TheInternational Astronautical Congress is meeting in Beijing. But what, exactly,does China want from outer space? 国际宇航大会正在北京召开, 但是中国到底想要从外太空得到什么? Sep 28th 2013 | Beijing THE Soviet Union in 1961. The United States in 1962. Chinain 2003. It took a long time for a taikonaut to join the list of cosmonauts andastronauts who have gone into orbit around Earth and (in a few cases) venturedbeyond that, to the Moon. But China has now arrived as a space power, and onemark of this has been the International Astronautical Federation’s decision tohold its 64th congress in Beijing.
苏联1961年载人航天, 美国1962年, 中国2003年, 中国太空人花了很长时间才加入了能够在围绕地球的轨道飞行的太空人行列, 其中的一些人走得更远, 他们去了月球. 现在中国已经成为了一支太空力量, 标志就是国际宇航局决定在北京召开第64次大会.
The congress, which is attended by representatives of allthe world’s space agencies, from America and Russia to Nigeria and Syria, is aplace where eager boffins can discuss everything from the latest in rocketdesign and the effects of microgravity on the thyroid to how best an asteroidmight be mined and how to weld metal for fuel tanks. [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
世界上所有的航天机构都派代表参加了这次大会,从美国,俄罗斯到尼日利亚,叙利亚,在大会上,求知欲强烈的科研人员可以讨论任何事情,从最新的火箭设计, 微重力环境对甲状腺的影响到怎样才能最好的开发小行星的矿产和怎样焊接油箱
All useful stuff, of course. But space travel has neverbeen just about the science. It is also an arm of diplomacy, and so thecongress serves too as a place where officials can exchange gossip and announcetheir plans. 很显然,所有有用的事物. 但是太空旅行才来都不是仅和科学相关,它也是重要的外交手段. 大会也成为了官员们谈论各种八卦和宣布太空计划的场合
And that was just what Ma Xingrui, the head of the ChinaNational SpaceAdministration (CNSA) and thus, in effect, the congress’s host,did. He confirmed that an unmanned lunar mission, Chang’e3, will be launched in the first half of December. This means, ifall goes well, that before the year is out a Chinese rover will roam thesurface of the Moon. It will collect and analyse samples of lunar regolith (thecrushed rock on the Moon’s surface that passes for soil there). It will makesome ultraviolet observations of stars. And it will serve to remind the worldthat China intends—or at least says it intends—to send people to the Moonsometime soon as well. 大会的主持人, 中国国家太空署的老大Ma Xingrui就宣布了中国的太空计划. 他确认一项无人的月球任务, 嫦娥3号将会在12月的前半月发射升空, 这意味着, 如果一切顺利, 今年年底前中国的月球车就将月球表面漫步了 . 它将会收集并分析月球”风化层”样品 (月岩分解后形成的土壤) (月球上没风, 不知道肿么表示, 所以打个引号), 它也将观测恒星的紫外线. 同时它也将提醒世界中国的意图,至少是他们说的意图, 很快将会把人送上月球
Mr Ma also confirmed that China plans to build a permanentspace stationby 2020. Such manned stations are expensive and scientificallyuseless, as the example of the largely American International Space Station(ISS), currently in orbit, eloquently demonstrates. But they do have diplomaticuses, and that was why Mr Ma reiterated in his speech that foreign guests willbe welcome onboard his station—in contradistinction to the ISS’s ratherpointed ban on taikonauts—though any visitors will first have to learn Chinese.What he did not do, though, was comment on the aspect of China’s spaceprogramme that most concerns outsiders, namely exactly how militarised it is. [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
Ma 也确认中国计划到2020年建立永久的空间站, 这样的载人空间站非常昂贵且从科学角度讲没什么用, 就如目前在轨运行的美国国际空间站一样.但是他们的确有外交用途, 而且这也是为什么Ma在演讲中反复重申欢迎外国人到访中国空间站(访客必须得先学会中文), 与之形成对比的是美国国际空间站禁止中国人使用. 但是他没有就外界最关心的中国太空项目确切的军事化程度发表看法. One Chinese rover 中国月球车 Most space programmes are military to some extent. BothAmerica and the Soviet Union used modified missiles to launch their satellitesand spacemen in the early days. And even in the days of the Space Shuttle, NASAwas employing that device to put spy satellites into orbit, and recover them.For China’s space effort these still are the early days, so civilianandmilitary applications remain intertwined.
