【#004_2018.01.23】The search for MH370 ——Many scanners, very deep

2018.01.06期 p56-57

The search for MH370 ——搜寻马航NH370

Many scanners, very deep

Translation

Durban 德班

A swarm of autonomous submarines launched from a fantastical mother ship is out to find a missing airliner

一群自动潜艇从一艘巨大的母舰上出发，去寻找一架失踪的飞机。

ON JANUARY 2nd, at 8 pm local time,a strange vessel cast off and sailed out of the Port of Durban, in South Africa, heading east. Her hull was orange. Her superstructure bristled with antennae — some long and pointy, some sleek, white and domed. Her stern sported a crane and also a strange gantry, known to her crew as the “stinger”. Her bow looked so huge and ungainly as to be on the point of tipping her, nose first, into the depths. And below deck, invisible to those on shore, she carried eight autonomous submarines called HUGINs, each six metres long, weighing 1,800 kg, and containing a titanium sphere to protect the sensitive electronics therein from the pressure of the ocean’s depths.

当地时间1月2日晚上8点，一艘奇怪的船从南非的德班码头启航向东行驶。它的船体呈橙色，船体上部密集地布满天线——有些天线长而尖，有些则呈白色光滑的半球形。船尾可以看见一个吊车和奇怪的台架，船员们都称其为“刺”。其船头如此巨大和笨重，船“鼻子”首先倾斜进入水中深处，以至于看起来就像是要翻了。在甲板下方站在海岸上看不见的部分，它装载着8搜名为HUGINs的自动潜艇，每一艘都有6米长，1800kg，并且都带有一个钛金属球形外壳，以避免深海压力对其中的敏感电子元件造成影响。

The strange ship’s name is Seabed Constructor. She is a Norwegian research vessel, built in 2014 and owned by Swire Seabed, adredging and surveying firm in Bergen.At the moment, though, she is leased to Ocean Infinity, a company based in Houston, Texas. And the task Ocean Infinity has hired her for is a hard one:to find whatever is left of flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 ER that left Kuala Lumpur on March 8th 2014 with 239 people on board and vanished over the Indian Ocean.

此怪船名为Seabed Constructor。它是一艘建造于2014年的挪威调查船，属于卑尔根市（位于挪威西南部）的挖掘与勘探公司Swire Seabed公司。不过，目前它被海洋无限公司（美国海底探测公司）租用，这是位于德克萨斯州休斯顿的一家公司。海洋无限公司租用它是为了一个艰巨的任务：寻找MH370航班的遗物。这是一架波音777-200ER飞机，它于2014年3月8日从马拉西亚首都吉隆坡出发，飞机上载有239名乘客，在印度洋上空失联。

The disappearance of MH370 is one of the great mysteries of modern civil aviation. The aircraft was bound for Beijing, but changed course suddenly over the South China Sea and broke off radio contact. It was last detected by radar near the northern tip of Sumatra, heading west-northwest into the open ocean. Subsequent transmissions to a communications satellite suggested that it crashed somewhere along an arc between 1,500 km and 2,700 km west of Australia.

MH370航班的失联是现代民航最为神秘的事件之一。这架飞机是开往北京的，但是却在中国的南海上空突然改变了航向并中断了通信。它最后一次被雷达检测到是在苏门答腊岛（印尼西部的大岛）北部，当时正在朝着西南方向飞向公海。随后，向通信卫星传输的数据表明，它在澳大利亚以西1,500公里至2,700公里之间的某个弧形轨道上的某个地方坠毁。

The search that followed was the largest in aviation history.It was mounted by Fugro, a Dutch firm, and paid for by the Malaysian,Chinese and Australian governments. Over the course of three years Fugro managed to scan 120,000 square kilometres of seabed.But it found nothing.The plan is for Ocean Infinity’s search to be paid for, on a “no find, no fee” basis, by Malaysia alone.Contracts have yet to be signed,but Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s boss, has decided to go ahead anyway, to take advantage of the window of good weather that opens in the southern Indian Ocean in January and February.

（飞机坠毁后）紧接着的搜救工作可谓是航空史上最大的一次。它由荷兰的Fugro公司组织，并由马拉西亚、中国以及澳大利亚*共同出资。在过去的三年里，Fugro公司对海底120000平方公里的区域进行了搜索，但什么也没找到。（正因为Fugro公司毫无所获，因此现在搜索工作由海洋无限公司接管）海洋无限公司搜索的薪酬计划是：（如果找到残骸）费用由马来西亚单方面支付，如果找不到则不收费。尽管还未签合同，但是海洋无限公司的老板Oliver Plunkett已经决定，趁着一月和二月南印度洋的大好天气，无论如何都要继续搜索。（不太理解此句中的the window of是什么意思，尽管不太影响对文章的理解）

Ocean Infinity aims to cover the ground (此处的ground指代上段中的“seabed”)much faster than Fugrodid. In prior cruises in the Atlantic, the firm has, according to Josh Broussard, its technical director, managed to scan 890 square kilometres a day using six autonomous submarines. With eight,Mr Broussard thinks that the new mission will be able to manage 1,200 a day—enough to have covered the original search area in just 100 days.

