In 2031 a cannonball shot from Mars should fall to Earth somewhere in the deserts of the western U.S., allowing scientists to get their hands on what some would consider the most precious materials in human history: pristine geologic samples taken from the surface of another planet.
2031年，從火星發射的炮彈應該會落到美國西部沙漠的某個地方，讓科學家們能夠得到一些人認為是人類歷史上最珍貴的材料：從另一個星球表面獲取的原始地質樣本。
Decades in the making, this moment would represent the zenith of the robotic Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, an international endeavor involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and a consortium of industry partners.
經過幾十年的努力，這一時刻將代表機器人火星樣品返回(MSR)任務的頂峰，這是一項涉及NASA、歐洲航天局(ESA)和一個行業合作伙伴財團的國際努力。
But its realization is far from a foregone conclusion.
但它的實現遠非定論。
Aside from one component—NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, set to launch as early as July—the multistage mission remains mostly conceptual, despite its estimated $7-billion price tag.
除了一個組件-NASA的火星2020漫遊者，最早將於7月發射-這個多階段任務仍然主要是概念性的，儘管它估計要花費70億美元。
And more than just a myriad of technical obstacles and never before seen acts of spacefaring derring-do stand in the way of success.
而且不僅僅是無數的技術障礙和以前從未見過的太空飛行障礙-確實阻礙了成功之路。
There is no guarantee that two space agencies—each funded by, and emblematic of, very different political systems—can work perfectly in tandem to meet the milestones in the mission’s breathtakingly tight 11-year time line.
不能保證兩個空間機構-每一個都由非常不同的政治制度資助，並且是非常不同的政治制度的象徵-能夠完美地協同工作，以滿足任務令人驚歎的緊張的11年時間線中的里程碑。
The difficulties even extend beyond what would seem to be the greatest challenge: actually returning the hard-won samples to Earth.
困難甚至超出了似乎是最大的挑戰：實際上把來之不易的樣品送回地球。
Mission planners are still debating how, exactly, to safeguard the rocks from Mars against Earthly contamination, as well as any possible outbreak, no matter how unlikely, of an alien organism.
任務規劃者仍在爭論如何確切地保護來自火星的岩石免受地球汙染，以及任何可能爆發的外星人有機體，無論多麼不可能。
Whether considered in terms of complexity or audacity, MSR will serve as a touchstone for all future major interplanetary robotic missions.
無論是從複雜性還是大膽方面考慮，MSR都將成為未來所有主要星際機器人任務的試金石。
There is every chance it could fail, becoming little more than a multi-billion-dollar monument to interagency malfunction.
它有可能失敗，成為一個價值數十億美元的機構間故障的紀念碑。
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