Space odyssey

太空探索

The Moon is likely to become the industrial hub of the Solar System, supplying the rocket fuels fro its ships, easily obtainable from the lunar rocks in the from of liquid oxygen. The reason lies in its gravity. Because the Moon has only an eightieth of the Earth's mass, it requires 97 per cent less energy to travel the quarter of a million miles from the Moon to Earth-orbit than the 200 mile-journey from Earth's surface into orbit!

This may sound fantastic, but it is easily calculated. To escape from the Earth in a rocket, one must travel at seven miles per second. The comparable speed from the Moon is only 1.5 miles per second. Because the gravity on the Moon's surface is only a sixth of Earth's (remember how easily the Apollo astronauts bounded along), it takes much less energy to accelerate to that 1.5 miles per second than it does on Earth. Moon-dwellers will be able to fly in space at only three per cent of the cost of similar journeys by their terrestrial dwellers will be able to fly in space at only three per cent of the cost of similar journeys by their terrestrial cousins.

月球很可能成為太陽(yáng)系的工業(yè)中心。從月球上的巖石中很容易提煉出液態(tài)氧，作為航天飛船的燃料。其原因在于月球的重力。因?yàn)樵虑虻闹刂挥械厍虻?/8，因此，從月球到地球的25萬(wàn)英里所消耗的能量要比從地球表面進(jìn)入地球軌道的200英里所耗能量少97%。這點(diǎn)聽起來(lái)令人難以置信，但卻很容易計(jì)算出來(lái)。要乘坐一枚火箭飛離地球，火箭的速度要達(dá)到每秒7英里，而從月球出發(fā)的相應(yīng)速度史是每秒1.5英里。由于月球表面的重力僅是地球表面的1/6 -- 還記得阿波羅飛船中的宇航員累松地跳躍 -- 在月球上加速到每秒1.5英里比在地球上所用能源要少得多。月球居民在太空遨游的費(fèi)用僅是地球上朋友飛越同樣路所需費(fèi)用的3%。

Arthur C. Clark once suggested a revolutionary idea passes through three phases:

1 'It's impossible -- don't waste my time.'

2 'It's possible, but not worth doing.'

3 'I said it was a good idea all along.'

亞瑟.C.克拉克曾提議，一種創(chuàng)新的想法要經(jīng)過(guò)以下3個(gè)階段：

1 “根本不可能，不要浪費(fèi)我的時(shí)間。”

2 “可能，但不值得做。”

3 “我一直說(shuō)這是個(gè)好想法。”

The idea of colonising Mars -- a world 160 times more distant time the Moon -- will move decisively from the second phase to the third, when a significant number of people are living permanently in space. Mars has an extraordinary fascination for would-be voyagers. America, Russia and Europe are filled with enthusiasts -- many of them serious and senior scientists -- who dream of sending people to it. Their aim is understandable. It is the one world in the Solar System that is most like the Earth. It is a world of red sandy deserts (hence its name -- the Red Planet), cloudless skies, savage sandstorms, chasms wider than the Grand Canyon and at least one mountain more than twice as tall as Everest. It seems ideal for settlement.

如果有相當(dāng)數(shù)量的人永久性地住在太空，征服火星的計(jì)劃 -- 一個(gè)比月球遠(yuǎn)160倍的星球 -- 就可以明確地從第2階段進(jìn)入第3階段�；鹦菍�(duì)未來(lái)的星際旅客說(shuō)有著特殊的魅力。美國(guó)、俄羅斯和歐洲都有許多熱心此項(xiàng)事業(yè)的人 -- 其中的不少是認(rèn)真和資深的科學(xué)家，他們一直夢(mèng)想著把人送上火星。他們的目標(biāo)是可以理解的。火星是太陽(yáng)系里與地球最接近的一顆行星。這是一個(gè)紅色沙漠的世界(因而得名：紅色行星)，無(wú)云的天空，兇猛的沙暴，比大峽谷還寬的裂縫，起碼有一座山有珠穆朗瑪峰的近兩倍高�？雌饋�(lái)，它很合適居住。

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