Even from Home, NASA Team Keeps Mars Explorer Moving

VOA原文

Millions of people around the world are currently working from home in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Many of them have had to learn new ways of performing their jobs while attempting to turn living spaces into work-friendly environments.

While such change can be difficult for any worker, it can be even harder for a scientist or engineer who cannot work in their usual laboratory setting.

The American space agency NASA employs a large number of these workers.

Almost all of them have been working from home for the past month.

Recently, the NASA team that controls the Curiosity explorer on Mars showed that they were able to perform their daily duties completely from their homes.

NASA recently reported on the team's latest activities on its website.

Usually, the Curiosity control team operates from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, California.

But for the first time ever, all members of the team have had to do all of their work remotely.

Alicia Allbaugh leads the Mars Exploration Program. She said the current situation is very different from the environment her team is used to working in at JPL headquarters.

"We're usually all in one room, sharing screens, images and data. People are talking in small groups and to each other from across the room," she said.

The Curiosity team has attempted to recreate the same cooperative work atmosphere by using video conferencing technology and messaging apps.

Effective communication is very important. So, team leaders have added extra planning time each day to help make sure all team members are connected.

Carrie Bridge is the chief of science operations for the team.

She said one of her main jobs is to be a bridge between the scientists and engineers to make sure they understand each other's work.

At JPL headquarters, Bridge usually goes around to meet directly with groups working in a "situation room" where Curiosity's data and images are examined and commands are shared.

Now, she calls into as many as four separate video conferences at once.

Bridge said she is also now looking at about 15 different message chats at all times to keep effective communication flowing.

"You're juggling more than you normally would," she said.

The remote Curiosity team was lacking some technology and tools they usually use to perform their jobs.

Some employees were able to pick up some computer and communications equipment. But other equipment could not besent home.

For example, the team uses special goggles, or eyewear, to examine three-dimensional (3D) images sent from Mars.

The equipment helps scientists get a better look at the surface of the planet so they know where to drive Curiosity and how far they can extend the explorer's arm.

The goggles require high-powered computer systems to operate that team members could not set up at home.

So, they were told to use simple red-blue 3D glasses instead.

While not nearly as sensitive as the usual goggles, the team reported that the low-tech 3D glasses worked just as well for planning drives and arm movements for Curiosity.

After a lot of planning and test runs, the remote team was excited to announce that the explorer had received its commands from Earth and performed as expected.

The first result: Curiosity successfully completed arock drilling operation in an area called "Edinburgh."

While the effort required a lot of creative thinking and workflow changes, Carrie Bridge said the experience demonstrated what NASA has always been about.

"We're presented with a problem and we figure out how to make things work. Mars isn't standing still for us - we're still exploring."

满满de知识点

remote

美 [rɪˈmoʊt]

adj. far away

goggles

美 [ˈɡɑːɡlz]

n. [安全] 护目镜；防护眼镜

three-dimensional  3D

美 [daɪmenʃənl,dɪmenʃənl]

adj. having or seemingto have length, width, and depth

drill

美 [drɪl]

v. to make holes inhard materials with a machine

figureout

v. to finallyunderstand something or someone after a lot of thought

参考译文

目前，世界各地有数百万人在家中工作，以努力减缓这种X的传播。他们中的许多人不得不学习新的工作方式，试图把生活空间变成工作友好的环境。虽然这种改变对任何工作来说都是困难的，但对于日常工作在实验室环境中的科学家或工程师来说，情况就更困难了。美国宇航局NASA的科学家和工程师目前就面临这种困难。在过去的一个月里，几乎所有人都在家工作。最近，控制着火星上的“好奇号”探测器的美国国家航空和宇宙航行局(NASA)团队表明，他们能够完全在自己家里执行日常任务。NASA最近在其网站上报道了该团队的最新活动。通常情况下，“好奇号”的控制团队是在美国宇航局位于加州帕萨迪纳的喷气推进实验室(JPL)工作的。但有史以来第一次，所有的团队成员都必须远程完成所有的工作。Alicia Allbaugh负责火星探索项目。她说，目前的情况与她的团队在JPL总部工作时所习惯的环境非常不同。“我们通常都在一个房间里，共享屏幕、图像和数据。人们分成小组，在房间的另一头互相交谈。”她说。“好奇号”团队试图通过视频会议技术和即时通讯应用来重建同样的合作工作氛围。有效的沟通是非常重要的。因此，团队领导者每天都要增加额外的计划时间，以确保所有的团队成员都是相互联系的。Carrie Bridge是该团队的科学运营负责人。她说，她的主要工作之一是在科学家和工程师之间架起一座桥梁，确保他们了解彼此的工作。在喷气推进实验室的总部，“好奇号”的数据和图像被检查，命令被共享，而布里奇通常会直接去“网络会议室”与工作小组见面。现在，她一次可以召集多达四次不同的视频会议。布里奇说，她现在还一直在研究15种不同的信息聊天方式，以保持有效的沟通。她说:“你比平时玩得更多。”远程的“好奇号”团队缺乏一些他们通常用来完成工作的技术和工具。一些员工能够带回家一些电脑和通讯设备。但是其他设备不能被送回家。例如，该团队使用特殊的护目镜，或称3D眼镜，来检查从火星发出的三维(3D)图像。这些设备可以帮助科学家更好地观察火星表面，这样他们就知道在哪里驱动“好奇号”，以及他们可以把“好奇号”的手臂伸多远。护目镜需要高性能的计算机系统来操作，这是队员们在家里无法安装的。因此，他们被告知使用简单的红蓝色3D眼镜。虽然不像普通的护目镜那样灵敏，但研究小组报告说，这种低技术含量的3D眼镜在为“好奇号”计划驱动器和手臂运动时表现得一样好。经过大量的计划和测试运行后，远程团队兴奋地宣布，“探索者”已经收到了来自地球的指令，并按预期执行。第一个结果:“好奇号”在一个叫“爱丁堡”的地方成功地完成了一次岩石钻探作业。虽然这项工作需要大量的创造性思维和工作流程的改变，但凯丽·布里奇说，这次经历证明了NASA一直以来的宗旨。“我们遇到了一个问题，我们想办法解决问题。火星并不是静止不动的，我们仍在探索中。” 

大量干货戳这个哦 微信公众号:LE_77RABBIT （ 刨土兔子的英语花园）