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In March 2020, a pair of scientists in North Dakota proposed putting the cloud on Mars.
2020年3月，北达科他州的两名科学家提出将“云”放到火星上。
You know, “the cloud,” that nebulous computer… thing. That stores… stuff.
你知道，“云”，那个朦胧的电脑…东西。用来存储…的东西。
But while it might sound like just a string of buzzwords, it’s a legitimate idea -- one that could fundamentally change how we plan space missions.
虽然这听起来可能只是一串流行词，但却是一个合理的想法——它可能从根本上改变我们计划太空任务的方式。
Because we use the cloud here on Earth for lots of things: file storage, computations, whatever.
因为我们在地球上用云做很多事情：文件存储、计算，等等。
And probes won’t need to do all that on their own if the cloud is already there for them.
而且，如果有了云，探测器就不需要事事亲力亲为了。
“The cloud” is really just a fancy way to say “someone else’s computer”.
“云”实际上只是“别人的电脑”的一种花哨说法。
“Putting the cloud on Mars” is therefore the fancy version of “putting a bunch of computers on Mars.”
因此，“把云放在火星上”是“把一堆电脑放在火星上”的花哨版本。
It wouldn’t be out there for us to use, but rather our trusty space robots.
把它放在那里并不是为了让我们使用的，而是给我们值得信赖的太空机器人用的。
See, it takes about half an hour to send a signal to Mars and back, and data transfer rates aren’t great.
听着，发送一个信号到火星再返回大约需要半小时，而且数据传输速度也不够快。
It’s just hard to send information-packed signals across such a big distance.
在这么远的距离内发送满是信息的信号很困难。
So a Martian cloud would be out there mainly for missions taking place on and around Mars.
因此，火星云将主要用来在火星及其周围执行任务。
The idea is that a company like SpaceX could send the computers there and set up the system, and then NASA or anyone else could rent time on the computers to make up the costs.
这个想法是，像SpaceX这样的公司可以把电脑送到那里，然后建立这个系统，然后NASA或其他任何人可以租用使用电脑的时间来弥补成本。
It wouldn’t be cheap to send all these computers to Mars, but here’s the thing: We do that anyway, for every mission.
把这些电脑送到火星并不便宜，但问题是：每次任务的成本都不低啊。
They all need computers to work.
它们都需要用到电脑。
And space is a pretty hostile place if you’re a computer.
如果你是一台电脑，那太空就是个充满敌意的地方。
Interplanetary space is full of computer-corrupting radiation, and Mars doesn’t have a strong magnetic field that stops that radiation from reaching the ground.
星际空间充满了破坏电脑的辐射，而火星没有强大的磁场阻止辐射到达地面。
Then there’s micrometeorites, cold, dust -- Mars just isn’t a very pleasant place to be.
还有微陨石、寒冷、尘埃——火星不是个舒服的地方。
All of this is why Martian probes are built with redundancy: They have multiple, heavily protected computers that can step in if one breaks.
这一切就是火星探测器那么复杂的原因：它们有多台受到严密保护的计算机，如果其中一台坏了，其他计算机一样可以访问。
But doubling the number of computers and shielding them all adds weight.
但是增加一倍的计算机数量并把它们防护起来都会增加重量。
Every kilogram sent to Mars can cost between thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the mission.
根据任务的不同，每送一公斤到火星，其成本都在几千到几十万美元之间。
So probes end up with compromises -- lighter computers that aren’t as powerful they could be.
因此，探测器最终妥协了——选择质量更轻但功能却不那么强大的计算机。
But if we already had a bunch of computers out there that probes could tap into, the probes could have access to more juice for less weight.
但如果我们已经有了一堆可以接入探测器的计算机，那探测器就可以用更少的重量获得更多的能量。
As long as the probe’s antenna -- and also its backup antenna -- don’t break, that is.
只要探测器的天线——以及它的备用天线——不坏，就行得通。
If it can’t talk to us, it also can’t talk to the cloud.
如果它不能和我们说话，那也不能和云说话。
Sure, there are still potential problems with getting those cloud computers to Mars.
当然，把这些云计算机送往火星仍然有潜在的问题。
And it wouldn’t be cheap.
而且也不会便宜。
In that 2020 paper, published in the journal Acta Astronautica, the researchers calculated that it would cost around 1.5 billion dollars to send and set up a Martian cloud,
在那篇2020年发表于《宇宙航行学报》的论文中，研究人员计算出，发射和建立一个火星云大约需要15亿美元，
with regular upkeep averaging out at something like a thousand additional dollars an hour.