海洋无限公司计划以比Fugro公司更快的速度对海底进行搜索。其技术指导Josh Broussard指出，在先前的一次对大西洋的搜索中，该公司用6搜自动潜艇每天搜索面积达890平方公里。若用8艘，那么Broussard先生认为，对于这个新任务，他们能以每天1200平方公里的速度进行搜索——原先的搜索面积他们在100天之内就足以完成。

The new search area, 25,000 square kilometres of sea floor chosen by investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), is just north of the old one (see map on next page). Fugro could infer MH370’ s crash site only from its final,rather shaky, satellite signals. Ocean Infinity’s effort has been guided as well by wreckage washed ashore on the coasts of Africa and several islands in the Indian Ocean—hence the more northerly starting point.Seabed Constructor will reach that starting-point, which is about 35°S, and 2,200 km off the coast of Western Australia,on or about January 17th, her crew having conducted a few final tests and calibrations of the HUGIN system en route,using remote-controlled robots to place dummy debris on the sea floor in order to see if the subs can find it. If searching the patch of ocean designated by the ATSB reveals nothing, then the ship will head farther north, towards the 30th parallel,which some independent experts believe is a better bet.

由澳洲交通安全局的调查员所确定的新的搜索区域是25000平方公里的海床，它位于旧搜索区域以北（如下图所示）。Fugro公司仅仅只是从飞机最后发生极其摇晃的卫星信号去推断其坠毁位置的。而海洋无限公司则还根据被冲到非洲海岸线和印度洋其它几个岛屿的残骸去判断坠机点——因此，确定为在初始位置更偏北的地方。海底建造者号（一艘搜救船的名字）将于1月17日左右到达那个起始位置：在离西澳大利亚海岸线2200km的南纬35°处。机组人员在途中已经用对HUGIN系统进行了一些最终测试和校准，他们使用远程机器人在海底放置一些假碎片，然后观察潜艇是否能找到这些碎片。如果在澳洲交通安全局 (ATSB)所指定的地方未搜索到任何东西，那么搜索船将会朝着南纬30°的平行线继续往北前进，这是不同专家们所一致认为的更佳方案。

An ocean of interest

Fugro’s search used but a single autonomous submarine, and this was unable to dive below 4,000 metres, meaning it was not always close to the seabed. The HUGINs carried by Seabed Constructor can, however, go as deep as 6,000 metres. That permits them to reach most of the sea floor comfortably. And the fact that there are eight of them means different areas can be searched in parallel, and that some submarines will always be at sea.

Fugro公司的搜索只使用了一个自动潜艇，而这个潜水艇无法潜入4000米以下的深度，这意味着它无法每次都接近海底。然而，海底建造者所使用的HUGIN则可以潜入6000米的深度。这就使他们能够轻松地到达大部分的海底。他们的8搜潜艇就意味着，可以同时对不同区域进行平行搜索，并且其中一些潜艇可以一直呆在海里。

The HUGINs will be launched by the stinger, which extends out over the ship’s stern. Once underwater, the robot craft will communicate with the ship using an acoustic modem.The ship’s own modem, which will receive these signals, is fixed to the end of a long pole that extends down through her hull into the water.

HUGINs经由母舰船尾伸出的那些“刺”所发射出去。它们一旦进入水下，其机器装置就能通过声学调制解调器（发出信号）与母舰进行联系；母舰自己的声学调制解调器固定在通过其船体向下伸入水中的长干末端，母舰的声学调制解调器将接收这些信号。

Each HUGIN comes with a 300 kg lithium-polymer battery pack, good fora tour of duty lasting up to 60 hours. A downward- pointing sonar will map the contours of the seabed beneath the craft, but most of the searching will be done by side-mounted sonars scanning the bed on either side of the craft. These send out pings and measure the intensity with which they are reflected. Sand reflects less sound than metal does, meaning metal objects such as aircraft debris are easy to distinguish. And if something apparently metallic is detected, its nature can be confirmed using an on-board magnetometer.

每一个HUGIN是带有一个300kg的锂离子-聚合物电池组，可以持续使用60小时。向下发射的声呐系统能够绘制出潜艇下方的海床轮廓，但是绝大多数的搜索还是通过侧挂的声呐系统扫描潜艇两侧的海床来完成的。这些（扫描）发射出脉冲信号并且计算反射脉冲的信号强度。（由于）沙子反射声音的能力比金属差，因此这就意味着，飞机残骸这类金属物体能够很容易被识别出来。并且一旦明确地检测到了金属物质，那么其属性则就可以通过船上的磁力计来进行确认。

The HUGINs’ search patterns are set by people, but the craft will actually navigate with little reference to their mother ship.Every so often, the ship will send out a corrective ping to keep them on course. Mostly, however, they will employ dead reckoning, based on data from accelerometers, to steer themselves autonomously.They are also capable of picking their way without assistance over sheer underwater cliffs and mountains, and past crevices and gullies, using on-board cameras and machine-vision software.

