear weapon ever built
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假如你把冷戰期間
00:50
at the height of the Cold War,
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所製造的所有核武器
00:52
lumped them together and blew them up
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綁在一起
00:54
at the same time,
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同時起爆,
00:56
that would be one one-millionth
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所釋放的能量
00:58
of the energy released at that moment.
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只有那時的一百萬分之一。
01:02
The dinosaurs had a really bad day.
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恐龍真的是很倒楣啊。
01:05
Okay?
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明白麼?
01:07
Now, a six-mile-wide rock is very large.
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一個半徑六千米的巨石是相當大。
01:09
We all live here in Boulder.
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現在我們正居住在博爾德。
01:11
If you look out your window and you can see
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假如你往窗外看,
01:13
Long's Peak, you're probably familiar with it.
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你會看到你應該很熟悉的郎二峰。
01:15
Now, scoop up Long's Peak, and put it out
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好, 現在把它挖出來
01:17
in space.
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丟到宇宙去。
01:19
Take Meeker, Mt. Meeker. Lump that in there,
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好,順便帶上米克峰, 把它們綁在一起
01:21
and put that in space as well,
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也丟到宇宙去,
01:23
and Mt. Everest, and K2,
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再加上珠峰 和 k2,
01:25
and the Indian peaks.
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還有印第安峰。
01:27
Then you're starting to get an idea of
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現在你就肯定在想
01:29
how much rock we're talking about, okay?
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這石頭到底有多大啊?
01:31
We know it was that big because of
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我們根據它留下來的彈坑
01:33
the impact it had and the crater it left.
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和所造成的衝擊斷定它十分巨大。
01:35
It hit in what we now know as Yucatan,
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它在我們現在稱為尤卡坦半島
01:37
the Gulf of Mexico.
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墨西哥灣的地方撞上了地球。
01:39
You can see here, there's the
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你可以看到這就是
01:41
Yucatan Peninsula, if you recognize Cozumel
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尤卡坦半島, 假如你知道可租米爾島
01:43
off the east coast there.
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的話, 它就在離里東海岸不遠處。
01:45
Here is how big of a crater was left.
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這就是當時留下的隕石坑。
01:48
It was huge. To give you a sense of the scale,
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十分的巨大。給你幾個具體的數據,
01:50
okay, there you go. The scale here is
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這裡的比例尺是
01:52
50 miles on top, a hundred kilometers
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一格等於50英里, 兩個
01:54
on the bottom. This thing was
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100英里。那傢伙就有
01:56
300 kilometers across -- 200 miles --
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300千米寬-- 即是200英里--
01:58
an enormous crater that excavated out
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一個巨大的坑
02:00
vast amounts of earth that splashed around
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把地球上一大塊土地砸了出來,
02:03
the globe and set fires all over the planet,
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然後散開到全球, 並引起遍及世界範圍的火災,
02:06
threw up enough dust to block out the sun.
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掀起的塵埃足以遮蓋天日。
02:09
It wiped out 75 percent of all species
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還順帶毀滅了
02:11
on Earth.
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地球上四分之三的物種。
02:13
Now, not all asteroids are that big.
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但是, 並不是所有的天體都那麼大。
02:16
Some of them are smaller.
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有些會小很多。
02:18
Here is one that came in
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我們這裡就會說道一個
02:21
over the United States
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在1992年10月
02:23
in October of 1992.
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抵達美國的這個小傢伙。
02:25
It came in on a Friday night.
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它在星期五下午入境。
02:27
Why is that important?
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但是爲什麽這是很重要呢?
02:29
Because back then, video cameras were
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因為當時攝影機
02:31
just starting to become popular, and people
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剛剛流行, 人們會隨身帶著它,
02:33
would bring them, parents would bring them,
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家長也會帶著它,
02:35
to their kids' football games to film their kids
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爲了拍下他們的孩子在參加的
02:37
play football. And since this came in on a Friday,
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足球比賽。那恰好隕石是在星期五到來,
02:40
they were able to get this great footage
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家長們就如此能把
02:42
of this thing breaking up as it came in
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它是如何一遍粉碎一遍抵達美國的情形拍下來,
02:44
over West Virgina, Maryland, Pennsylvania
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途徑西佛吉尼亞州, 馬里蘭州, 賓夕法尼亞州
02:46
and New Jersey until it did that
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和新澤西州, 最終這樣
02:48
to a car in New York.
