经济学人463:天文学 要太空望远镜吗?

 　　Science and technology.

　　科技。

　　Astronomy.

　　天文学。

　　Psst. Want a space telescope?

　　喂，要太空望远镜吗？

　　America's spies make a generous donation to NASA.

　　美国间谍机构对NASA慷慨捐赠。

　　AMERICA'S civilian¹ space programme is built atop its military one. Its rockets trace their ancestry², via ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads into the Soviet³ Union, to the German V2s that bombarded London and Antwerp during the second world war.

　　美国的民用空间计划建立在军用基础之上，比如运载火箭，由携带核弹头并瞄准前苏联的弹道导弹发展而来，再往前可以追溯到二战时用于轰炸伦敦和安特卫普的德国V2系列导弹。

　　And the Space Shuttle, which made its final flight last year, was used to launch satellites for the air force as well as carrying out its better-publicised scientific missions.

　　再比如去年退役的航天飞机，曾用来为空军发射卫星，当然用作执行科学任务的宣传工作做得也不差。

　　So when it was reported on June 4th that the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), one of the more secretive of America's plethora⁴ of spy agencies, had decided⁵ to donate two surplus spy-satellite mirrors to NASA, the country's civilian space agency, the news was less bizarre than it might at first have seemed.

　　所以当6月4日有报道指出国家侦察局（NRO，美国众多情报机关中最神秘的机构之一）决定向NASA（美国民用宇航局）捐赠两颗多余的侦察卫星时，这种新闻或许第一眼看上去有些奇怪，其实并非如此。

　　After all, NASA has benefited from spy technology before.

　　毕竟一直以来NASA就从侦察技术获益颇多。

　　The Hubble space telescope is essentially⁶ a redesigned spy satellite that points out into space instead of down at the Earth.

　　比如哈勃太空望远镜本质上就是侦察卫星的另一个版本，只不过把原本对着地球的镜头转向外太空而已。

　　The news that America's spies had two spare satellite mirrors lying around has prompted speculation⁷ about their provenance⁸.

　　美国间谍机构有两颗闲置卫星的新闻一经报道，卫星的来源问题就引发了广泛的猜测。

　　Both NASA and the NRO are tight-lipped about the specifics.

　　但NASA和NRO对细节一直守口如瓶。

　　but the new mirror assemblies have a shorter focal length than Hubble's, allowing them to study patches of sky around 100 times larger.

　　这两颗卫星的焦距比哈勃望远镜更短，所以其拍摄太空的视野也比哈勃大100倍左右。

　　"It looks to me as if these are a couple of Keyhole-11 spares," says Brian Weeden, a space analyst⁹ at the Secure World Foundation, a Colorado-based think-tank.

　　"在我看来这就像是锁眼-11的备份卫星" 安全世界基金会（该智库总部位于科罗拉多）的太空分析师Brian Weeden说。

　　Dr Weeden is referring to a code name for American optical spy satellites.

　　Weeden博士参照了美国光学侦察卫星的编号。

　　He says that the NRO would probably have ordered spare mirrors to replace any that might have been destroyed by failed launches.

　　表示NRO很可能本来准备把这两颗卫星用于替代万一发射失败而摧毁的卫星。

　　Although the deal has been in the works for a year, it is not yet clear what NASA plans to do with its new bits of army-surplus kit¹⁰.

　　尽管交易已进行一年之久，但还不清楚NASA会如何处置军方剩下的"边角料"。

　　Indeed, an official told a press conference that the agency might not have the cash to make immediate¹¹ use of both mirrors.

　　确实，在新闻发布会上，一位官员说NASA并没有足够的资金把两颗卫星立即投入使用。

　　But they could nevertheless be a boon¹² to an organisation¹³ whose budgets are being squeezed by federal tight-fistedness as well as cost overruns on the James Webb space telescope, an $8.8 billion (and counting) successor to Hubble.

　　但是他们说詹姆斯-韦伯太空望远镜的预算能在拮据的联邦政府下艰难地获得通过已经是一件好事，因为这位哈勃望远镜的继任者已远超预算，达到了88亿美元（还并非最终值）。

　　One idea is to use one of the mirrors for the WFIRST mission, an infra-red telescope designed to investigate dark energy-the still-mysterious force thought to be behind the accelerating expansion of the universe.

　　一个办法就是把其中一颗卫星用于广域红外线巡天望近镜（WFIRST）项目，红外线望远镜可以用来研究暗能量——这股神秘的力量被认为是宇宙膨胀的幕后推手。

　　Using a higher-resolution NRO mirror would boost the capabilities¹⁴ of WFIRST, says Alan Dressler, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science. It could also cut the project's cost (its present price tag is about $1.6 billion) and shorten its development time.

　　卡内基科学研究所的研究员Alan Dressler说，运用NRO卫星的高分辨率望远镜可以提升WFIRST的能力，也可以降低该项目的花费（红外线望远镜的当前市价为16亿美元）并缩短研制时间。

　　Advocates hope an NRO-powered WFIRST mission could launch in the early 2020s.

　　该方法的拥护者希望在NRO的助力下，WFIRST能在21世纪20年代发射。

　　By then the mirrors would no longer be state-of-the-art, of course. Indeed, they are probably not even the last word in space-borne optics today.

　　当然，到时候该卫星已不再是最先进的，甚至在现在也不是最新式的星载平台光学设备。

　　That the NRO felt able to give them away suggests that its spies have even better toys to play with, of the sort that astronomers¹⁵ would kill to get their hands on. Could this be the start of a beautiful friendship?

　　NRO觉得把它们送走之后自己的间谍们就有更好的玩意来耍了，要是这样的话，估计天文学家们打死都不会接受的——这会是NRO和NASA一段美好友情的开始吗？

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 plethora   

n.过量，过剩

参考例句：

• Java comes with a plethora of ready-made types.Java配套提供了数量众多的现成类型。
• A plethora of new operators will be allowed to enter the market.大批新的运营商将获准进入该市场。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

8 provenance   

n.出处；起源

参考例句：

• Kato was fully aware of the provenance of these treasures.加藤完全清楚这些珍宝的来源。
• This plant's provenance is Asiadj.这种植物原产于亚洲。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

13 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

14 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

15 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》