Nagin Cox: What time is it on Mars?
娜晶.科思: 火星時間現在幾點?
Nagin Cox explores Mars as part of the team that operates NASA's rovers. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
the movie "The Martian."
看過《絕地救援》。
it's a movie about an astronaut
這部電影是關於一個太空人,
and his efforts to stay alive
然後他想辦法要存活下來,
to bring him back to Earth.
營救任務然後帶他回去。
astronaut Watney, at some point
on Mars until he can be rescued.
就不是孤單一人在火星上了。
or even if you haven't,
沒看過也沒關係,
how far away it is and how distant.
離這裡有多遠,距離是多少。
have occurred to you is,
of working on another planet --
要是你真的在另一個星球上工作,
and there are rovers or people on Mars?
一邊是火星上的小艇或者居民?
families and co-workers
or in other parts of the world.
或者在世界的另一面
to communicate with them,
you probably first think about is:
我可以給他們打電話嗎?
with colleagues who are in Europe,
你在歐洲的同事時,
communication when people are far away?
彼此間聯繫需要協調什麼?
right now, but we do have rovers.
但是我們有探測小艇。
it is 6:10 in the morning.
是早上 6 點 10 分,
on Mars since the mid-1990s,
就在火星投放四部探測小艇。
to work on three of them.
三部探測小艇的工作。
a spacecraft operations engineer,
太空船航務管理工程師,
in Los Angeles, California.
太空總署噴射推進實驗室工作。
are our robotic emissaries.
and they see the planet for us
他們在我們送人上去之前
on other planets through these rovers.
學習怎麼在另一個星球上管理。
我們先送機器人。
on Mars right now,
is longer than the Earth day.
比在地球的一天長。
the Earth to rotate,
40 minutes to rotate once.
24 小時又 40 分鐘。
is 40 minutes longer than the Earth day.
比地球多了 40 分鐘。
the rovers on Mars, like this one,
火星探測小艇的團隊,
on Earth, but working on Mars.
居住在地球,卻在火星工作。
on Mars with the rover.
與探測艇一起一樣。
of which I'm a part of,
to tell it what to do the next day.
我們明天要幹什麼。
or tell her whatever she's supposed to do.
或告訴她任何她應該做的。
and the rover does sleep at night
這部探測艇的確需要在晚上休息,
to recharge her batteries
the cold Martian night.
晚上保護自己。
on her program for the next day.
第二天需要做的事。
at the same time every day on Mars --
火星的固定時間上班,
at work at 5:00 p.m.,
at 5:00 p.m. Mars time every day,
每天下午 5:00 工作,
on the Earth 40 minutes later every day,
比前一天晚 40 分鐘來上班,
the next day 40 minutes later at 8:40,
第二天晚 40 分鐘,8 點 40 到,
in the middle of the night --
how confusing that is.
這有多麼的複雜。
have been mechanically adjusted
the rovers back then.
這兩艘小艇開始工作。
we'll just have the time on our computers
and that would be enough.
working on Mars time,
about what time it was.
on your wrist to tell you:
你手腕上的東西告訴你:
What time is it on Mars?
that was confusing;
時間令人困惑;
to talk to each other about it.
again, 24 hours and 40 minutes.
是 24 小時又 40 分鐘。
that's happening on the Earth,
"Oh, let's invent a language."
「哦,讓我們發明一種語言。」
walked up to me and said,
on the vehicle tomorrow, on the rover."
做這個活動,探測車。」
or Mars, tomorrow?"
地球的,還是火星的?」
we needed a way to talk to each other.
因為我們需要一種方式來相互交談。
或「明太陽日。」
for the words they use.
有不同的偏好。
and some of you might say "pop."
有些人可能會說「汽水。」
"nextersol" or "solorrow."
「翌太陽日」或「明太陽日。」
a few years of working on these missions,
做了這些任務幾年後,
on the rovers, we say "tosol."
我們會說「今太陽日。」
landed missions that don't rove around,
you worked on from your Martian accent.
辨別你的工作任務。
and you're detecting a theme here, right?
你開始有點感覺了吧?
could confuse us.
也可能讓我們迷惑。
you've come to work
from the windows
this image of the control room
about a week before landing,
整個建築物的百葉窗都放下來,
until we went off Mars time.