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跌在紐約的一輛汽車上。
02:50
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
02:52
Now, this is not a 200-mile-wide crater,
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這不是一個200英里寬的坑,
02:55
but then again you can see the rock
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但是你是可以在圖片的右邊
02:57
which is sitting right here,
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看到那隕石
02:59
about the size of a football, that hit
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有足球那般大的跌下,
03:01
that car and did that damage.
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造成導致那車的損壞。
03:03
Now this thing was probably about the size
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那傢伙在剛進入地球時
03:05
of a school bus when it first came in.
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估計有一輛校車那麼大。
03:07
It broke up through atmospheric pressure,
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在大氣的摩擦下它才
03:09
it crumbled, and then the pieces fell apart
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分解破散成小碎塊
03:11
and did some damage.
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然後造成一些毀壞。
03:13
Now, you wouldn't want that falling on your foot
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同時, 你肯定也不會希望它打到你的腳
03:15
or your head, because it would do that to it.
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或你的頭, 因為這是可能的。
03:17
That would be bad.
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那將會很糟糕。
03:19
But it won't wipe out, you know, all life
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但它顯然不能毀掉地球上所有生命,
03:21
on Earth, so that's fine. But it turns out,
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所以這還好。但是它同時警戒了我們,
03:23
you don't need something six miles across
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我們並不需要6英里寬的石頭
03:26
to do a lot of damage.
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就可以造成破壞。
03:28
There is a median point between tiny rock
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在小隕石和大隕石件有一個
03:30
and gigantic rock, and in fact, if any of you
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中間值的傢伙,
03:32
have ever been to near Winslow, Arizona,
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假如你們當中有人去過亞利桑那州溫士盧,
03:35
there is a crater in the desert there that is
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在那的沙漠裏面有一個隕石坑
03:38
so iconic that it is actually called Meteor Crater.
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非常具有代表性, 以至可稱為流星坑。
03:42
To give you a sense of scale, this is about a mile wide.
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給點具體數據, 那坑應該有一英里寬。
03:45
If you look up at the top, that's a parking lot,
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假如從上往下看應該就是個停車場,
03:48
and those are recreational vehicles right there.
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在那邊停的就是幾輛旅遊車。
03:51
So it's about a mile across, 600 feet deep.
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一英里寬, 六百英尺深。
03:54
The object that formed this was probably about
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造成這個坑的小行星估計有
03:57
30 to 50 yards across, so roughly the size
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30到50碼寬,
04:00
of Mackey Auditorium here.
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大概就和麥基會堂差不多。
04:03
It came in at speeds that were tremendous,
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它以極大的速度
04:06
slammed into the ground, blew up,
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砸向地面, 並且爆炸,
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and exploded with the energy of roughly
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威力大概和
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a 20-megaton nuclear bomb --
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2000萬頓氫彈差不多--
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a very hefty bomb.
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重量級的大炸彈。
04:14
This was 50,000 years ago, so it may have
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那應該是在50000年前發生,
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wiped out a few buffalo or antelope,
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當時可能毀滅了數隻水牛或羚羊,
04:18
or something like that out in the desert,
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或沙漠內這一類的的物種,
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but it probably would not have caused
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但是它肯定是沒有
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global devastation.
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造成世界性的破壞。
04:25
It turns out that these things don't have to
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事實證明了小行星並不一定要
04:27
hit the ground to do a lot of damage.
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撞上了地球才會帶來很多災難。
04:30
Now, in 1908, over Siberia, near the
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在1908年, 近西伯利亞
04:32
Tunguska region -- for those of you who are
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通古斯地區--你們當中有些人可能
04:34
Dan Aykroyd fans and saw "Ghostbusters,"
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是丹阿卡羅德迷很和看過〈捉鬼特工隊〉,
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when he talked about the greatest cross-dimensional rift
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在他的故事裡所描述到在1909
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since the Siberia blast of 1909, where he got
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在西伯利亞巨大的次元裂縫, 就是我們要說的,
04:42
the date wrong, but that's okay. (Laughter)
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即使他把日期弄錯了, 但沒問題。（笑聲）
04:44
It was 1908. That's fine. I can live with that.
