2019年06月六级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

Officials at the White House announced a new space policy focused on managing the increasing number of satellites that companies and governments are launching into space. Space Policy Directive-3 lays out general guidelines for the United States to mitigate (缓解) the effects of space debris and track and manage traffic in space.

白宫官员宣布了一项新的太空政策，重点是管理公司和政府向太空发射的日益增多的卫星。《太空政策第3号指令》为美国制定了一般性指导方针，以减缓太空碎片的影响，并跟踪和管理太空交通。

This policy sets the stage for the Department of Commerce to take over the management of traffic in space. The department will make sure that newly launched satellites don't use radio frequencies that would interfere with existing satellites, and schedule when such new satellites can be launched. This only applies to American space activities, but the hope is that it will help standardize a set of norms in the dawning commercial spaceflight industry throughout the world.

该政策为商务部接管太空交通管理奠定了基础。该部门将确保新发射的卫星不使用可能干扰现有卫星的无线电信号频率，并安排这些新卫星的发射时间。此规定仅适用于美国的太空活动，但希望它有助于在全球范围内新兴的商业航天产业中标准化一套规范。

Space, especially the space directly around our planet, is getting more crowded as more governments and companies launch satellites. One impetus for the policy is that companies are already starting to build massive constellations (星座), comprising hundreds or thousands of satellites with many moving parts among them. With so much stuff in space, and a limited area around our planet, the government wants to reduce the chances of a collision. Two or more satellites slamming into each other could create many more out-of-control bits that would pose even more hazards to the growing collection of satellites in space.

随着更多政府和公司发射卫星，太空，特别是环绕地球的近地空间正变得越来越拥挤。推动该政策的一个因素是，公司已开始建造大型星座，这些星座由数百甚至数千颗卫星组成，其间有许多活动部件。由于太空中有如此多的物体，而环绕地球的空间又有限，政府希望降低碰撞风险。两颗或多颗卫星相撞可能产生更多失控的碎片，从而对太空中日益增多的卫星构成更大威胁。

And it's not like this hasn't happened before. In 2009 an old Russian craft slammed into a communications satellite, creating a cloud of hundreds of pieces of debris and putting other hardware at risk. Journalist Sarah Scoles reports that NASA currently tracks about 24,000 objects in space, and in 2016 the Air Force had to issue 3,995,874 warnings to satellite owners alerting them to a potential nearby threat from another satellite or bit of debris.

这种情况并非首次发生。2009年，一颗老旧的俄罗斯航天器与一颗通信卫星相撞，产生了数百个碎片的云团，并危及其他硬件。记者莎拉·斯科尔斯报道称，美国国家航空航天局目前跟踪着约24,000个太空物体，2016年，美国空军不得不向卫星所有者发出3,995,874次警告，提醒他们附近可能有来自另一颗卫星或碎片的威胁。

That's why this new policy also includes directions to update the current U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices, which already require any entity that launches a satellite or spacecraft to vigorously analyze the likelihood that any of their actions, from an unexpected failure or normal operations, will create more space debris. It includes accounting for any piece of debris they plan to release over 5mm that might stay in orbit for 25 years or more. It might seem surprising to think about an item staying in space for that long, but the oldest satellite still in orbit-Vanguard 1-turned 60 in 2018.

这就是为什么这项新政策也包含了更新现行美国政府《轨道碎片减缓标准实践》的指示，该标准已经要求任何发射卫星或航天器的实体，必须积极分析其任何行动——无论是意外故障还是正常操作——产生更多太空碎片的可能性。它包括计算他们计划释放的任何超过5毫米且可能在轨道上停留25年或更久的碎片。思考一个物体能在太空中停留那么久可能令人惊讶，但仍在轨道上运行的最古老的卫星——“先锋1号”——在2018年迎来了60岁生日。

Agencies and companies throughout the world are working on developing technology that would dispose of or capture space debris before it causes serious damage. But for now, the U.S. government is more focused on preventing new debris from forming than taking the trash out of orbit.

世界各地的机构和公司正在研发技术，以在太空碎片造成严重损害之前将其处理或捕获。但就目前而言，美国政府更注重防止新碎片的产生，而非将垃圾清除出轨道。