直到我們開始火星時間。
for the house, for at home.
and my husband is like,
我的丈夫就好像,
and dark curtains and shades
窗簾和遮陽板都放下,
this darkened environment, but so was he.
黑暗的環境中,他也是。
emails from him when he was at work.
我會收到他楚楚可憐的電子郵件。
so he needs a Mars watch.
他需要一個火星手錶。
so there's an app for that.
所以他們當然有一個應用程式。
we can also use our phones.
我們還可以用我們的手機。
was just across the board;
who were working on the rovers
one of our flight directors,
我們的一名飛行指引長,
with his family at 1:00 in the morning.
和他家人的合照。
to school until September,
都不用回學校,
with him for one month.
過了一個月的火星時間。
and had these great adventures,
這是一次非常棒的歷程。
in the middle of the night
that we all discovered
可以去洛杉磯任何地方,
when there's no traffic.
and bother our families,
going locally to eat something,
可是我們沒有去附近找東西吃,
all-night deli in Long Beach,
長灘有一家很棒的宵夜店,
it was like the 60s, no traffic.
就像 60 年代,沒有塞車!
and the restaurant owners would go,
然後餐廳的主人過來了,
at 3:00 in the morning?"
在我的餐廳?」
that there were these packs of Martians,
in the middle of the night --
start calling ourselves Martians.
would refer to ourselves as Martians,
會自稱為火星人,
a time-zone every day,
from everyone else.
"I survived Mars time. Sol 0-90."
「我從火星時間生還,太陽日 0-90。」
up on the screen.
is because we work on Mars time
是因為我們在火星時間工作,
with the rover on Mars,
在火星上盡可能高效,
for more than three to four months.
超過三到四個月。
time, which is what we're working now.
這是我們現在正在研究的東西。
your bodies, it's hard on your families.
對你的家人也很難熬。
who actually were studying us
實際在研究我們,
to try to extend their day.
他們的一天是非常難見的。
sleep deprivation experiments on.
and I fell asleep in each one.
而且我在每場測試都睡著了。
this eventually becomes hard on your body.
這最終變得對你的身體很糟。
with the other members on the team,
產生很強的情誼,
steps out into the solar system.
是我們進入太陽系的第一步。
on more than one planet.
如何在多個星球上生活。
to become multi-planetary.
成為多行星。
a Star Wars movie,
from the Dagobah system to Tatooine,
people spread out so far.
真正意義是什麼。
of the distances between them,
separate from each other
to Mars yet, but we hope to.
但我們希望能。
space agencies of the world,
in the next few decades.
and we truly will be multi-planetary.
我們會是多行星的。
年輕男孩或年輕女孩
in this audience or listening today.
on these missions since I was 14 years old
噴射推進實驗室做這些任務,
in the space program,
you don't have enough time in your day,
你一天沒有足夠的時間,
of your Earthly perspective.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nagin Cox - Spacecraft operations engineerNagin Cox explores Mars as part of the team that operates NASA's rovers.
Why you should listen
Nagin Cox has been exploring since she decided as a teenager that she wanted to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She was born in Bangalore, India, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her experiences as a child in a Muslim household showed her how easily we separate ourselves based on gender, race or nationality, and it inspired her to do something that brings people together instead of dividing them. The Space Program helps the world "look up" and remember that we are one world. Thus, she has known from the time she was 14 years old that she wanted to work on missions of robotic space exploration.
Cox realized her childhood dream and has been a spacecraft operations engineer at NASA/JPL for over 20 years. She has held leadership and system engineering positions on interplanetary robotic missions including the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Kepler exoplanet hunter, InSight and the Mars Curiosity Rover.
In 2015, Cox was honored as the namesake for Asteroid 14061 by its discovers. She has also received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals. She is a U.S. Department of State STEM Speaker and has spoken to audiences around the world on the stories of the people behind the missions. She has also served on Cornell University’s President's Council for Cornell Women.
Before her time at JPL, Cox served for 6 years in the US Air Force including duty as a Space Operations Officer at NORAD/US Space Command. She holds engineering degrees from Cornell University and the Air Force Institute of Technology as well as a psychology degree from Cornell. (Sometimes she is not sure which one she uses more: the engineering degree or the psychology degree.)
Cox is currently a Tactical Mission Lead on the Curiosity Rover, and every day at NASA/JPL exploring space is as rewarding as the first. You can contact her at nagincox(at)outlook.com.
Nagin Cox | Speaker | TED.com