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If there's anything we've learned from more than 50 years of space travel, it's that space can be dangerous,
如果说我们能从50多年的太空旅行中学到什么的话，那就是：太空是非常危险的。
which is why we have robots to help us deal with some of those dangers.
所以我们才会动用机器人来帮我们应对一些危险情况。
Last week, NASA invited teams to sign up for a competition to build some of the most advanced space robots yet.
上周，美国宇航局邀请了一些小组报名参加一场比赛，以竞争史上最先进的太空机器人。
It's called the Space Robotics Challenge, and the prizes add up to a million dollars.
这个比赛是空间机器人技术挑战赛，奖金高达100万美元。
NASA's already built a humanoid robot, called Robonaut 5, or Valkyrie.
美国宇航局已经建造了一个人形机器人Robonaut 5，又名瓦尔基里。
For the challenge, teams will program a virtual version of Valkyrie.
在比赛中，各小组会对瓦尔基里的虚拟版本进行编程。
First, there's a qualifying round, where a simulation of Valkyrie has to complete basic tasks
首先是一轮预选赛，各小组要模拟瓦尔基里，这就需要他们完成一些基本的任务，
like identifying a pattern of colored lights or walking through a doorway, which sounds easy, but it is not!
比如确认有色灯光的光带或者越过门槛，这一点听起来容易，做起来难。
The teams that pass that round will advance to the official competition, which involves performing three tasks after a computer-simulated dust storm on Mars.
通过预选赛的小组将晋级到正式的比赛环节中，其中包括在一场计算机模拟的火星尘暴后进行3次任务。
Large dust storms happen several times a year on Mars, so a future space robot would probably have to make these kinds of repairs all the time.
因为火星每年都要发生多次大型尘暴，所以未来的太空机器人很可能必须要一直做这种修复工作。
First, the robot will have to grab the handles on a communications dish and adjust it to within five degrees of the target.
首先，机器人必须要抓住通信盘的把手，并将其调节到误差在5度以内的角度。
Next, it'll walk to a rover, collect a solar panel, and install it into an existing array.
接下来，机器人要走到探测器处，拿到太阳电池板，并将该电池板安装到当前的设备上。
Finally, Valkyrie will walk to a habitat, climb the stairs to get inside, and use a leak detector tool to find an air leak.
最后，瓦尔基里要走到一个环境中，上楼进入其中，通过检漏器来检测是否存在空气泄露。
Then it'll press a button on the virtual repair tool to stop the leak. Once all that's done, the simulated robot will head over to the finish line.
然后，机器人要按下虚拟维修工具上的一个按钮，来阻止泄露，这些步骤都完成后，模拟机器人要冲向终点站。
Each team's simulation will need to complete five rounds of the tasks, with the positions of the objects changing every time.
每一组的模拟的需要完成五轮任务，其中各个物体的位置是不断变换的。
And there's a time limit, too: depending on the task, Valkyrie will have between 30 minutes and 2 hours to finish.
此外，还有时间限制：具体时间取决于任务，瓦尔基里有0.5小时-2小时的时间来完成任务。
The top four teams of the virtual challenge will be awarded time with a real Valkyrie for at least two weeks,
虚拟挑战赛排名前4的队伍将会在至少2周的时间里得以接触真正的瓦尔基里，
where they can put their code to the test and prepare for a real-life, physical version of the challenge in late 2017.
这样，他们就可以将自己的代码放在瓦尔基里上做测试，并为2017末建造出真实版的机器人做准备。
Eventually, NASA hopes humanoid robots like Valkyrie will assist human crews traveling to Mars with basic tasks and repairs.
最后，美国宇航局希望，像瓦尔基里一样的人形机器人可以协助人类抵达火星，完成基本的任务和修复工作。
These robots will also be useful here on Earth, for things like disaster relief and industrial plant maintenance.
这些机器人在地球上也是有用的，比如可以救灾和维护工厂。
If you're interested in competing, there's a link to the competition website in the description.
如果您对这个赛事感兴趣，在赛事介绍里也有赛事官网的链接。
Good luck! Meanwhile, astronomers are discovering new things much farther from home.
遥祝好运哦！与此同时，一些天文学家在离地球更远的地方有了新发现。
In a study published this week in the journal Nature, researchers announced that they've discovered the first direct evidence for hibernating novas.
在本周《自然》杂志上的一则研究中，研究人员宣布，他们发现了冬眠的新星。
Novas are different from supernovas, those beautiful, powerful explosions that happen when a star is dying.
新星和超新星是不同的，后者是恒星消亡时伴随的剧烈的爆炸现象，看起来很美。
Novas are much smaller explosions, and the star usually doesn't die in the process.
而新星的爆炸规模更小，而且恒星在这个过程中也不会消亡。
Regular novas happen only in binary star systems, where a white dwarf and another small star orbit their center of mass.
