A Mars explorer operated by the American space agency NASA has captured a rock that scientists say shows possible signs of ancient microbial life.
美国宇航局NASA的火星探测器捕获了一块岩石，科学家称这块岩石可能显示出古代微生物生命的迹象。
NASA said in a recent statement that the Perseverance explorer, or rover, collected the rock on July 21. Scientists working on the Perseverance team nicknamed the rock “Cheyava Falls,” after the tallest waterfall in the Grand Canyon.
NASA 在最近的一份声明中表示，毅力号探测器或漫游者于 7 月 21 日收集了这块岩石。毅力号团队的科学家们将这块岩石昵称为“Cheyava Falls”，以大峡谷中最高的瀑布命名。
The rover’s exploration area is believed to include a former river valley measuring about 400 meters wide. The valley is thought to have formed by water rushing into Jezero Crater billions of years ago. Scientists believe the area around Jezero Crater contained large bodies of water in the distant past.
据信，火星车的勘探区域包括一个宽约 400 米的前河谷。该山谷被认为是数十亿年前水流入杰泽罗陨石坑形成的。科学家认为，杰泽罗陨石坑周围的地区在遥远的过去曾有大量的水体。
NASA’s statement says the rock shows signs of “chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago…”
美国宇航局的声明称，这块岩石显示出“化学特征和结构，可能是数十亿年前生命形成的……”
NASA team members based their findings on examinations of the rock with imaging equipment and multiple scientific instruments. But they noted that additional research is needed to confirm a history of microbial life.
美国宇航局团队成员的发现基于使用成像设备和多种科学仪器对岩石的检查。但他们指出，还需要进行更多研究来确认微生物生命的历史。
The examinations did suggest the rock contains “organic compounds,” NASA said. But the statement added, “While such carbon-based molecules are considered the building blocks of life, they also can be formed by non-biological processes.”
美国宇航局表示，检查确实表明这块岩石含有“有机化合物”。但声明补充说，“虽然这种碳基分子被认为是生命的组成部分，但它们也可以通过非生物过程形成。”
Perseverance uses its robotic arm and drilling equipment to capture rock and soil samples from the Martian surface. So far, it has collected 22 samples. The rover has secured the samples in special containers and they are to be picked up and returned to Earth during a future mission.
毅力号利用其机械臂和钻探设备从火星表面采集岩石和土壤样本。截至目前，已采集样本22个。火星车已将样本保存在特殊容器中，并将在未来的任务中将其拾取并带回地球。
Ken Farley is a project scientist with the Perseverance team at Caltech in Pasadena, California. He said, “Cheyava Falls is the most puzzling , complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance.”
Ken Farley 是加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳市加州理工学院 Perseverance 团队的项目科学家。他说：“Cheyava 瀑布是毅力号迄今为止调查过的最令人费解、最复杂、也可能最重要的岩石。”
Farley said unusual color spots and other structural elements in the samples suggest “chemical reactions” that might have given energy to ancient microbial life. But he noted that so far, scientists have not been able to identify exactly how the rock formed.
法利说，样本中不寻常的色斑和其他结构元素表明“化学反应”可能为古代微生物生命提供了能量。但他指出，到目前为止，科学家们还无法确切地确定岩石是如何形成的。
The team described the rock as containing white veins that may have been created by the substance calcium sulfate. Between the veins, examiners found lines of material with a reddish color. These lines suggest the presence of hematite, a common substance found in many rocks on Earth.
研究小组称，这块岩石含有白色纹理，可能是由硫酸钙物质形成的。检查人员在静脉之间发现了微红色的物质线。这些线条表明存在赤铁矿，这是地球上许多岩石中常见的物质。
David Flannery is an astrobiologist and member of the Perseverance science team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. He said that on Earth, these kinds of rock elements are often linked “with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface."
大卫·弗兰纳里 (David Flannery) 是一位天体生物学家，也是澳大利亚昆士兰科技大学毅力科学团队的成员。他说，在地球上，这些类型的岩石元素通常与“生活在地下的微生物的化石记录”联系在一起。
The scientists said the new findings strengthen existing evidence that such rocks may have been created or were changed by flowing water on Mars billions of years ago.
科学家们表示，新发现强化了现有证据，表明这些岩石可能是数十亿年前火星上的流水形成或改变的。
Caltech’s Farley said the rock sample had already been imaged and examined with lasers, X-ray equipment and other instruments as much as possible in recent weeks. He noted that Perseverance has done as much as it can to examine the newly discovered samples.
加州理工学院的法利表示，最近几周已经对岩石样本进行了尽可能多的成像并用激光、X射线设备和其他仪器进行了检查。他指出，毅力号已尽其所能检查新发现的样本。
Farley added, “To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we’d want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth.” That way, he said, “it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories.”
法利补充道：“为了充分了解数十亿年前在杰泽罗陨石坑的火星河谷到底发生了什么，我们希望将切亚瓦瀑布样本带回地球。”他说，这样一来，“就可以用实验室里强大的仪器来研究它。”