经济学人精读 The Economist [58]
选自 | January 20 2018 | Leaders | 社论板块
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太空中的竞争实际展现出的是地面上的竞争。在美国与苏联太空竞争时期，太空就是两国冷战的前线，是国家实力的体现。国际竞争同样存在于在外太空中，并且已经不仅仅是国与国的竞争，还包括了企业和私人的竞争。与此同时，太空竞争也是科技与财富传播的体现。从20世纪60年代美国苏联独大，到现在中国，欧洲，印度，日本也都纷纷拥有太空项目。从私人太空项目在人们看来是一个无比荒唐的想法，到SpaceX，Blue Origin等私人太空项目的落地。新一轮的太空竞争将是对各国经济体系更好的检验。
#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
The new space race[新的太空竞赛]
In heaven as it is on Earth[在天上如同在地上]
Events in space reflect those back home[太空中的事反应出的是地球上发生的事]
LATER this month, if all has gone according to plan, a rocket called the Falcon Heavy will take off from Cape Canaveral, in Florida[这个月末，如果一切按计划进行，一个叫做猎鹰的重型运载火箭将从佛罗里达卡纳维拉尔角发射]. Its mission is to put a sportscar in orbit around the sun[它的任务是将一辆跑车送到环绕太阳的轨道中]. The Falcon Heavy is the latest product of SpaceX, a firm founded by Elon Musk, an American billionaire[猎鹰重型运载火箭是SpaceX的最新产品，SpaceX是由美国亿万富翁EM创立的]. The car is Mr Musk’s own, made by Tesla, another of his businesses[汽车归M先生自己所有，产自他的另外一个企业特斯拉]. SpaceX has the explicit aim, besides making money, of enabling people to travel to and colonise Mars[SpaceX明确的目标除了挣钱外，还包括让人们能够到火星一游，并且将占领火星]. Before then, the Falcon Heavy may earn its keep[生计]lifting satellites and carrying tourists on “slingshot” trips around the moon[在这之前，猎鹰重型运载火箭通过发射卫星和搭载游客绕月旅行维持生计（slingshot，本意弹弓，弹射器，这里没有翻译出来）].
Mr Musk’s ambition is to propel[推动]humanity beyond its home planet[M先生的雄心壮志是要推动人类到地球之外]. But what is going on in space today also reflects the shifting balance of power on Earth[但是，如今太空发生的事情也反应出了地球上实力平衡的转移]. In the days of the space race between America and the Soviet Union, the heavens were a front in the cold war between two competing ideologies[在美国与苏联太空竞争时期，太空就是两个竞争意识形态冷战的前线]. Since then, power has not merely shifted between countries[从那时起，实力就不仅仅在国家之间转移]. It has also shifted between governments and individuals[它同样也在政府和个人之间转移].
Wacky races
International competition is not absent from outer space[国际竞争没有在外太空缺席]. China, for instance, is making noises about[对…说个不停]Mars[例如，中国一直在谈论火星]. Last year it deemed[视为]an expanse of desert in the country’s north-west to be sufficiently Martian to be reserved as a training ground for Mars-bound “taikonauts”[去年，它把中国西北十分像火星的一片辽阔的沙漠看作是为火星太空人保留的训练基地]. China is also moving its principal space port from the north to the south of the country, partly in order to take advantage of the extra launch velocity imparted nearer the equator by Earth’s spin[中国也将它的主要航天发射中心从国家的北部转移到了南部，一以部分是为了靠近赤道利用地球自转的优势获取额外的发射初速]. In America, meanwhile, PresidentDonald Trump signed an order in December directing NASA, the country’s space agency, to prepare for are turn of American astronauts to the moon[与此同时，在美国，特朗普总统在去年12月签署了一项命令，指导美国航天局NASA为美国航天员重返月球做准备].
Yet in comparison with the 1960s, things are all quite slow-moving[但是，与20世纪60年代相比，事情的进展相当慢]. Actual target dates were notably absent from Mr Trump’s announcement, and China’s ambitions for men and women on the moon have a similarly lackadaisical[萎靡不振的]feel to them[实际目标日期在特朗普的宣布中明显缺失，中国把男女航天员送上月球的雄心壮志也同样的感到拖拖拉拉]. This greater relaxation about matters space-related is in part because the original race was seen as a crucial test of whether capitalism or central planning was the better economic system (though NASA’s effort was probably the most centrally planned civilian operation in the history of the United States)[这种对太空相关问题的更大的松懈，部分原因是因为最初的竞争被看作是对资本主义或中央计划是否是更好的经济体系的重要检测（尽管NASA的努力大概是美国历史上最为集中计划的民用行动）]. The lack of intensity in space today reflects the calmer nature of superpower rivalry[相互较劲]on Earth[如今缺乏投入的太空反应出了超级大国在地面上相互较劲的归于平静].
It also reflects the diffusion of wealth and technology[这同样体现出财富与科技的传播]. The number of “spacefaring” countries has increased since the 1960s, when only America and the Soviet Union counted[自20世纪60年代，“太空飞行”的国家数量已经增加，在那之前只有美国和苏联]. Now—besides China and Russia—Europe, India and Japan also have space programmes that can, and do, reach the moon and other heavenly bodies with robot spacecraft[现在——除了中国和俄罗斯——欧洲，印度和日本也有太空项目，用机器人宇宙飞船能够实现登陆月球和其他大型天体].
As for the idea that a private individual could run a space programme, that would have been laughable back then[至于私人经营太空项目的想法，在那时看来是荒唐可笑的]. Now several are[现在，有几个（私人经营的太空项目）]. For Mr Musk has rivals, from Blue Origin (backed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon)at one end to a plucky[有胆量的], pint-sized[无足轻重的]startup called Rocket Lab at theother[M先生有竞争者，一边是Blue Origin蓝色起源（由JB的亚马逊作为支持），另一边是一个大胆而无足轻重的叫做Rocket Lab火箭实验室的创业公司](It hopes to make its first launch into orbit in the next few days.[它希望在之后几年中完成第一次轨道发射]) Lifting satellites into orbit is a proper business, and therefore properly the business of businessfolk[发射卫星到轨道是一件正事，因此做正事的人也是正经人]. The fact that a wealthy person is willing to spend his money on such a fanciful space project as going to Mars is, though, an intriguing[引人入胜的] departure—and a good measure of just how rich some people have become[有钱人愿意将他们的钱花在向到达火星这样的炫酷的太空项目上，虽然是一次引人入胜的出发——但也很好的衡量了一些人有多么富有].
For now, the world’s private space programmes, whether commercial or quixotic[堂吉柯德式的，不切实际的], are mostly American[如今，世界上大多私人太空项目，不论是商业化的还是不切实际的，大部分都是美国的]. But the model is spreading[但是，这样的模式正在传播]. Even China sports[穿戴]nascent[开始发展的]rocket firms[甚至是中国也有了新成立的火箭公司]. The incipient[刚开始的]race to Mars will include companies as well as countries[在到达火星最初的竞争中，将包括企业和国家]. That will make it a better test of economic systems than the original space race ever was[这将比最初的太空竞争更好的检验经济体系].
Jan 24 | 664 words
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