一般情况下，新星只发生在双子星系统中。在双子星系统中，白矮星和另一个小恒星会围绕质心做运动。
The white dwarf pulls hydrogen away from its partner star, and eventually, the gas builds up and causes a runaway fusion reaction in the white dwarf.
白矮星会将氢气拽离该系统中的另一颗星，气体的堆积会引起白矮星的聚变反应。
In this reaction, tons of hydrogen is fused into heavier elements, which makes the star erupt with a huge amount of heat and light.
在聚变反应中，无数氢气融合成质量更大的元素，使恒星放出巨大的光和热。
Boom a nova! Novas are the most common explosions in the galaxy, and they're usually visible to the naked eye, so we've known about them for a while.
然后砰地一声，新星产生了！新星是星系中最常见的爆炸现象，肉眼通常可以看到，所以我们对这种现象已经知之甚久了。
But we're only now finding the first direct evidence of nova systems going through cycles and exploding multiple times.
但我们现在只发现了新星系统反复循环爆炸的第一个直接证据。
In 2003, a team of astronomers from the University of Warsaw in Poland
2003年，波兰华沙大学的一组天文学家
began monitoring a nova over 20,000 light years from Earth that we now call Nova Centauri 2009. As its name suggests, the nova erupted in 2009.
开始监测一颗距离地球2万多光年的新星，我们现在称它为半人马座新星2009，顾名思义，该新星是在2009年爆炸的。
But because the team had been monitoring it for six years before the explosion, they were able to study exactly how the system evolved.
但因为该小组在该新星爆炸前已经观测了它6年，所以他们能确切地得知该系统是如何演变的。
They found the mass-transfer rate of the system that is, the rate the white dwarf takes hydrogen from its partner isn't constant.
他们发现，该系统的传质速率，也就是白矮星从其伙伴恒星上获取氢气的速率，并不是恒定的。
When the astronomers began monitoring the system, it had a relatively low mass-transfer rate, meaning that not a lot of hydrogen was moving to the white dwarf.
天文学家刚开始观测该系统的时候，它只有一个相对较慢的传质速率，也就是说，并没有很多氢气向白矮星移动。
But it was enough to cause an explosion. Right after the eruption, though, the mass-transfer rate went way up.
虽然不多，但也足以引发爆炸了，爆炸发生后，传质速率就越来越高。
In 2011, it was 800 times higher than before the explosion!
2011年的时候，传质速率是爆炸之前的800倍。
This kind of behavior almost exactly matches what's known as the nova hibernation hypothesis, and it's the first direct evidence we have to support it.
这种现象几乎与新星冬眠的假说吻合，这也是我们能支持该假说的第一个直接证据。
The idea is that novas go through a kind of life cycle, exploding, staying active for a while, then hibernating before they wake up and explode again.
该假说是说，新星会经历一个生命周期，会发生爆炸，然后保持一段时间的活跃，然后再在再次苏醒和爆炸发生前进行冬眠。
If the hypothesis is correct, then the mass-transfer rate of a nova system
如果该假说是正确的，那么新星系统的传质速率
should increase dramatically right after an explosion and stay high for hundreds of years.
可以在爆炸发生后极具升高，并在数百年间保持相当高的传质速率。
Then the rate should decrease for thousands or millions of years. The system enters hibernation, where the mass-transfer rate is low.
然后，在接下来的数千年甚至数百万年间，传质速率会不断下降，当传质速率低的时候，该系统会进行冬眠。
Eventually, the nova should start collecting hydrogen more rapidly, leading to another explosion, and starting the process all over again.
最后，新星会以更快的速率收集氢气，引发另一轮爆炸，将整个周期重新来过。
With Nova Centauri 2009, we've now seen a few of these steps.
而在半人马座新星2009身上，我们只看到了其中的几步。
The only difference between this system and what the hypothesis predicts is that Nova Centauri 2009 may have never entered total hibernation.
该系统与假说之间的唯一区别就是该系统可能从来没有进入过完全冬眠状态。
This system is probably too small to go into complete hibernation instead, the mass-transfer rate just decreases between explosions.
该系统可能太小了，无法实现完全冬眠，而且传质速率在一次次爆炸的过程中也在不断地变小。
Larger novas would go into hibernation and then wake up before exploding.
大型新星会进入冬眠状态，并在发生爆炸之前苏醒。
We don't yet know why novas to wake up. But we do know that their naptimes have very dramatic endings.
我们不知道新星为什么会苏醒，但我们知道他们冬眠结束前会有剧烈的表现。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space News and thanks especially to our patrons on Patreon who help make this show-and this whole channel- possible.
感谢收听本期的《太空科学秀》，尤其要感谢支持我们的各位，是你们让我们的节目和频道焕发出生机。
If you want to help us keep making episodes like this, just go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果您想帮助我们制作这样的集锦，您可以登录patreon.com/scishow。
And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishowspace and subscribe!
最后的最后，记得订阅youtube.com/scishowspace哦！
