導讀:目前預測，從地球到火星，一艘載人飛船大約需要6個月的時間。不過，美國國家航空航天局正在致力于一項縮短飛行時間的實驗項目，三天內將重達100公斤的航天器送達火星，載人飛船也有望在一個月內到達火星。

　　Among the many problems with manned missions to Mars is the amount of time it takes for any ship to get to the red planet. Current estimates are that it would take a manned spacecraft approximately six months to travel from Earth to Mars, although NASA is working on an experimental project that it thinks could enable travel to Mars in a matter of days.

　　飛往紅色星球——火星的載人飛行任務有著諸多困難，而飛行時間則是其中之一。目前預測，從地球到火星，一艘載人飛船大約需要6個月的時間，不過，美國國家航空航天局正在致力于一項縮短飛行時間的實驗項目，飛往火星的時間將以天計算。

　　NASA recently posted a video where scientist Philip Lubin talked about the possibility of building a laser propulsion system capable of sending a 100-kilogram spacecraft to Mars in just three days and of getting a manned spacecraft there in one month.

　　根據美國國家航空航天局最近發布的一段視頻顯示，科學家菲利普.魯賓稱該機構正致力于研發一種激光推進系統，能在三天內將重達100公斤的航天器送達火星，載人飛船也有望在一個月內到達火星。

　　Basically, this proposed system would rely on electromagnetic acceleration instead of chemical acceleration that’s used right now when a rocket propels itself by burning fuel. Having to rely on a giant fuel supply needlessly weighs down the spacecraft and makes travelling long distances in space very inefficient from an energy standpoint. Electromagnetic acceleration, meanwhile, doesn’t have any such burdens.

　　基本上，這種激光推進系統將依靠電磁加速前進，和目前應用于火箭上的傳統化學燃料推進方式截然不同。毫無疑問，必須依靠大量燃料供應將會使載人飛船大量負重，而且也使空際中的長途旅行非常不方便，但是，依靠電磁加速就不會有這種問題。

　　“Electromagnetic acceleration is only limited by the speed of light while chemical systems are limited to the energy of chemical processes,” Lubin recently wrote in a paper about the technology.

　　魯賓近日在一個相關技術文件中寫道：“電磁加速僅僅受限于激光的速度，而化學燃料推進方式則受限于燃料的化學作用過程。”

　　Creating such a propulsion system would entail “using a very intense light source to accelerate matter,” Lubin explains. While this may sound simple, designing such a system would nonetheless be hugely challenging. As ScienceAlert explains, building this system could require “a lot of complicated and expensive equipment — such as the ring of superconducting magnets that make up the Large Hadron Collider,” which “hasn’t been easy to scale up to the size required for space travel.”

　　魯賓解釋稱，創建這種激光推進系統需要“依靠強大的地面激光來解決加速問題”，這聽起來簡單，實際上，設計這樣一種系統將是個極大的挑戰。正如《科學預警雜志》所解釋的，建設這樣一個系統，需要“大量復雜且昂貴的設備——比如由超導磁體環組成的大型強子對撞機”，這樣的設備，如果建成空際旅行所需的大小可不 是一件容易的事情。

　　來源:bgr