美国国务院国际信息局《美国参考》Charlene Porter从华盛顿报道，人的声音首次从火星穿越太阳系传到地球。

“好奇号”（Curiosity）漫游车8月6日（喷气推进实验室控制中心所在地的8月5日）在这个“红色星球”上登陆时，携带着美国国家航空航天局（NASA）局长查尔斯·博尔登（Charles Bolden）的一段讲话录音。这段录音在穿越了亿万公里的空间后响亮而又清晰地传到了8月27日新闻发布会的现场。

博尔登说，使用安装在漫游车上的火星科学实验室（Mars Science Laboratory，MSL）的设备对火星进行的探测将增加我们对火星以及我们自己所在星球的了解。

博尔登在录音中说：“‘好奇号’将给地球带来惠益，它正在为人类在不太遥远的将来登上火星铺路，这将鼓舞新一代的科学家和探索家。”

美国国家航空航天局“好奇号”项目主管戴夫·莱弗里（Dave Lavery）说，从火星传送人的声音是人类在地球家园以外拓展活动空间的征途上向前迈进了一步。

莱弗里说：“随着‘好奇号’继续执行它的使命，我希望这些话对今天生活在这个世界上而且将来能第一个登上火星的人将是一个鼓舞。他们将和伟大的尼尔·阿姆斯特朗（Neil Armstrong）一样，在人类的科学探索中大声欢呼那巨大的下一步。”

阿姆斯特朗是1969年踏上月球的第一人。他在登月后说：“这是一个人的一小步，却是整个人类的一大步。”随着阿姆斯特朗8月25日辞世，人类成就中的这一突破时刻再次回到了公众的记忆中。

美国国家航空航天局发布了漫游车四周火星表面的一幅新的全景图像。这幅图像比漫游车三周前登上火星后传来的任何一幅图像都更清晰、更细致。这幅合成图像显示了“好奇号”底部四周的地面，然后，越过一个平面伸展到远处一座向上耸起的高山。

拍摄图像的桅杆相机（Mast Camera，Mastcam）设备首席研究员迈克尔·马林（Michael Malin）称这些图像“从地质学角度而言令人兴奋”而且“悦目”，但他承认对色彩进行了调节，使其看上去或许比从火星实景更柔和些、不那么刻板。

“好奇号”的着陆点——盖尔陨石坑（Gale Crater）——是从美国国家航空航天局发射的轨道飞行器多年来围绕火星飞行期间拍摄的火星图像中展示的大量视图中精心挑选确定的。火星科学实验室项目科学家约翰·格罗青格（John Grotzinger）说，全景图像肯定了着陆点的选择，因为图像展示了引起巨大科学兴趣的地质特征。

格罗青格在新闻发布会上说：“虽然预期中的美景并非选择这一地点的主要原因，但这当然也是我们希望有一天能传回来的一个景象。看到这一景象真是令人惊叹。”

夏普山（Mount Sharp）是图像中看到的一个科学目标，此山位于大陨石坑的中央，高约5000米。预期在山脚下看到的岩石和土壤条纹能部分说明火星的历史。从对以往火星探索使命进行的研究和分析中可以得出这样的结论：过去，火星要比今天湿润和温和。

火星样本分析仪（Sample Analysis at Mars，SAM）团队报告说，已对相关仪器进行了初步测试，表明这些仪器到达火星表面时未受损坏。这台机器上带有多个分析工具，收集火星上的化学样本。该团队队长保罗·马哈菲（Paul Mahaffey）说，如果说摄像头是“好奇号”的眼睛，火星样本分析仪就是它的鼻子。这个分析仪将测试表面大气和可能从岩石和土壤中发散出来的其他气体的化学成分。

如果没有将“好奇号”收集的数据传回到喷气推进实验室科研工作者那里进行分析的能力，那么所有这些数据就毫无用处。“好奇号”通信团队将轨道飞行器组织成一个通信轨道飞行器中继网络，将从漫游车收集到的数据传回地球。喷气推进实验室在这项飞行任务的头三周已收到约70亿字节的数据，比从先前的漫游车在执行任务的这个初期阶段所收到的数据多出一倍以上。

“好奇号”正在火星上执行为期两年的使命，收集数据以确定火星上的气候和栖息地是否以及何时曾适合某种形式的生命存在。

Curiosity will explore the terrain in this photo sent from the rover. Mount Sharp shapes the distant horizon, more than 16 kilometers away.

Washington — The human voice has been transmitted from Mars across the solar system to Earth for the first time.

The rover Curiosity carried a recording from NASA Director Charles Bolden when the craft landed on the red planet August 6 (August 5 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory control center). At a news briefing August 27, the director’s voice came through loud and clear after its journey across millions of kilometers of empty space.

Bolden said exploration of Mars with the laboratory equipment aboard the rover — the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) — will increase our understanding of Mars and our own planet as well.

“Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientist and explorers as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future,” Bolden’s message said.

NASA’s Curiosity program executive, Dave Lavery, said the transmission from Mars is a further step toward extending humanity’s presence beyond its home planet.

“As Curiosity continues its mission, we hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars,” Lavery said. “And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration.”

Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon in 1969 with the words “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” That breakthrough moment in human achievement has been refreshed in the public memory in recent days with Armstrong's death on August 25.

NASA unveiled a new panoramic photo of the Martian surface surrounding the rover, one with greater clarity and detail than any sent since the landing three weeks ago. The composite photograph shows the ground at the base of Curiosity, then stretches across a plane to a rising mountain in the distance.

Michael Malin, the principal investigator of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument that took the photographs, characterized them as “geologically exciting” and “pretty,” though he acknowledged adjusting the colors to be softer and less stark than they probably appear on the surface.

The spot where Curiosity landed — Gale Crater — was carefully chosen from a wide selection of potential sites revealed by views of the planet collected by the orbiters that NASA has had circling the planet for some years. John Grotzinger, MSL project scientist, said the panoramic photo affirms the choice of the location, as it reveals geologic features of great scientific interest.

“Although the anticipated scenic beauty was not something that was at the top of the list for reasons to select it, it was certainly one thing that we were hoping would come through one day,” Grotzinger said at the press briefing. “It’s awesome to see this.”

Mount Sharp is one scientific target seen in the photograph, a mountain about 5 kilometers high in the center of the large crater. The striations of rock and soil seen in the foothills of the mountain are expected to tell part of the planet’s history. Research and analysis from previous missions led to the conclusion that Mars was once wetter and warmer than it is today.

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) team reported that its instruments have been put through preliminary testing indicating that they too reached the Martian surface without damage. This machine carries several analytic tools that will allow collection of chemical samples from the planet. While the cameras may be the eyes of Curiosity, SAM is the nose, said team leader Paul Mahaffey. SAM’s equipment will test the chemical composition of the surface atmosphere and other gases that may exude from rocks and soil.

All of Curiosity’s data collection would be for naught without the capability to transmit the data back to JPL scientists for analysis. The Curiosity communications team has organized the orbiters into a network of telecommunications relay orbiters that collect data from the rover and convey it back to Earth. JPL has received about 7 billion bytes of data in the three weeks of the mission, more than double the amount received from previous rovers at this early point in their missions.

Curiosity is working a two-year assignment on Mars, collecting data to determine if and when the Mars climate and habitat might have supported some form of life.