當地時間18日晚（北京時間19日凌晨4時55分），美國航空航天局（NASA）的「毅力」號探測器成功登陸火星，並發回首張照片。美國航天局副局長託馬斯·楚比興表示，「毅力」號是美國航天局迄今為止最宏大的火星車探測任務，主要任務是尋找火星上是否存在過生命跡象。為找到答案，任務團隊為「毅力」號在耶澤羅隕石坑著陸做了最充分準備，這個區域也是有史以來探測器登陸火星最艱難的區域。
2021年，各國也將開啟一個忙碌的太空探索之年，將有什麼重大太空探索項目值得我們的期待呢？
美國國家航空航天局的科學家展示了毅力號從火星傳來的高解析度的圖像。
About a month after the new year has started on Earth, three spacecraft will pull into the vicinity of Mars. These explorers, which launched in July last year, will be heralds of a busy year of space exploration, launches and astronomical occurrences.Martian meetup
在火星相遇
The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all launched robotic missions to Mars last summer, seeking shortened voyages during the period every two years when Earth is closest to the red planet. The three spacecraft will join a bustling community of explorers either in orbit or on the planet’s surface.去年夏天，阿拉伯聯合大公國、中國和美國都向火星發射了不載人的探測器，以尋求在每兩年一次的地球與火星最接近時縮短航程。這三艘宇宙飛船將加入一個已呆在火星軌道或火星表面的眾多探索器群體。
The first to arrive will be the Emirati Hope orbiter, the first deep space explorer of the Arab country’s small but ambitious space program. The mission will study the Martian atmosphere, sending valuable data back to scientists on Earth. It is to reach its destination on Feb. 9.第一個到達的將是阿聯的希望號(Hope)軌道飛行器，這是該國規模雖小但雄心勃勃的太空計劃的首個深空探測器。其任務是研究火星大氣，向地球上的科學家發回有價值的數據。預計2月9日到進入火星軌道。China’s Tianwen-1 mission is also to arrive at Mars on Feb. 10. After orbiting the planet for a time, it will send a lander containing a rover to the surface in May. Landing intact on the solar system’s fourth planet is perilous, and only NASA has done it more than once. A successful landing there would extend China’s record of impressive spaceflight achievements, especially after last year’s Chang』e-5 mission to the lunar surface then back to Earth with a fresh cache of moon rocks.
中國的天問一號也將於2月10日進入火星軌道。在火星軌道上運行一段時間後，它將在今年5月把一個載有巡遊車的著陸器降到火星表面。完好無損地降落在太陽系第四大行星上很不容易，以前只有美國國家航空航天局(NASA)完成過不止一次。如果在火星上成功著陸的話，這將是中國令人敬佩的航天成就記錄的延伸，尤其是在去年嫦娥五號完成了登月，然後帶著新的月球巖石返回地球的任務之後。Soon after, on Feb. 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover will arrive and immediately plunge toward the surface of Mars. If it lands successfully, the rover will seek signs of extinct life in a dried out crater lake and riverbed. But first it will deploy Ingenuity, a small helicopter. That device has its own mission of carrying out the first powered flight from the surface of another planet.
天問一號進入火星軌道後不久，也就是2月18日，NASA的毅力號(Perseverance)火星車將到達火星軌道，並馬上衝向火星表面。如果著陸成功，火星車將在一個乾涸的火山口湖和河床中尋找滅絕了的生命跡象。但它將首先放飛一架名為「機智」的小型直升機。該直升機有自己的任務，那就是從另一個星球表面進行首次升空動力飛行。去年5月，中國長徵五號火箭載著「天問一號」火星探測器從海南省文昌航天發射中心發射升空。
Locking on to the lunar surface
鎖定月球表面
While China has landed spacecraft on the moon three times in the last seven years, NASA has not landed there since 1972, the last Apollo mission. That could change in 2021, deepening the commercial transformation of American space efforts.
雖然中國在過去七年裡三次把著陸器降到了月球上，但NASA自1972年的最後一次阿波羅任務以來，一直沒有在月球表面著陸過。隨著美國太空努力加深向商業化的轉型，這種情況可能會在2021年有所改變。NASA has in the past decade relied on private companies to build and operate spacecraft that could ferry cargo, and now people, to the International Space Station. It is trying a similar approach with Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The program has contracted with a number of private companies to build robotic lunar landers that will carry cargo from NASA and other customers to the moon’s surface.
NASA在過去十年裡一直依靠私人公司建造和運營的太空飛行器，來完成為國際空間站提供補給的任務，先是運送貨物，現在也可以運送人員。NASA正在嘗試使用「商業月球有效載荷服務」(Commercial Lunar Payload Services)的類似方法。該項目已與幾家私人公司籤訂了合同，由這些公司製造無人月球著陸器，將NASA和其他客戶的貨物運送到月球表面。The first company, Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic, is scheduled to launch its Peregrine lander to the moon in June. It could be followed in October by Nova-C, a spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines of Houston.第一家是匹茲堡的Astrobotic公司，它計劃於今年6月向月球發射遊隼號(Peregrine)著陸器。之後可能是10月份的Nova-C飛船，它由Intuitive Machines of Houston製造。NASA also has its eye on returning astronauts to the moon this decade. Its first step will be an uncrewed test flight of the massive Space Launch System built for future American deep space launches. The rocket has faced numerous delays and ballooning costs, but NASA still plans a journey in 2021 known as Artemis-1. It will send Orion, a capsule for astronauts, around the moon and back to Earth. That test is tentatively scheduled for November.NASA也想在這個十年內讓太空人重返月球。它的第一步將是為未來美國深空發射建造的重型太空發射系統(Space Launch System)進行無人飛行測試。該發射系統已面臨多次推遲和不斷增加的造價，但NASA仍打算在2021年執行名為阿提米斯-1(Artemis-1)的飛行計劃，把可載太空人的獵戶座飛船送進月球軌道，進行繞月飛行後返回地球。測試暫定於今年11月進行。Odysseys to orbit
進入軌道的探索之旅
Human spaceflight was transformed in 2020 as SpaceX successfully launched a pair of crews to the space station. The company is likely to send more astronauts to orbit in 2021, and not all of them may be working for NASA and other government space agencies. Multiple companies are working with SpaceX to launch paying customers on the Crew Dragon capsule. One of them, Axiom Space, could send its first private tourists to the space station late in the year.2020年，隨著SpaceX公司成功地將兩名太空人送入空間站，人類的太空飛行發生了變化。該公司可能會在2021年將更多太空人送入軌道，但這些太空人並不都為NASA和其他政府太空機構工作。多家公司正與SpaceX合作，將付費客戶用載人龍(Crew Dragon)太空艙送上天。其中的Axiom Space公司可能在今年年底將其首批私人遊客送到空間站。When NASA picked SpaceX to build transport for its astronauts, it also hired Boeing to do the same. During an uncrewed test to orbit in December 2019, a series of errors nearly led to the catastrophic loss of Boeing’s Starliner capsule. To make up for that unsuccessful flight, Boeing will carry out a second test flight as early as March.