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那是1908年的事, 但我是無所謂的。
04:47
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
04:50
Another rock came into the Earth's atmosphere
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又有一顆隕石造訪了地球,
04:53
and this one blew up above the ground, several
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但在離地球還有幾英里距離的
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miles up above the surface of the Earth.
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地方爆炸了。
04:58
The heat from the explosion set fire to the
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爆炸所產生的熱量
05:01
forest below it, and then the shock wave
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點燃了下面的森林, 衝擊波
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came down and knocked down trees for
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震到了幾百平方米的
05:06
hundreds of square miles, okay?
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樹, 厲害嗎？
05:09
This did a huge amount of damage.
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這傢伙造成了不小的毀壞。
05:11
And again, this was a rock probably roughly
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同樣的, 這石頭估計
05:13
the size of this auditorium that we're sitting in.
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也應該和我們的這所禮堂差不多大。
05:15
In Meteor Crater it was made of metal,
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不同的是, 流行坑的那個是鐵質的,
05:17
and metal is much tougher, so it made it
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很牢固的綁在一起,
05:19
to the ground.
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所以才能撞到地面。
05:21
The one over Tunguska was probably made
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這個在通古斯的可能是
05:23
of rock, and that's much more crumbly, so it
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石質的有些鬆散
05:25
blew up in the air. Either way, these are
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所以在空中就爆炸了。
05:27
tremendous explosions, 20 megatons.
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無論如何, 同樣的, 龐大的2000萬頓氫彈。
05:30
Now, when these things blow up, they're not
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當這些東西爆炸時,
05:32
going to do global ecological damage.
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它們不會造成全世界範圍的生態破壞。
05:35
They're not going to do something like
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不是像滅種恐龍
05:37
the dinosaur-killer did.
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那樣的大破壞。
05:39
They're just not big enough.
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因為它們不夠大。
05:41
But they will do global economic damage,
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但是它們可能造成世界性的金融破壞,
05:43
because they don't have to hit, necessarily,
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因為它們並不用碰撞,
05:45
to do this kind of damage.
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便能造成這種的毀壞。
05:47
They don't have to do global devastation.
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它們不用造成全球性的破壞。
05:49
If one of these things were to hit
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因為不論那石頭落在了哪裡,
05:51
pretty much anywhere, it would cause a panic.
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哪裡都會引起恐慌。
05:53
But if it came over a city, an important city --
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但是假若它撞向了一個重要的城市--
05:55
not that any city is more important than others,
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不是說某一個城市比另一個重要,
05:57
but some of them we depend on them more
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但是在全球經濟下
05:59
on the global economic basis -- that could do
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我們有某些比較需要的城市--
06:02
a huge amount of damage to us
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作為一個文明社會我們肯定
06:05
as a civilization.
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會遭受巨大的毀壞。
06:07
So, now that I've scared the crap out of you ...
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好, 我已把你們嚇出尿來...
06:10
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
06:12
what can we do about this? All right?
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但是我們面對這又能做些什麽呢?
06:14
This is a potential threat.
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這是一個潛在的危機。
06:16
Let me note that we have not had
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我想強調的是我們已經有6500萬年
06:18
a giant impact like the dinosaur-killer
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沒有遭到過像恐龍殺手那次一樣
06:20
for 65 million years. They're very rare.
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巨大的破壞。因為這些例實在是太罕見。
06:23
The smaller ones happen more often, but
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許多規模較小的撞擊卻是經常發生的,
06:26
probably on the order of a millennium,
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但是一般間隔
06:28
every few centuries or every few thousand
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是不會超過幾個世紀或幾千年的,
06:30
years, but it's still something to be aware of.
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因此我們還是要關注它們。
06:33
Well, what do we do about them?
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但是我們又能做些什麽?
06:35
The first thing we have to do is find them.
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首先當然是找到它們啦。
06:37
This is an image of an asteroid that passed
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這是在2009年經過美國的
06:39
us in 2009.
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小行星。
06:41
It's right here.
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就是這個。
06:43
But you can see that it's extremely faint.
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你可以看到它十分微小。
06:45
I don't even know if you can see that
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在這一連串的黑點,
06:47
in the back row. These are just stars.
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說不定你們在後排看不到。看似像其他星星。
06:49
This is a rock that was about 30 yards across,
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這石頭大概有30碼寬,
06:51
so roughly the size of the ones that blew up
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大概和在5萬年前通古斯和亞利桑那州
06:53
over Tunguska and hit Arizona 50,000 years ago.