HUGINs的搜寻模式是人为设定的，但是实际上，潜艇与母舰之间的导航几乎是没有参考可以依照的。所以，母舰每隔一段时间就需要发出一个矫正信号来保持潜艇走在正确的航线上。然而，多数情况下他们需要根据加速计的数据，采用航位推测法来自主控制（自身的航线位置）（或译成“自主驾驶”）。他们也可以在没有水下陡峭悬崖和山脉的辅助参考下，利用船上的摄像机和可视化机器软件自主选择路线以越过裂缝和水沟。

After its tour of duty, a HUGIN will be lifted back on-board ship and the data it has collected (up to two terabytes, recorded on a waterproof hard drive) downloaded into the ship’s data centre and turned into human-readable maps, a process that takes six hours. The HUGIN’s battery will be replaced with a fully charged one, any necessary repairs made, and the craft then sent back out into the ocean.

当HUGIN完成一次任务之后，它将会被带回到船上，它所收集到的数据（高达2兆兆字节，被记录在一个防水的硬盘里）被下载到船上的数据中心，并且转换成可读的地图，这一转换过程需要6小时。在此期间，可以给HUGIN更换充满电的电池，以及进行必要的维修，然后它将再次被送回海洋。

A team of geologists and hydrographers will then pore over the maps, looking for signs of the missing plane.Surprisingly, for such a high-tech operation, this stage of the search will be entirely manual. Every block of sea floor that the HUGINs map will be examined by three sets of human eyes. Together, this survey team will come up with a list of possible targets,ranked from “E” to “A” (“nothing” to “that’s it”), to present to their bosses. If the data look good, a HUGIN will be sent down for a second, closer look, cameras at the ready.

然后，由地质学家和水道测量家组成的一个研究小组会仔细研究地图，以寻找失联飞机的迹象。令人出乎意料的是，对于这样一个高科技操作，这一阶段的研究需要完全手动操作进行。HUGINs提供的地图中，海床的每个区域都必须由三组人进行肉眼检查。这个调查小组（在研究完地图之后）将共同给出一个可能的目标清单，从E到A（从“什么也没有”到“就是它”）进行分类后像他们的老板进行汇报。如果数据看似良好，那么一个HUGIN机器将再次被送到那里进行更进一步的观察和拍照。

What happens next, if Ocean Infinity does locate what is left of the missing aircraft, is unclear. Friends and relatives of those aboard it will doubtless derive relief from knowing where the flight ended up. But merely finding the wreckage will not explain what happened on board the plane. That will require the discovery of the aircraft’s flight recorder.

如果海洋无限公司确实定位了失联飞机的遗留物，接下去将会发生什么还不清楚。那些在船上的（失联乘客的）亲朋好友们在得知飞机在哪失事之后，毫无疑问会释然。但是仅仅只是找到飞机残骸是无法解释飞机上到底发生了什么，还必须找到飞行记录仪才行。

That object is therefore Ocean Infinity’s ultimate target. If it is found on this mission, Mr Broussard says the firm plans to bring it to the surface and then deliver it for analysis to the Australian authorities, who have the technical competence to assess it. A follow-up trip to examine the wreckage, and even bring it to the surface, would require further authorisation from the Malaysian government.

因此，飞行记录仪成了海洋无限公司搜寻的最终目标。Broussard先生说，如果在这次任务中能够找到它，那么他们公司打算将它带上海面并且交给澳大利亚当局去分析，因为他们（澳大利亚当局）有这个技术能力去进行分析。后续检查残骸并将其带出海面的过程，还需要马来西亚*的进一步授权和批准。

Seabed Constructor is the most advanced civilian survey vessel on the planet today. If its array of technology cannot find MH370, then it is likely that nothing will, and that the mystery of MH370 will remain unsolved. Either way, though, the advance of technology may mean that it is the last such mystery. As the oceans are watched with ever closer scrutiny,from space and the depths, it is increasingly difficult for anything to get lost in the first place.

海底建造者号是当今世界上最先进的民用勘探船，如果它的一系列技术都无法找到MH370，那么很可能就没有什么方法可以找到了，并且NH370的神秘失踪的谜底将依然无法解开。但无论如何，科技的进步将会意味着这终究不是问题。随着人们对海洋从空中和深海进行的越来越仔细的检查（搜索），任何东西都很难直接就消失的。

(1360 words )