35 · 太空探索
Space Odyssey
区分观点、依据、例子与限制，用自己的话准确重建论述。
时代语境：本课把太空旅行的价格建立在假设、估算与技术预期上；其中的金额和可行性判断不是今天的实际票价或行业结论。
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The Moon is likely to become the industrial hub of the Solar System, supplying the rocket fuels for its ships, easily obtainable from the lunar rocks in the form 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 cousins.
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."
The idea of colonising Mars—a world 160 times more distant than 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.
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整篇课文
The Moon is likely to become the industrial hub of the Solar System, supplying the rocket fuels for its ships, easily obtainable from the lunar rocks in the form 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 cousins.
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."
The idea of colonising Mars—a world 160 times more distant than 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.
月球很可能成为太阳系的工业中心，为往来的飞船提供火箭燃料，例如从月岩中不难提取的液态氧。原因在于月球的引力。月球的质量只有地球的八十分之一，因此，从月球飞行二十五万英里到达地球轨道，所需能量竟比从地球表面飞行二百英里进入轨道少百分之九十七！
这听起来或许不可思议，却很容易算出来。火箭要摆脱地球引力，速度必须达到每秒七英里；从月球出发，相应速度只需每秒一点五英里。月球表面引力仅为地球的六分之一——想想阿波罗宇航员当年跳着前进有多轻松——所以在那里加速到每秒一点五英里，耗能远少于在地球上做同样的事。月球居民将来进行类似的太空旅行，花费可能只相当于地球同胞的百分之三。
亚瑟·C．克拉克曾说，一个革命性构想会经历三个阶段：第一，“不可能，别浪费我的时间。”第二，“做得到，但不值得做。”第三，“我早就说过，这是个好主意。”
等到有相当多的人长期生活在太空中时，移居火星的想法便会明确地从第二阶段转入第三阶段；而火星比月球遥远一百六十倍。它对向往太空旅行的人有着非凡的吸引力。美国、俄罗斯和欧洲都有大批爱好者，其中许多是严肃认真的资深科学家，梦想着把人送到那里。这种追求不难理解：火星是太阳系中最像地球的星球。那里有红色沙漠，因此被称为“红色星球”；有无云的天空、猛烈的沙暴、比大峡谷更宽的沟壑，还有至少一座比珠穆朗玛峰高出一倍以上的山。它似乎是理想的定居之地。
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译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第149—152页，2022年2月第2版。