美國宇航局的好奇號探測器在火星上發(fā)現(xiàn)粘土礦物

美國宇航局的好奇號探測器在火星上發(fā)現(xiàn)粘土礦物

NASA's Curiosity rover has found the highest amounts of clay minerals since its landing on Mars in August of 2012, according to a release of NASA on Wednesday.

據(jù)美國國家航空航天局周三發(fā)布的消息，自2012年8月登陸火星以來，美國國家航空航天局的好奇心號探測器發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)量最高的粘土礦物。

Two samples the rover recently drilled at rock targets called "Aberlady" and "Kilmarie" have revealed the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during the mission, said the release.

該探測器最近在“阿伯萊德”和“基爾瑪麗”兩個鉆探點獲取的兩個樣本顯示，在這次任務(wù)中發(fā)現(xiàn)的粘土礦物量是有史以來最高的。

Both drill targets appear in a new selfie taken by the rover on May 12, the 2,405th Martian day of the mission.

這兩個探測點都出現(xiàn)在5月12日——好奇心探測器的第2405個火星日的自拍照片中。

This clay-enriched region, located on the side of lower Mount Sharp, stood out to NASA orbiters before Curiosity landed in 2012.

這片富含粘土的區(qū)域位于夏普山下部，在2012年好奇號著陸前，它在NASA的軌道飛行器面前顯得格外顯眼。

Clay often forms in water, which is essential for life. Curiosity is exploring Mount Sharp to see if it had the conditions to support life billions of years ago, according to the mission team.

粘土通常在水中形成，水對生命是必不可少的。好奇號正在探索夏普山，看看它是否具備數(shù)十億年前支持生命存在的條件。

The rover's mineralogy instrument, called CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy), provided the first analysis of rock samples drilled in the clay-bearing unit. CheMin also found very little hematite, an iron oxide mineral that was abundant just to the north, on Vera Rubin Ridge, according to NASA.

探測車的礦物學(xué)儀器，稱為CheMin(化學(xué)和礦物學(xué))，提供了第一個分析巖石樣本鉆在粘土軸承單元。美國國家航空航天局(NASA)稱，CheMin還在維拉魯賓山脊(Vera Rubin Ridge)發(fā)現(xiàn)了非常少的赤鐵礦。赤鐵礦是一種氧化鐵礦物，僅在北面就很豐富。

It is likely that the rocks in the area formed as layers of mud in ancient lakes, something Curiosity also found lower on Mount Sharp. Water interacted with sediment over time, leaving an abundance of clay in the rocks there, said NASA.

該地區(qū)的巖石很可能是由古代湖泊中的泥層形成的，在夏普山的下部也發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些奇特的東西。美國宇航局說，隨著時間的推移，水與沉積物相互作用，在巖石中留下了豐富的粘土。

Amid this new drilling and analyzing, Curiosity used its black-and-white Navigation Cameras to snap images of drifting clouds on May 7 and May 12, which are likely water-ice clouds about 31 kilometers above the surface, according to NASA.

在這次新的鉆探和分析過程中，“好奇號”用黑白導(dǎo)航相機拍攝了5月7日和5月12日的浮云照片。據(jù)美國宇航局稱，浮云很可能是離地面約31公里的水冰云。

The mission team has been trying to coordinate cloud observations with NASA's InSight lander, which is located about 600 kilometers away. Capturing the same clouds from two vantage points can help scientists calculate their altitude, said NASA.

該任務(wù)小組一直試圖協(xié)調(diào)云觀測與美國宇航局的洞察號著陸器，該著陸器位于大約600公里之外。NASA說，從兩個有利位置捕捉相同的云層可以幫助科學(xué)家計算它們的高度。