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爆炸的小行星差不多大。
06:56
These things are faint.
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小行星相對于巨大的天空很小。
06:58
They're hard to see, and the sky is really big.
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所以我們要找到它們還是有難度的。
07:00
We have to find these things first.
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所以第一步要找到這些東西。
07:02
Well the good news is, we're looking for them.
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呵呵, 好消息是我們已經找到它們。
07:04
NASA has devoted money to this.
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NASA 在這方面投了相當的錢。
07:06
The National Science Foundation, other
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國家自然科學基金委員會和其他國家
07:08
countries are very interested in doing this.
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對這個項目都很感興趣。
07:10
We're building telescopes that are looking
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爲了觀察這些危機我們
07:12
for the threat. That's a great first step,
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製造了一系列望遠鏡。這是非常偉大的第一步,
07:14
but what's the second step? The second step
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但是下一步又是什麽呢? 第二部
07:16
is that we see one heading toward us,
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當然是在發現它們靠近我們時
07:18
we have to stop it. What do we do?
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把它們停下來。 如何做到呢?
07:20
You've probably heard about the asteroid
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你可能聽說過小行星
07:22
Apophis. If you haven't yet, you will.
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阿婆菲斯。假如你沒聽過你肯定將會聽說到的。
07:25
If you've heard about the Mayan 2012
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假如你知道瑪雅的2012天啟,
07:27
apocalypse, you're going to hear about Apophis,
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你就肯定會知道阿婆菲斯,
07:29
because you're keyed in to all the doomsday
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因為你對世界末日的關鍵互聯網
07:31
networks anyway.
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有所關於。
07:34
Apophis is an asteroid that was discovered in 2004.
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阿婆菲斯是在2004年被發現的小行星。
07:37
It's roughly 250 yards across, so it's
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有250碼那麼寬,
07:40
pretty big -- big size, you know,
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所以這夥計有點大--
07:42
bigger than a football stadium -- and it's going to
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和一個足球場差不多--
07:44
pass by the Earth in April of 2029.
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而且會在2029年四月經過地球。
07:47
And it's going to pass us so close that it's
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並且會以很近的距離經過我們,
07:49
actually going to come underneath
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準確來說比天氣衛星
07:51
our weather satellites.
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還要低一點。
07:53
The Earth's gravity is going to bend the orbit
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地球的引力將會大大地彎曲它的
07:55
of this thing so much that if it's just right,
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軌道, 倘若恰好,
07:58
if it passes through this region of space,
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便能穿過這個區域,
08:01
this kidney bean-shaped region called
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這個四季豆一樣形狀的
08:03
the keyhole, the Earth's gravity will bend it
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叫做關鍵孔區域的地方, 那麼地球的引力
08:05
just enough that seven years later
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就能足夠彎曲它的軌道, 然後再7年後的
08:07
on April 13, which is a Friday, I'll note,
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四月13日, 星期五, 不得不提,
08:09
in the year 2036 ... (Laughter)
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是2036年... (笑聲)
08:12
-- you can't plan that kind of stuff --
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-- 這不是巧合哦（黑色星期五）--
08:15
Apophis is going to hit us. And it's
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阿婆菲斯將會撞擊到地球。
08:17
250 meters across, so it would do
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並且那250碼的身姿
08:19
unbelievable damage.
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肯定會造成不小的傷害。
08:21
Now the good news is that the odds of it
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但是有好消息的是它穿過
08:23
actually passing through this keyhole and
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這個關鍵區域的可能性
08:25
hitting us next go-around are one in a million,
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和在下一次回歸時撞上我們的幾率是
08:27
roughly -- very, very low odds, so I personally
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100萬分之一, 很小很小的幾率,
08:29
am not lying awake at night worrying about this at all.
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所以我個人是肯定不會爲了擔心它而睡不著覺。
08:31
I don't think Apophis is a problem.
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我認為阿婆菲斯的存在對我們並不壞。
08:33
In fact, Apophis is a blessing in disguise,
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而是一個變相的好事,
08:35
because it woke us up to the dangers
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它讓我們察覺到了
08:37
of these things.
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原來還有這樣的危機存在。
08:39
This thing was discovered just a few years
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它僅僅是在幾年前被發現,
08:41
ago and could hit us a few years from now.
