经济学人精读 The Economist [46]
选自 January 06 2018 Science and Technology 板块
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现在已经有太多的太空垃圾使得太空成为了一个危险之地。今年二月，国际工空间站将在再补给任务重中，携带一枚卫星，进行清除太空垃圾的试验。包含几个关键测试：制造垃圾目标；捕获垃圾（有鱼网和鱼叉两种方式，像捕鱼一样捕获太空垃圾）；识别太空垃圾；避免成为新的太空垃圾。如果这些测试能够成功，就可从清理最为危险的太空垃圾开始。虽然目前已有太空垃圾管理规范，但是这些规范并没有被很好的遵守。并且各国政府也并不愿意花钱投入太空垃圾的清理。
#以上，个人总结和理解，欢迎批评指正，欢迎留言讨论
#有输出才有进步
Space debris[太空垃圾]
Junk hunting[垃圾狩猎]
A new satellite will test ways to capture detritus circling Earth[一个新的卫星将要检测补货环绕地球碎片的方法]
There is an awful lot of junk in space[在太空里有大量的垃圾]. The latest data from the European Space Agency suggest some 7,500 tonnes of it now orbits Earth[来自于欧洲太空总署的最新数据显示，现在有大约7500吨的垃圾在环绕着地球]. It ranges from defunct satellites and rocket parts to nuts[螺母], bolts[螺栓], shards[碎片]of metal and even flecks[微粒]of paint[从废弃的卫星和火箭零件，到螺母，螺栓，金属碎片，甚至是油漆微粒]. But something as small as a paint fleck can still do serious damage if it hits a working satellite at a speed of several thousand kilometres an hour[但有时，就算是油漆微粒那么小的东西，如果撞击到一个以上千公里每小时的速度运行的卫星人，仍会带来非常严重的损失].There have already been more than 290 collisions, break-ups and explosions in space[在太空中，已经有超过290次碰撞，破碎，和爆炸]. Given the likelihood that thousands of small satellites, some only a few centimetres across, will be launched over the next decade, many worry that large volumes of space near Earth will soon be rendered[使成为]risky places for satellites (especially big,expensive ones) to be[考虑到在接下来的十年中，将可能会有上千个小卫星发射，有些卫星仅仅有几厘米，很多人担忧接近地球的大量空间，将很快成为卫星(尤其是又大又贵的卫星)的危险之地].
What is needed, then, is a clean-up[那时需要的就是，清理]. Various ideas about how to do this have been proposed, and some are about to be put to the test[经受考验,检验][关于怎样清理已经有好多提议，有些提议已经准备去检验]. In February a resupply mission to the International Space Station will also carry a satellite, about the size of a domestic washing machine, called RemoveDEBRIS[在二月，国际空间站的再补给任务，将携带一个卫星，差不多家用洗衣机那么大，叫做RemoveREBRIS].Once this has been unpacked and prepared by the station’s crew,they will use a robotic manipulator to send it on its way into orbit aroundEarth[一旦空间站队员准备好了，他们将利用一个机器手臂将这个卫星发送到环绕地球的轨道]. RemoveDEBRIS has been designed and built by Surrey Satellite Technology, a British manufacturer of small satellites spun out of the University of Surrey in 1985, which is now majority-owned by Airbus[RemoveDEBRIS由萨里卫星科技公司研发制造，一个英国小型卫星制造商，在1985年从萨里大学分离出来，现在Airbus拥有其绝大部分股份]. MissionControl for the RemoveDEBRIS project is the Surrey Space Centre at theuniversity[RemoveDEBRIS项目的任务控制中心是学校的萨里太空中心]. The plan is forRemoveDEBRIS to carry out four experiments[计划是由RemoveDEBRIS执行四个实验]. The first two will involve launching from it a pair of CubeSats (mini-satellites 10cm across)[前两个实验包括由它发射一对CubeSats（10厘米大的迷你卫星）]. These will play the role of space junk[它们将扮演太空垃圾的角色].