大部分太空项目在某种程度上都是军事化的, 早期美国和苏联都使用改良导弹发射卫星和太空人.即使是在太空梭时期, NASA也曾用太空梭在轨道部署和修复间谍卫星.由于中国的太空努力仍处在早期阶段, 所以民用和军用仍然是糅合在一起的 In July, for example, the CNSA launched a trio ofsatellites, allegedly as part of a project to clean up space near Earth byremoving orbital debris. Such debris is indeed a problem, given the number oflaunches that have happened since the hoisting of Sputnik in 1957. Nor did China itself helpwhen, during the testing of an anti-satellite weapon in 2007, it blew one ofits own redundant satellites into about 150,000 pieces. So a charitable viewmight be that this mission was a piece of contrition. Cynics, however, suspectthat what was actually launched was another type of antisatellite weapon—or, atmost, a piece of dual-use technology which could act as a space-sweeper aswell. 例如在七月, 中国国家太空署发生了一箭三星, 声称这是清理近地空间太空碎片项目的一部分. 考虑到自1957年首个人造卫星升空的发射次数, 这些碎片的确是个问题. 中国本身在这方面也没什么帮助, 2007年中国反卫星武器试验中轰掉了自己的报废卫星造成了150000件碎片. 所以从好的方面想这次任务也许是悔过自新的表现, 但是美分们怀疑这其实是发射了另一种类型的反卫星武器,或者很有可能使用了双用途技术, 既可反卫星又可以清扫太空碎片 [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
One of the newly launched probes was indeed equipped with arobotic arm of the sort that might pick up space litter. The other two were,the story went, to stand in for bits of debris. But once initial tests wereover, the satellite with the robotic arm made a number of unusual manoeuvresand approached not one of the devices it was launched with, but rather anageingsatellite in a different orbit—just the sort of behaviour that would beuseful if you wanted to eliminate an observation or communication satellitebelonging to another country. 其中一个新发射的探测器确实装备了那种可能收集太空垃圾的机械手,另外2个据称是用来阻挡太空碎片, 但是发生升空后, 带机械手的卫星进行了一系列不同寻常的操作, 没有接近和它一起发射的任何一个卫星,而是接近了另一个轨道上的老化卫星—假如你想要干掉其他国家的观测或者通信卫星像这种动作将会非常有用
The Chinese are not the only ones working on spaceweaponry, of course. America is busy in the field, too. And that accounted fora slightly more desolate atmosphere at the meeting than is normal atastronautical congresses.American law prohibits NASA from collaborating withChina, or even organising bilateral exchanges with it. That rather kiboshed theplethora of booths theagency would normally have brought to the party,particularly when it is celebrating the activities of a rover of its own—Curiosity, its fourthand largest roaming the surface of Mars. 中国人并不是在太空武器化方面作出努力的唯一国家, 美国也在这个领域忙碌着. 在这方面本次大会比往常的国际宇航局大会讨论更少. 美国法律禁止NASA和中国合作, 甚至对等交换也不行. 这使本次大会设置多余展位泡汤了( 特别是NASA正在庆祝自己的探测器好奇号, 它是 NASA第四次也是最大的一次火星漫步) (应该是吐槽NASA没人参加)
This did not stop NASA’s boss, Charles Bolden, addressingthe conference, though. And more pertinently, Mr Bolden also had a note fromCongress letting him off the legal leash so that, though he still could nottalk with Mr Ma or his colleagues at the CNSA, he could at least meet membersof the ChineseAcademy of Sciences to discuss matters of mutual interest. Thesematters included using satellites to study Earth itself—the most useful part ofspace science. But it would be surprising if the question of how to clean upspace litter had not somehow come up too.
但是这并没有阻挡NASA的老大, Charles Bolden 在大会上致辞, Bolden还提到大会让他解除法律的约束, 以便他至少能够和中国科学院的院士就关系双方共同利益的事务上进行沟通, 但他仍不能和Ma以及他中国 太空署的同事谈话. 这些事务包括使用卫星研究地球—空间科技最有用的部分. 而且怎样清理太空垃圾肯定会被提及, 假如没提到,就太让人惊讶了 [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 评论 Firerouge Sep 27th 2013 6:05 GMT The ISS is "scientifically useless"? I think many a scientistwould beg to differ.
国际空间站从科学角度讲百无一用? 我认为科学家可不这么想
Niu Nuin Sep27th 2013 5:44 GMT [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
看看TE的另一篇 标题为”纸上看起来很美” 的文章吧, 描述了中国腐败的科学研究系统中大量涌现的学术欺诈. 鉴于中国的空间项目基于同样腐败的系统, 因此什么也完不成, 我们应该放心. 为什么要担心呢?
sY2PAxeU6Q Sep 27th 2013 5:15 GMT Charles Bolden, from the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, the OneIndispensable Nation, was forbidden to talk to the head of CNSA. We're doooomed.
来自自由之土, 勇士之邦, 不可或缺之国的CharlesBolden, 被禁止和中国太空署老大交谈 [ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
我们注定被爆菊
vaskosmopolita Sep 27th 2013 4:21 GMT
恩, 除了恐吓世界, 中国的太空项目还能有什么用, 中国最好将数万亿美刀用在改善还在大陆吃草的1万亿 (原文如此)人民的生活而不是浪费在外太空的炫耀上
[ 转自铁血社区 http://bbs.tiexue.net/ ]
为什么这个问题这么难回答? 我们从太空想要什么, 中国就想要什么. 统治技术高地, 研究地球,提供军事和经济情报,等等 。。。。。
这是个伪问题, 只是用外交的方式来说我们对此不高兴而已
Devil's 回楼上 或者说 赤果果的说 中国应该明白 "自己的位置", 不要想着赶上西方白人, 即使他们有能力做到这一点 |