科学美国人60秒:太空船自我修复挽救宇航员性命

　　科学美国人60秒中文翻译：

　　It's a scenario straight out of Hollywood: 这是好莱坞电影当中的一段情节：

　　You're up in a spacecraft, you've got this capsule around you, and a loose bolt, a piece of space junk, is zooming your way. 置身于一艘太空船当中的你身着宇航服，这时突然一个螺栓松动，一块太空垃圾正逐渐向你逼近。

　　And it's going really fast. 而且速度是越来越快。

　　It's going to very likely pass through your spacecraft and leave both entry and exit holes. 它很可能从你的飞船中间穿过，留下一进一出两个大洞。

　　So all of a sudden now your atmosphere is rushing out those holes, and you want them sealed right away. 这样会导致舱内的空气从这洞中迅速外泄，而你希望马上进行修补。

　　That's Timothy Scott, a polymer scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 这是密歇根大学一位致力于聚合物研究的科学家提莫西·斯科特提出的假设。

　　He and his team have devised a potential solution to this space disaster: 他和自己的研究团队为这样的太空灾难设计出了一种潜在解决方案：

　　a material that patches itself up, less than a second after impact. 在受到撞击一秒内，有一种材料可自行进行修补工作。

　　Think of an ice-cream sandwich. 想想一块冰淇淋三明治。

　　The central part, the ice cream of our sandwich, is a liquid resin. 我们三明治的冰淇淋中心是一种液体的树脂。

　　The cookie parts are sheets of thermoplastic. 而曲奇部分则是一种热塑性的片状物体。

　　When a projectile—or piece of space junk—punctures the sandwich, 当射弹—或者太空垃圾将三明治贯穿一个洞后，

　　it exposes the liquid part to the ship’s oxygen, which causes it to solidify, patching the hole. 液体部分会暴露在飞船的氧气当中使得松脂凝固，进而修补漏洞。

　　The researchers tested sheets of the self-healing material at a firing range, filming the results with high-speed video. 研究人员通过射速范围对一些自我修复材料进行了测试，并用高速摄像机记录下全部结果。

　　And indeed, the material worked fine here on Earth, 而结果证明这种材料在地球上表现良好，

　　but they say the findings will have to be replicated under pressure conditions like those you'd find in space. 但是他们认为研究结果必须在太空的高压环境下进行反复试验。

　　The results are in the journal ACS Macro Letters. 该研究结果已经在《ACS Macro Letters》期刊上发表。

　　The space station is already well protected by bumpers that vaporize particles on impact. 空间站已经有了在受到影响时会将一些颗粒蒸发缓冲器的保护。

　　But protection doesn't come cheap. 但这样的防护措施造价并不低廉。

　　It turns out that robust things are also very heavy. 结果也表明越是坚固就会越沉重的道理。

　　The intent of this is really to provide a backup that's very low weight. 而对于此种材料研发的目的是为了轻便的支持。

　　It costs some 10,000 a pound to launch equipment into space today. 现在发射该装置到太空造价1万英镑。

　　So a lighter weight material could save money—and lives. 因此更为轻便的材料可以节省财力也能救人性命。

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