美国国家公共电台 NPR As NASA Aims For The Moon, An Aging Space Station Faces An Uncertain Future

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

NASA and its partners spent years and more than $100 billion to build the International Space Station. That was more than two decades ago. Now they have to figure out what to do with it next. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE¹: In November of 1998, NPR reported that a rocket had blasted off from Kazakhstan.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Onboard was a 20-ton module², the first part of the International Space Station. Once completed, the space station will serve as an orbiting home for astronauts and cosmonauts for at least 15 years.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: It's now been over 18 years that the station has been continuously occupied by people. The place is impressive, with more living space than a six-bedroom house, two bathrooms and a large bay window for looking down at Earth. It's also really expensive. NASA spends between $3- and $4 billion a year operating the station and flying people back and forth³. That's about half the agency's budget for human exploration of space and a real financial drag when NASA is gung-ho to return to the moon. So maybe all the international partners could just say, the station's day is done. Let's deorbit it, crash it in the ocean and move on to the next thing. I put that idea to Gilles LeClerc. He's head of space exploration at the Canadian Space Agency.

GILLES LECLERC: It would be a waste. We cannot ditch the International Space Station. There's just too much invested. It's quite clear. It's unanimous between the partners that we continue to need a space station in the Earth's orbit.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: The U.S. and the other nations have pledged to fund the station until at least 2024. What happens after that is unclear. But NASA has floated one idea - turn all this over to the private sector⁴.

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JEFF DEWIT: Today's a very remarkable⁵ day. NASA is opening the International Space Station to commercial opportunities and marketing⁶ these opportunities as we've never done before.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: That's NASA's Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit. He was speaking at a big press event held a few weeks ago at the Nasdaq stock market's market site in New York City. He was joined by other officials and even astronaut Christina Koch, who appeared in video beamed down from space.

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CHRISTINA KOCH: We are so excited to be part of NASA as our home and laboratory in space, transitions into being accessible to expanded commercial and marketing opportunities as well as to private astronauts.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: All this gave John Logsdon deja vu. He's a space historian with George Washington University. He says back in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan's administration first proposed building a permanent space station, this was part of the pitch.

JOHN LOGSDON: The idea that it could be a place for a wide variety of commercial activities with billions of dollars of economic payoff - so here we are in 2019 finally going to test that hypothesis.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: NASA officials said opening up the station to profit making activities would free up resources to go to the moon. But when reporters asked how much revenue could come in, NASA officials wouldn't give any numbers. They said there's too much uncertainty⁷.

TOMMY SANFORD: That is the right answer because they don't know yet.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Tommy Sandford is executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation⁸. He says NASA's goal is to have a station that's commercially operated or even privately⁹ owned, and NASA would become just one of many customers.

SANFORD: You need to be focused on adding as many customers as possible and hoping to reach a tipping point at some point where you retain all of them. And then that eventually lowers your costs because, again, you are one of many customers. You're not bearing the entire cost of the infrastructure¹⁰ and the transportation.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: But some question whether any business could make a go of it unless NASA still ponied¹¹ up a significant amount of money. The agency's Inspector¹² General Paul Martin testified at a congressional hearing last year about the space station's future.

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PAUL MARTIN: Candidly¹³, the scant¹⁴ commercial interests shown in the station over its nearly 20 years of operation give us pause about the agency's current plans.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: As all of these discussions go on, the station keeps getting older. Space is a harsh environment. The hardware is wearing out. Major components¹⁵ are only certified¹⁶ until 2028. Dava Newman is a scientist at MIT who used to be the deputy administrator¹⁷ of NASA.

DAVA NEWMAN: Space station really has up to, you know, say, less than 10 years of lifetime for it to be safe and in terms of to not have too high of maintenance costs.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: She loves the station, has flown experiments on it. But she thinks with time running out, a strategic plan for its end is needed now.

NEWMAN: There might be some elements of space station that the private sector might be able to take over - a module or two. So all that needs to be put in place, probably with government funding.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Eventually, big components of the station will have to crash back down towards Earth. I asked NASA when it expected to deorbit the station. A spokesperson said no specific year is being targeted, that NASA will transition from the station, quote, "once commercial habitable destinations are available."

Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

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1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

9 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 ponied   

矮种马，小型马( pony的过去式和过去分词 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• He ponied all night before the exam. 他考试前一晚借助译文临时抱佛脚。
• Let's find out who ponied up the money for Aberto here,all right? 我们去查查看是谁付的钱让阿伯托到这里来的好吧？

12 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

13 candidly   

adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地

参考例句：

• He has stopped taking heroin now,but admits candidly that he will always be a drug addict.他眼下已经不再吸食海洛因了,不过他坦言自己永远都是个瘾君子。
• Candidly,David,I think you're being unreasonable.大卫，说实话我认为你不讲道理。

14 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

15 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

16 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

17 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。