中国即将坠落的空间站也做了一些科研工作 [联合国媒体]

China's Doomed Space Station Did SomeScience Work, Too

中国即将坠落的空间站也做了一些科研工作



China's out-of-control Tiangong-1 space lab didn'tjust host visiting astronauts.
The school-bus-size Tiangong-1,which is predicted to crash back to Earth on Sunday (April 1), plus orminus 36 hours, was designed primarily to help China perfect the docking andrendezvous techniques needed to build a big space station. But the craft wasalso outfitted with scientific payloads, such as Earth-observationinstrumentation and space environment detectors, according to the China MannedSpace Engineering Office (CMSE).

中国失控的天宫一号空间实验室不仅仅只是招待了来访的宇航员。校车大小的天宫一号预计将于周日（四月一日），误差正负三十六小时，坠入地球。天宫一号主要被设计用来帮助中国熟练掌握空间交会对接技术，该技术将会用于建造一个大型空间站。但是根据中国载人航天工程办公室的消息，天宫一号也搭载了一些科研载荷，比如地球观测仪器和空间环境探测器。

"Tiangong-1 has obtained agreat deal of application and science data, which is valuable inmineral-resources investigation, ocean and forest application, hydrologic andecological environment monitoring, land use, urban thermal environmentmonitoring, and emergency disaster control," CMSE officials wrote in a2014 statement. "Remarkable application benefits have been achieved."

国载人航天工程办公室官员在2014年的一份报告中写道：“天宫一号已经获得了大量的应用和科学数据，这些数据对于矿产资源调查，海洋及森林利用，水文及生态环境监测，土地使用，城市热环境检测，和紧急灾害控制”。并且“已经产生了相当大的应用效益”。

For example, Tiangong-1 providedtimely observations during China's Yuyao flood disaster in 2013 and image dataduring a devastating Australian forest fire, Chinese officials have said. Suchinformation was made available to domestic and international commercial usersvia a paid data service, the officials added.

例如，中国官员已经表示，天宫一号在2013年中国余姚市洪水灾难和毁灭性的澳大利亚森林大火中及时提供了观测资料和图片数据。他们还说，这些信息可以通过一个付费数据服务提供给国内的以及国际的商业用户。

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A productive life

丰富的一生

The 9.4-ton (8.5 metric tons)Tiangong-1 — whose name means "Heavenly Palace 1" — helped China's blossoming human space program perfectlink-up techniques as it works to piece together a larger space station forlaunch in the 2020s. Tiangong-1 also demonstrated short-term orbital living forcrews.

9.4吨（8.5公吨）重的天宫一号，名字的意思是天堂的宫殿1号，帮助中国蓬勃发展的载人航天项目熟练掌握对接技术，这项技术将会在2020年用于发射组合一个更大的空间站。天宫一号也验证了宇航员的短期在轨生活。

The spacecraft's main body consistsof two primary pieces: an "experiment module" and a "resourcemodule." Reportedly, there is a docking mechanism at each end of thecraft.

该航天器的主体包括两个主要部件：一个实验舱和一个资源舱。根据报道，在这个航天器两端各有一个对接机构。

Tiangong-1 launched atop a CZ-2Fbooster from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Sept. 29, 2011. Serving asChina's first space station, Tiangong-1 was used as a target vehicle for threerendezvous and docking missions between November 2011 and June 2013:

2011年9月29日，天宫一号由CZ-2F火箭于酒泉卫星发射中心发射升空。作为中国首个空间站，在2011年11月到2013年6月期间，天宫一号被用来作为一个目标飞行器进行了三次交会对接任务。

·      Shenzhou 8 (November 2011)demonstrated the rendezvous and docking of two uncrewed space vehicles over thecourse of 16.5 days.

2011年11月，神州8号在16.5天的时间中验证了两个无人航天器的交会对接技术。

·      Shenzhou 9 (June 2012) carriedthree astronauts: Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and China's first female astronaut,Liu Yang. They spent 10 days on board Tiangong-1 in a mission that uatedautomated and manual docking methods between the Shenzhou and the space lab.

2012年6月，神舟9号搭载了三名宇航员：景海鹏，刘旺和中国首位女航天员刘洋。他们在轨飞行10天的任务验证了神舟飞船和空间实验室的自动与手动对接技术。

·      Shenzhou 10 (June2013) was the last of the three Shenzhou missions to Tiangong-1. Thethree-person crew consisted of Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping.The mission lasted for 15 days, and crewmembers carried out space medicine andscientific and technological experiments. Wang performed scientificexperiments, and she taught a physics lesson to Chinese students by livetelevision broadcast.

2013年6月，神州10号是三次神州飞船任务的最后一次去往天宫1号。三名船员分别是聂海胜，张晓光和王亚平。这项任务持续15天，船员进行了太空医学以及空间与技术实验。王亚平进行了科学实验并且她通过电视直播向中国学生上了一节物理课。

Tiangong-1 had a design life oftwo years. After the last crew visit, the space lab was placed into anextended-application phase that included use for Earth remote sensing.Tiangong-1 churned out "hyperspectral" imaging products, collectinginformation from across the electromagnetic spectrum, Chinese officials havesaid.

天宫一号设计寿命两年。在最后的船员访问结束后，空间实验室任务将进入包括地球遥感在内的对扩展应用任务阶段。中国官员说，天宫一号产生了大量高光谱影响产品，通过电磁光谱收集信息。

For several years, Tiangong-1performed orbit-maintenance maneuvers and conducted other activities.