Once launched, the first CubeSat will inflate[充气膨胀]a balloon like structure a metre across, to which it will remain attached, in order to create a bigger target[一旦被发射，第一个CubeSat将会膨胀出成一个气球一样的一米大小的结构，并将会一直附加在这个CubeSat上，旨在创造一个更大的目标]. The mother ship will the approach to a distance of seven metres and fire a net at the balloon[之后，母体卫星将会离开7米左右的距离，并向这个气球发射一个网]. This net is designed to unfurl[张开]and warp itself around the target[这张网被设计成可以张开，并且包住目标]. Once the target is entangled[套住], a cable connecting the net to the mother ship will be tightened, closing the neck of the net[一旦目标被套住，连接着网和母体卫星的绳子将被缩紧，将网口扎紧]. It will then be hauled in, like catching fish[之后，它将被拖着，就像捕鱼一样].
The second CubeSat will test the sensors ofRemoveDEBRIS[第二个CubeSat将用于检测RemoveDEBRIS的感应器]. This trial will use cameras and a lidar (an optical version of radar) aboard the mother ship to build up a detailed three-dimensional image of the object[这个试验将使用装在母体卫星上的摄像头和激光雷达（雷达的光学版本）建立出目标的详细三维图像]. If that works it will permit future clean-up vehicles to recognise what they are dealing with, and react appropriately[如果这样可行的话，将为未来的清理设备识别出他们正在处理什么东西，并恰当的作出回应].
In the third experiment, RemoveDEBRIS will extend a 1.5-metre-long arm that holds a 10cm-square target[在第三个试验中，RemoveDEBRIS将延展出一个1.5米长的手臂，举着一个10平方厘米大小的目标]. It will then fire a harpoon[鱼叉]at the target[之后，向这个目标发射一个鱼叉]. The idea is that harpoons could be used to pierce some items of space debris and, like the net in the first experiment, then haul them in[这一想法是鱼叉可以用于刺穿一些太空垃圾，就像第一个试验中的网一样，然后将它们拖着].
The final experiment is intended to ensure that RemoveDEBRIS and its captured items do not themselves become space junk[最终试验，是要确保RemoveDEBRIS和它们捕获的东西不要成为太空垃圾]. The mother ship will deploy[部署]a ten squaremetre plastic membrane[膜], supported by four carbon fibre booms, to act as a “dragsail”that will employ the limited atmosphere at this altitude to pull the craft downward to the fiery death of reentry[母体卫星将配备一个10平方米的塑料薄膜，由四个碳纤维支撑，充当“拖航”，使得其可以利用在这个高度有限的大气将卫星拽向重新进入大气层的剧烈毁灭].
If space-debris capture systems like this succeed, then future missions could start to go after some of the most worrying bit of junk[如果像这样的太空垃圾捕获系统成功的话，那么将来的任务可以从最让人担忧的一些垃圾开始]. Such ventures could be commercial, according to Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey SpaceCentre, if governments (probably acting collectively)were willing to pay to keep space clean so as not to damage their own activities and those of their citizens[这样的机会是有可能商业化的，根据GA萨里太空中心总监的表示，如果政府（可能集体行动）愿意花钱让太空变干净，让他们自己和他们的国民不受损失]. There are already guidelines to try to limit the accumulation of space junk[已经有规范尝试限制太空垃圾的积累]. Defunct satellites should be disposed of within 25 years, either by being tipped into reentry or parked in an out-of-the way “graveyard” orbit[废弃的卫星应该在25年之内被处理，要么重新进入大气层烧毁，要么停留在一个不挡道的垃圾轨道]. But the rules are not always followed and a lot of older debris remains in orbit[但是，这样的规则总是不被遵循，有很多陈年垃圾仍在轨道中]. A bounty[赏金]on removing the most threatening hulks[残骸]might even see the launch of a new space business[除去威胁最大的残骸的赏金，甚至有可能会见证新的太空业务的启动].
Jan 11 | 700 words
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