而常规维护平均每小时要多花大约1000美元。
That’s a lot to sink into something nobody really asked for -- at least as far as we can tell.
在一件没有人要求的事情上投入这么多有点夸张——至少目前并没有任要求这么做。
Though they also figured the costs could be made up in about five years.
不过，他们也认为这些成本大约在五年内可以得到弥补。
So what would we actually do with a Martian cloud?
那么，我们该如何处理火星云呢?
Well, whatever we want. That’s what we do with computers.
这就随心所欲了。我们对电脑就是这样的。
It’s only a matter of time before someone configures Curiosity to run Doom.
人们让Curiosity去运行Doom只是个时间问题。
Actually, though, some missions could use the cloud to store their data and transmit it back to Earth.
实际上，一些任务可以使用云存储数据并将其传输回地球。
A dedicated cloud system using technology that we’re developing anyway might be able to send data back up to a hundred times faster than current probes do,
使用我们正在开发的技术创造出来的专用云系统，可能能以比当前探测器快100倍的速度把数据发回地球，
letting rovers spend more time exploring and less time talking.
让探测器有更多的时间去探索，用更少的时间来交流。
With less memory needed onboard, engineers could use the weight savings to cut mission costs, or add instruments that would have been cut otherwise.
由于探测器上所需的存储器更少，工程师们可以利用节省的重量来削减任务成本，或者增加一些原本会被削减的仪器。
Others could use the computers for, you know, computations: Calculating the safest way to land, say, if something goes wrong and there’s no time to contact Earth.
其他人可以用电脑进行计算：比如，在出现问题并且没空联系地球的时候，计算出最安全的着陆方式。
But the really fun possibilities open up with missions that would use a Martian cloud for coordination between multiple robots.
但这个特别有趣的可能性带来了另一种可能：用火星云来协调多个机器人的任务。
Because there are a lot of mission proposals out there that don’t just feature one or two probes, like we’ve been sending for decades.
因为有很多任务方案并不像我们几十年来一直所做的那样只需要一两个探测器。
Why send two robots when you could send dozens?
如果可以发送几十个机器人，又怎么可能只发两个呢?
The more you have, the more ground they can cover.
发送得越多，它们探索的范围就越大。
Humans would take forever to work out paths for each of those robots.
人类要花很长时间才能为每个机器人制定路线。
But the cloud could run programs that kept the little bots from crashing into each other while also accounting for the Martian terrain,
但“云”可以运行一些程序，防止这些小机器人撞到一起，同时还能计算出火星的地形，
toeing the always-tricky line of finding interesting places that aren’t so interesting that they break a robot.
小心翼翼地寻找那些不太有趣的地方，以免有些地方无聊到连机器人都会崩溃。
A while back, we talked about one of these ideas: HOPTERs that jump around Mars instead of using wheels.
不久前，我们讨论了其中一个想法：在火星上跳跃而不是使用轮子的HOPTER。
But that’s not the only proposed multi-bot mission.
但那并不是唯一的多机器任务。
In 2004, a group looked specifically at three-robot teams that could help each other down cliffs.
2004年，一个研究小组专门研究了三个机器人团队，它们可以在悬崖上互相帮助。
A network of those around Mars would let us get into all sorts of craters that are inaccessible right now.
如果在火星上成立这样的网络，可以让我们抵达各种各样现在还无法进入的陨石坑。
In 2007, another team imagined a whole swarm of sensors so small that they could be carried by the wind, like dust.
2007年，另一个团队设想了一整群传感器，小到可以像灰尘一样随风飞扬。
A cloud of computers might take in data from this cloud of sensors better than anything else.
计算机云可能比其他任何东西都能更好地接收来自传感器云的数据。
So, in the end, do we need to put the cloud on Mars?
那么，最后，我们需要把云放到火星上吗?
Well, strictly speaking, of course not. We don’t need to go to Mars at all!
严格地说，当然不是。我们根本不需要去火星!
But we want to, and the cloud could theoretically make things more flexible, and enable new modes of exploration, so hey. Maybe it’s worth a try.
但我们想去，理论上云可以让一切更加灵活，并且支持新的探索模式，所以，嘿，也许值得一试。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space.
感谢收看本期《太空科学秀》。
Our patrons help us make free content that the whole Internet can enjoy, and we love y’all for it.
我们的粉丝帮助我们制作整个互联网都可以享受的免费内容，爱大家哦。
Patrons get access to neat perks, like the secret blooper reels we make every month.
粉丝可以获得一些额外的好处，比如我们每个月都会做的秘密花絮。
To get in on that, check out patreon.com/scishow.
想要了解更多，请登录patreon.com/scishow。
