The best way to explore a new world is to land on it.
探索一個新世界最好的方式就是走進它裡面，
That's why humans have sent spacecraft to the Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, and more.
這就是為什麼我們會發射航空探測器到月球、金星、火星、土衛六等上頭。
But there are a few places in the solar system we will never understand as well as we'd like.
但是太陽系有幾個地方我們永遠不會理解，也不會像我們想的那樣。
One of them is Jupiter.
其中之一便是木星。
Jupiter is made of mostly hydrogen and helium gas, so trying to land on it would be like trying to land on a cloud here on Earth.
木星主要由氫氣和氦氣組成，所以試圖著陸它就像試圖降落在地球上的雲層上。
There's no outer crust to break your fall on Jupiter, just an endless stretch of atmosphere.
木星上沒有外部地殼作為著陸點，有的只是無盡的大氣。
The big question then is, could you fall through one end
of Jupiter and out the other?
隨之而來最大的問題是，你能從木星的一端掉到另一端嗎?
Turns out, you wouldn't even make it halfway.
事實是，你連一半都到不了，
First thing's first, Jupiter's atmosphere has no oxygen, so make sure you bring plenty with you to breathe.
首先，木星的大氣層沒有氧氣，所以一定要帶上足量的氧氣可供呼吸。
The next problem is the scorching temperatures, so pack an air conditioner.
下一個問題是炎熱的天氣，所以你要打包帶上個空調。
Now you're ready for a journey of epic proportions.
現在你已經可以準備踏上史詩般的旅程了。
For scale, here's how many Earths you could stack from Jupiter's center.
就規模而言，這是你能從木星的中心堆疊出多少個地球。
As you enter the top of the atmosphere,you're traveling at 110,000 miles-per-hour under the pull of Jupiter's gravity.
隨著你進入木星大氣層，在木星的重力作用下，你的速度大約在11萬英里每小時
But brace yourself.
但振作起來！
You'll quickly hit the denser atmosphere below, which will hit you like a wall.
你很快就會碰到下面的密集的大氣層，它會像一堵牆一樣等著你懟。
It won't be enough to stop you, though.
儘管這樣都不足以使你停下來，
After about three minutes, you'll reach the cloud tops 155 miles down.
大概3分鐘之後吧你將到達155英里以下的雲層。
Here, you'll experience the full brunt of Jupiter's rotation.
在這裡，你將經歷木星自轉的全部衝擊。
Jupiter is actually the fastest rotating planet in our solar system.
要知道，在太陽系統，木星是自轉速度最快的。
One day lasts about nine-and-a-half Earth hours.
木星上的一天大約是地球上的9.5小時
This creates powerful winds that can whip around the planet at more than 300 miles-per-hour.
這就產生了一股強大的風，能以每小時300英里的速度繞著木星旋轉。
About 75 miles below the clouds, you reach the limit of human exploration.
在離雲層大約75英里的地方，你到達了人類探索的極限。
Galileo probe made it this far when it dove into Jupiter's atmosphere in 1995.
數據來自，1995年伽利略號探測器，就探測到這裡。
It only lasted 58 minutes before losing contact and was eventually destroyed by the crushing pressure.
它只跟總部持續了58分鐘便失去了聯繫，最終被極強的的壓力摧毀。
Down here, the pressure is nearly 100 times what it is on Earth's surface and you won't be able to see anything,
在這裡，壓力幾乎是地球表面的100倍，你看不到任何東西，
so you'll have to rely on instruments to explore your surroundings.
所以你必須依靠儀器來探索你周圍的環境。
By 430 miles down, the pressure is 1,150times higher.
在430英里的高空，壓強是地球的1150倍。
You might be able to survive down here if you were in a spacecraft built like the Trieste submarine, the deepest-diving submarine on Earth.
當然如果你有一搜像Trieste樣的宇宙飛船你也可以在裡頭活下來，至於Triester是目前地球上最深潛探測器。
Any deeper and the pressure and the temperature will be too great for the spacecraft to endure.
任何更深、更大的壓力和溫度都將使宇宙飛船難以承受。
However, let's say that you could find a way to descend even further.
但是，假設你可以找到一種進一步下降的方法。
You will uncover some of Jupiter's grandest mysteries.
你將揭開木星的一些最神秘的秘密。
But sadly, you'll have no way to tell anyone.
但是，悲劇的是，你沒有途徑告訴任何人。
Jupiter's deep atmosphere absorbs radio waves, so you'd be shut off from the outside world, unable to communicate.
木星的大氣阻斷了微波通訊。你與外界是一種隔離的狀態無法通訊。
Once you've reached 2,500 miles down, the temperature is 6,100 degrees Fahrenheit.
一旦達到2500英里，溫度就是6100華氏度。
That's hot enough to melt tungsten, the metal with the highest melting point in the universe.
這個溫度，足以融掉鎢，沒錯就是目前發現熔點最高的材料。
At this point, you will have been falling for at least 12 hours and you won't even be halfway through.
此時，你至少已經下降了12個小時，不過這甚至連一半都沒到。
At 13,000 miles down, you'll reachJupiter's innermost layer.
當你下降到13000英里時，你將到達木星的最裡層了。
Here, the pressure is two million times stronger than that of Earth's surface and the temperature is hotter than the surface of the Sun.
這裡的壓力是你站在地球表面的200萬倍了，此處的溫度，已經高於太陽表面了。
These conditions are so extreme that they change the chemistry of hydrogen around you.
這些極端條件，甚至會改變，你周圍氫的化學性質。
Hydrogen molecules are forced so close together that their electrons break loose, forming an unusual substance called metallic hydrogen.
氫分子被迫如此緊密地結合在一起，以至於它們的電子逸散，形成一種叫做金屬氫的不尋常物質。
Metallic hydrogen is highly reflective, so if you tried using lights to see down there, it would be impossible, and it's as dense as a rock.
金屬氫是高度反射性的，所以如果你試著用燈光去看，那是不可能的，它就像岩石一樣緻密。
So as you travel deeper, the buoyancy force from the metallic hydrogen counteracts gravity's downward pull.
所以當你往深處移動時，金屬氫的浮力會抵消重力的向下拉動作用。
Eventually, that buoyancy will shoot you back up until gravity pulls you right back down, sort of like a yo-yo, and when those two forces equal, you'll be left free-floating in mid-Jupiter, unable to move up or down and no way of escape.
最終，這種浮力會把你推回去，直到引力把你拉回，有點像溜溜球，當這兩種力量相等時，你會在木星的中部自由漂浮，無法上下移動，也無法逃脫。
Suffice it to say, trying to land on Jupiter is a bad idea.
我只想說，試圖在木星上降落是個壞主意。
We may never see what's beneath those majestic clouds.
我們可能永遠也看不到那些宏偉的雲彩下面有什麼。
But we can still study and admire this mysterious planet from afar.
但我們仍然可以在遙遠的地方學習和欣賞這個神秘的星球。
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