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然後有可能在幾年後撞上我們。
08:43
It won't, but it gives us a chance to study
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但是它不會, 而且讓我們得到了
08:45
these kinds of asteroids. We didn't really
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一個去學習這些小行星的機會。我們之前
08:47
necessarily understand these keyholes, and
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是並沒有去研究這些關鍵孔的,
08:49
now we do and it turns out
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但是我們現在明白, 並且知道了
08:51
that's really important, because how do you
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它們的重要性, 關係到我們
08:53
stop an asteroid like this?
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該如何停下一個像這樣的天體?
08:55
Well, let me ask you, what happens if you're
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來, 我來問你 假如你站在馬路中間
08:57
standing in the middle of the road and a car's
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一輛車向你駛來,
08:59
headed for you? What do you do? You do this.
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你會幹什麼 你當然會這樣做。
09:01
Right? Move. The car goes past you.
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對吧, 動一動。然後車就會從你旁邊經過。
09:03
But we can't move the Earth, at least
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但是我們移不動地球, 起碼
09:05
not easily, but we can move a small asteroid.
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不能如此簡單, 但是我們可以移動那個小行星。
09:07
And it turns out, we've even done it.
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事實證明，我們曾經做到。
09:09
In the year 2005, NASA launched a probe
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在2005年, NASA發射了
09:12
called Deep Impact, which slammed into --
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一個叫Deep Impact的探針--
09:15
slammed a piece of itself into the nucleus of a comet.
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插到了一個彗星的彗核中。
09:18
Comets are very much like asteroids.
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彗星和小行星是很相像的。
09:20
The purpose wasn't to push it out of the way.
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目的並不是想把它推到別處去。
09:22
The purpose was to make a crater to excavate
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而是在上面開個坑, 用來
09:24
the material and see what was underneath
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挖掘彗星表面底下的物質。
09:26
the surface of this comet, which we learned
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我們通過這樣
09:28
quite a bit about.
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瞭解了很多東西。
09:30
We did move the comet a little tiny bit,
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而且同時我們也的確把這個彗星移動了一點點,
09:32
not very much, but that wasn't the point.
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很少, 但是這不是它的任務重點。
09:34
However, think about this.
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但是, 想一想這個。
09:36
This thing is orbiting the sun at
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這個東西是以每秒10英里20英里的速度
09:38
10 miles per second, 20 miles per second.
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繞著太陽運行。
09:40
We shot a space probe at it and hit it. Okay?
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我們發射了一個空間探針, 然後準確的命中了它!
09:42
Imagine how hard that must be, and we did it.
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試想一下這個事情的難度, 的但是我們做到了。
09:45
That means we can do it again.
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這就意味著我們還能再做一次。
09:48
If we need, if we see an asteroid that's coming
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假如我們現在看到一個小行星
09:50
toward us, and it's headed right for us,
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正筆直衝向我們, 我們這是有要移動它的需要的話,
09:52
and we have two years to go, boom! We hit it.
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並且有兩年時間準備, 轟! 我們當然可以撞擊它。
09:55
You can try to -- you know, if you watch
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假如你看過電影,
09:57
the movies, you might think about,
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你可能在想,
09:59
why don't we use a nuclear weapon?
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爲什麽我們不用核武器?
10:01
It's like, well, you can try that, but the problem is timing.
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那當然可以, 但是問題時引爆時間的問題。
10:03
You shoot a nuclear weapon at this thing,
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你可以用核武器向小行星丟去,
10:05
you have to blow it up within a few milliseconds
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但是你的引爆誤差要在幾毫秒內,
10:07
of tolerance or else you'll just miss it.
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否則你就會錯過沒打中。
10:09
And there are a lot of other problems
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然後這還有很多其他連結的問題,
10:11
with that. It's very hard to do.
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這些問題都很難解決。
10:13
But just hitting something? That's pretty easy.
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但是只要僅僅是擊中它? 那是很容易的。
10:15
I think even NASA can do that,
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我認為NASA都可以做到,
10:17
and they proved that they can. (Laughter)
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同時他們也證明過他們可以。(笑聲)
10:19
The problem is, what happens if you hit
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但是問題是, 假如我擊擊中了
10:21
this asteroid, you've changed the orbit,
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這顆小行星, 我們成功改變了其軌道,
10:23
you measure the orbit and then you find out,
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再次測量發現,
10:25
oh, yeah, we just pushed it into a keyhole,
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噢, 我們把它又丟進了一個關鍵孔,
10:27
and now it's going to hit us in three years.
