What Is Space Junk1?什么是太空垃圾鑰

游余

Theres space junk orbiting2 Earth， and its getting more and more everyyear. Space junk is the name that scientists give to the thousands of pieces ofbroken satellites3 and spacecraft4. It takes up the Earths orbit. Space junkcan be as small as a piece of paint or as large as a broken rocket5. No matterthe size， it is a great danger to the astronauts6 and spacecraft that work inEarths orbit.

太空垃圾在圍繞地球飛行，而且每年都在增加。太空垃圾是科學(xué)家們給成千上萬顆破碎的衛(wèi)星和航天器取的名字。它占據(jù)了地球的軌道。太空垃圾可以小到一塊油漆，也可以大到一枚破碎的火箭。無論大小，它對在地球軌道上工作的宇航員和航天器來說都是巨大的危險。

The space junk in orbit becomes more hand-in-hand with the growth of thespace industry7 on Earth. A group of international researchers wrote an articleand showed people the growing problem of space junk. They called for a treaty8to“help protect Earths orbit”before it becomes completely polluted9 with junk.

軌道上的太空垃圾與地球上航天工業(yè)的發(fā)展越來越緊密。一組國際研究人員寫了一篇文章，向人們展示了太空垃圾問題日益嚴(yán)重。他們呼吁制定一項條約，在地球軌道被垃圾完全污染之前“幫助保護(hù)地球軌道”。

Heres something you need to know about space junk， and why scientistsfollow the problem.

以下是一些你需要了解的關(guān)于太空垃圾的信息，以及科學(xué)家們關(guān)注這個問題的原因。

What is space junk？

什么是太空垃圾？

Space junk is any human-made junk left in orbit around Earth. This includes awhole satellites that have run out of power and been left in orbit after the end oftheir missions10， as well as broken parts of larger objects. Even small pieces ofpaint that have fallen off the rockets is space junk.

太空垃圾是指留在地球軌道上的任何人造垃圾，包括一整顆衛(wèi)星，它們在任務(wù)結(jié)束后耗盡了燃料，被留在軌道上，還包括較大物體脫落的部分。即使是從火箭上掉下來的小塊油漆也是太空垃圾。

How much space junk is there right now？

現(xiàn)在有多少太空垃圾？

The United States now tracks11 more than 23，000 pieces of space junk that arelarger than a softball12. This includes about 3，000 broken satellites that have beenleft in orbit， according to the Natural History Museum of London.

美國現(xiàn)在追蹤到比壘球還大的太空垃圾超過23000 塊。據(jù)倫敦自然歷史博物館稱，這其中包括大約3000 顆被留在軌道上報廢的衛(wèi)星。

However， most pieces of the junk are far too small to be tracked. Researchersguess that there are more than 100 trillion untracked13 pieces of space junk inEarth orbit， according to the study. The most of this untracked junk islikely less than 0.4 inches （1 cm） wide.

然而，大多數(shù)垃圾太小，無法被追蹤。根據(jù)《科學(xué)》雜志的研究，研究人員猜測地球軌道上有超過100 萬億塊未被追蹤到的太空垃圾。在這些未被追蹤到的垃圾中，大部分可能不到0.4 英寸（1 厘米）寬。

Why is space junk a problem？

為什么太空垃圾是個問題？

Even small pieces of space junk can cause great damage14. Thats becauseobjects in orbit move very quickly. If two objects moving in opposite directions runinto one another in space， then the damage becomes even greater. This means thateven the smallest things can become the most dangerous in orbit.

即使是微小的太空垃圾也會造成巨大的破壞。這是因為軌道上的物體移動得非常快。如果兩個朝相反方向移動的物體在太空中碰撞，那么破壞力會變得更大。這意味著，即使是最小的東西也可能成為軌道上最危險的物體。

Can space junk fall to Earth？

太空垃圾會落到地球上嗎？

Yes， space junk often falls to Earth. From 200 to 400 pieces of tracked spacejunk falls through Earths atmosphere15 every year. Most of this free-falling junk issmall enough that it burns16 up in the atmosphere， never reaching the ground.Larger objects that dont burn up in the fall （like satellites） usually fall down intothe ocean， but not always.

會，太空垃圾經(jīng)常掉到地球上。每年有200 到400 塊被追蹤的太空垃圾落入地球大氣層。這些自由下落的垃圾大多足夠小，以至于在大氣層中就燃燒殆盡，絕不會落到地面。大部分在降落時燃燒不了的較大物體（如衛(wèi)星）通常會落入海洋，但也有例外。

Space junk events

太空垃圾事件

On Feb. 10， 2009， a broken Russian spacecraft ran into a U.S. spacecraft. Itdamaged both and added more than 2，300 pieces of space junk to orbit. In March2021， a piece of a Russian rocket ran into and damaged a Chinese satellite. In June2021， a small piece of unknown space junk ran into the International Space Stationsrobotic17 arm and damaged it.

2009 年2 月10 日，一艘破損的俄羅斯航天器撞上了一艘美國航天器。兩者都有損壞，并導(dǎo)致2300 多塊太空垃圾進(jìn)入軌道。2021 年3 月，一枚俄羅斯火箭的碎片撞擊并損壞了一顆中國衛(wèi)星。2021 年6 月，一小塊未知的太空垃圾撞上了國際空間站的機(jī)械臂并造成損壞。

There are more and more events， so more space junk is added to orbit each year.

這類事件越來越多，因此每年都會造成更多的太空垃圾進(jìn)入軌道。

Notes

1. junk 廢舊雜物；垃圾；破爛

2. orbit 環(huán)繞地球；太陽等運行的軌道；沿軌道運行

3. satellite 衛(wèi)星；人造衛(wèi)星

4. spacecraft 宇宙飛船；航天器

5. rocket 火箭

6. astronaut 宇航員；太空人

7. industry 工業(yè)；生產(chǎn)制造；行業(yè)；產(chǎn)業(yè)

8. treaty 國家之間的條約；協(xié)定

9. pollute 污染；弄臟

10. mission 尤指赴他國的使命；重要任務(wù)

11. track 追查；追蹤

12. softball 壘球

13. untracked 無足跡的；無路徑的

14. damage 損壞；損害；有形的損壞

15. atmosphere 包圍地球或其他行星的大氣；大氣層

16. burn 燃燒；消耗；燒壞；燒毀

17. robotic 機(jī)器人的；機(jī)械的