在过去的几年中，天宫一号进行了在轨维护演练以及进行了一些其他活动。

On March 21, 2016, space programofficials in China declared that, following an operational orbit lifetime of1,630 days, telemetry services with Tiangong-1 had ceased. That inability tokeep in contact with the space lab sealed its fate, leading to the upcominguncontrolled re-entry.

在2016年3月21日，中国的空间项目官员宣布，在长达1630天的在轨运作后，对天宫一号的遥测技术停止运行。无法与空间实验室建立联系解决定了她的命运，将会不受控重返大气层。

The space lab made its finalorbital adjustment in December 2015, according to a detailed look at its pathby researchers at the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital and Re-entryDebris Studies (CORDS).

根据航天航空公司的轨道和再入碎片研究中心的研究员密切路径观察，这个空间实验室在2015年12月进行了最后一次轨道调整。



Powerball jackpot

强力球大奖（一种彩票游戏）

Despite what you may have heard,there's not much reason to fear Tiangong-1'simminent fall to Earth, experts say.

尽管你可能已经听过一些说法，但是专家表示，对于即将坠入地球的天宫一号没有什么可害怕的。

"I would say that some mediacoverage has overstated the risk of Tiangong-1 harming people orproperty," said orbital-debris expert Andrew Abraham, senior member of thetechnical staff for the Aerospace Corporation.

航空航天公司的资深技术成员，轨道碎片专家安德鲁·亚伯拉罕表示：“我想说一些媒体报导夸大了天宫一号对人们和财产产生危害的风险。”

China's Tiangong-1 space stationis predicted to fall somewhere between the latitudes of 42.8 degrees north and42.8 degrees south, the area shaded in yellow and green here.

中国的天宫一号太空站预计将会坠入在北纬42.8°到南纬42.8°的某个区域，这片区域在图中以黄色和绿色标记。

"In reality, a few objectsthis size re-enter each year, and no one has been harmed by space debris todate," Abraham told Space.com. "I have calculated the odds of youpersonally being hit by Tiangong-1 debris to be a million times less than theodds of winning the Powerball jackpot."

“事实上，每年都会有一些这样大的物体再入大气层，但是至今仍没有人被空间碎片伤害，”亚伯拉罕告诉Space.com。“我已经计算了你个人被天宫一号碎片击中的可能性比中强力球大奖的几率还要小一百万倍。”

Based on Tiangong-1's orbit,experts predict the lab will re-enter somewhere between 43 degrees north and 43degrees south latitudes — basically, from Milwaukee all the way down toTasmania.

根据天宫一号的轨道，专辑预测她将会在北纬42.8°到南纬42.8°的某个区域再入。基本上就是从密尔沃基（美国）一直到塔斯马尼亚岛（位于澳洲东南方）这块位置。

"Yes, the inclination ofTiangong-1 does place it over the majority of populated areas for short periodsof time. That being said, Tiangong-1 also flies over large areas with no people— oceans — for very large periods of time," Abraham said. "If I hadto place a bet, my money would be on an ocean re-entry far from populatedlocations."

“是的，天宫一号的倾角确实使她在一个短时间内飞跃了大多数人口密集区。这也就是说，在绝大部分时间内，天宫一号飞行在一个人都没有的海洋上空。”亚伯拉罕表示。“如果要我关于再入地点打个赌，我会压在海洋上而不是人口密集区。”



Watchful eye

警惕的目光

Keeping a watchful eye on theimpending re-entry is Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, director of the InternationalAstronomical Center (IAC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). TheTiangong-1 ground track includes the UAE.

阿拉伯联合酋长国，阿布达比酋长国，国际天文中心主任，穆罕默德·肖卡特·奥德密切关注即将到来的再入。天宫一号地面追踪包括阿联酋。

"We're following there-entry date to see if there is a need to take any precautions, such as to beready in case it will re-enter over UAE, or to close the air space at the timeof re-entry if there is high probability it will fall over UAE," Odeh toldSpace.com.

奥德告诉Space.com，“我们关注再入时间看看是否需要采取任何预警措施，比如做好准备万一空间站在阿联酋境内再入，或者有很大可能性在再入时接近阿联酋空域。

The IAC runs a network of threestations to record astronomical events within UAE skies. Each station consistsof sky-pointed astronomical cameras that automatically start recording once ameteor or a piece of space debris is detected.

国际天文中心运营这一个包含三个站点的网络来记录阿联酋天空内的天文事件。每个站点都包含对空的天文望远镜，一旦有陨石或空间碎片被探测到，这些望远镜会自动开始记录。

As for lingering leftovers, theAerospace Corporation's CORDS website states that"it is highly unlikely that debris from this re-entry will strike anyperson or significantly damage any property."

对于残余的碎片，航天航空公司的轨道和再入碎片研究中心网站表示，“再入碎片击中任何人或对财产造成严重伤害的可能性极小。”

If you do come across a piece ofTiangong-1, however, CORDS researchers urge you to leave it be:"potentially, there may be a highly toxic and corrosive substance calledhydrazine on board the spacecraft that could survive re-entry," theresearchers wrote. "For your safety, do not touch any debris youmay find on the ground nor inhale vapors it may emit."

但是，如果你遇到了一片天宫一号的残骸，航天航空公司的轨道和再入碎片研究中心研究院强烈建议你离开它。“航天器上可能会残留的一种剧毒且有腐蚀性的物质联氨”，研究院写到。“为了你的安全，不要触碰任何你发现的碎片也不要吸入它释放的气体。”