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然後再3年後它就來了。
10:29
Well, my opinion is, fine. Okay?
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我的想法是, 還好啦,
10:31
It's not hitting us in six months. That's good.
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起碼不是在六個月內就來了。還好。
10:33
Now we have three years to do something else.
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我們還有三年時間去對付它。
10:36
And you can hit it again. That's kind of
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然後你又擊中了它。雖然這比較有點扯。
10:38
ham-fisted. You might just push it into a third
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但是你又再次把它丟入了關係孔,
10:40
keyhole or whatever, so you don't do that.
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或者直接就撞上來什麽的, 你當然不希望這樣。
10:42
And this is the part, it's the part I just love.
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但是我就喜歡這一部份。
10:46
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
10:48
After the big macho "Rrrrrrr BAM! We're
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在無腦一番後, 啪咚, 我們
10:50
gonna hit this thing in the face,"
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要從正面攻擊它了,
10:52
then we bring in the velvet gloves.
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然後結果卻很糟。
10:55
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
10:58
There's a group of scientists and engineers
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有這樣一批科學家和工程師,
11:00
and astronauts and they call themselves
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還有宇航員, 他們自稱為
11:02
The B612 Foundation. For those of you
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笑聲612委員會。
11:04
who've read "The Little Prince,"
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對於那些讀過〈小王子〉的人,
11:06
you understand that reference, I hope. The little prince
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你們應該知道這個引用。
11:08
who lived on an asteroid, it was called B612.
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小王子就是住在小行星B612上的。
11:10
These are smart guys -- men and women --
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這的都是些很厲害的人--
11:12
astronauts, like I said, engineers.
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宇航員, 工程師。
11:14
Rusty Schweickart, who was an Apollo 9
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魯斯提•思維瓦特, 阿婆羅九號的宇航員
11:16
astronaut, is on this. Dan Durda, my friend
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就在裏面。丹•杜爾達, 我的好朋友
11:18
who made this image, works here at
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做了這張圖片, 現在在
11:20
Southwest Research Institute in Boulder,
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位於Boulder 胡桃街的西南研究院
11:22
on Walnut Street. He created this image for this,
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工作, 他為委員會製作了這樣一幅圖,
11:24
and he's actually one of the astronomers
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同時也是一位為他們工作的天文學家。
11:26
who works for them. If we see an asteroid
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假如我們看到了一個小行星
11:28
that's going to hit the Earth and we have
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將要撞向地球,
11:30
enough time, we can hit it to move it into
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同時我們有足夠的時間
11:33
a better orbit. But then what we do is we launch
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我們就可以撞擊它, 把它推向一個更好的軌道,
11:36
a probe that has to weigh a ton or two.
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然後我們就要發射一個重1到2頓的探測器。
11:38
It doesn't have to be huge -- couple of tons,
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不需很大--就幾頓大吧--
11:41
not that big -- and you park it near the asteroid.
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然後把它停在小行星旁邊。
11:44
You don't land on it, because these things are
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不必要在上面著陸, 因為這些東西
11:46
tumbling end over end. It's very hard to land on them.
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是會在一直轉動, 很難在上面降落。
11:48
Instead you get near it.
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因此我們就停在它旁邊。
11:50
The gravity of the asteroid pulls on the probe,
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小行星的引力會吸引探針,
11:52
and the probe has a couple of tons of mass.
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同時探針只是一個幾頓的很小引力的物體。
11:55
It has a little tiny bit of gravity, but it's enough
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但是足夠土洞一個小行星,
11:57
that it can pull the asteroid, and you have your
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然後把火箭點燃,
11:59
rockets set up, so you can -- oh, you can barely
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你就可以看到
12:01
see it here, but there's rocket plumes -- and you
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一縷青煙,
12:03
basically, these guys are connected by their
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基本上來說這些天體是由引力
12:05
own gravity, and if you move the probe very
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鏈接的, 所以假如你
12:08
slowly, very, very gently, you can very easily
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很慢, 徐徐地移動探針,
12:12
finesse that rock into a safe orbit.
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你就可以簡單並巧妙地把那石頭移到安全的軌道。
12:15
You can even put in orbit around the Earth
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你當然可以把它推到地球的軌道,
12:17
where we could mine it, although that's a
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在哪裡我們可以開採它,
12:19
whole other thing. I won't go into that.
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但是那又是別的一回事。 我不會在這裡討論它。
12:21
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
12:23
But we'd be rich!
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但我們會很富有！
12:25
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
12:30
So think about this, right?
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想一下,
12:32
There are these giant rocks flying out there,
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在太空中飛著巨大的小行星,
12:34
and they're hitting us, and they're doing
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然後它們要撞向我們, 它們對我們造成了危險,
12:36
damage to us, but we've figured out how to do
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但是我們已經知道了怎麼對付他們,
12:38
this, and all the pieces are in place to do this.
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所有的零件也已經拼在一起執行這項任務。
12:41
We have astronomers in place with telescopes
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我們有天文家用望遠鏡
12:43
looking for them. We have smart people,
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看著它們。我們有人才,
12:45
very, very smart people, who are concerned
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相當厲害的人正在關注這個,
12:47
about this and figuring out how to fix the
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並在思考解決問題。
12:49
problem, and we have the technology to do this.
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同時我們也已經有了成熟的技術去攻克這個難關。
12:52
This probe actually can't use chemical rockets.
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這個探針不是用的化學火箭。
12:54
Chemical rockets provide too much thrust, too
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化學火箭提供的動力太大了,
12:56
much push. The probe would just shoot away.
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探針一下子就會被推開。
12:58
We invented something called an ion drive,
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我們發明了一種叫做離子推力器的東西,
13:00
which is a very, very, very low-thrust engine.
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是一個很小功率的推力器。
13:03
It generates the force a piece of paper would
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它所產生的力
13:05
have on your hand, incredibly light,
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和你頭頂一張紙差不多, 十分輕便,
13:07
but it can run for months and years,
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但是它能持續工作幾個月, 幾年,
13:10
providing that very gentle push.
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不斷提供平緩的推力。
13:13
If anybody here is a fan of the original "Star Trek,"
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你們當中有人是〈星艦奇航記〉迷話,
13:15
they ran across an alien ship that had
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他們就有一個外星飛船裝有
13:17
an ion drive, and Spock said,
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離子推進器, Spock還說過:
13:19
"They're very technically sophisticated.
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「 這個技術上的工藝很複雜。
13:21
They're a hundred years ahead of us with this drive."
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這東西起碼比我們領先幾百年。」
13:23
Yeah, we have an ion drive now. (Laughter)
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怎麼樣, 我們現在已經有了離子推進器。(笑聲)
13:25
We don't have the Enterprise, but
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我們沒有〈進取號〉,
13:27
we've got an ion drive now.
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但是我們有了離子推進器。
13:29
(Applause)
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（鼓掌）
13:32
Spock.
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Spock。
13:34
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
13:37
So ...
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所以,
13:39
that's the difference, that's the difference
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這就有不同了,
13:41
between us and the dinosaurs.
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我們和恐龍之間就有了不同。
13:43
This happened to them.
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災難降臨了在牠們身上。
13:45
It doesn't have to happen to us.
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但是不會降臨在我們頭上。
13:47
The difference between the dinosaurs and us
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我們和恐龍的區別就在於
13:50
is that we have a space program
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我們有太空計劃,
13:52
and we can vote,
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我們可以投票,
13:54
and so we can change our future.
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所以未來就在我們手中。
13:57
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
13:58
We have the ability to change our future.
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我們有能力改變命運。
14:01
65 million years from now,
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6500萬年後,
14:03
we don't have to have our bones
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我們不用
14:05
collecting dust in a museum.
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把我們的骨頭陳列在博物館裡。
14:07
Thank you very much.
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非常感謝你們。
14:09
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Phil Plait - AstronomerPhil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe.
Why you should listen
Phil Plait is the Bad Astronomer. Not a bad astronomer, but a blogger for Slate who debunks myths and misconceptions about astronomy -- and also writes about the beauty, wonder and importance of fundamental research.
He worked for six years on the Hubble Space Telescope, and directed public outreach for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. He is a past president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, and was the host of Phil Plait's Bad Universe, a documentary series on the Discovery Channel.
Read more from Phil Plait in the Huffington Post's special TEDWeekends feature, "Asteroids: Getting Ready" >>
Phil Plait | Speaker | TED.com