美国太空总署发布决定性计划

(图释:美国太空总署行政长官查尔斯·博登称这次预算将使美国太空总署能够将目光投向地球轨道外的目标。）

   (CNET) -- One week before President Obama is scheduled to attend a major "space summit" in Florida, NASA unveiled sweeping new programs Thursday designed to implement the administration's proposed shift to commercial manned rockets and development of new technologies to enable eventual deep space exploration.

    （科技资讯网）就在美国总统奥巴马计划出席在佛罗里达州举行的“外太空一级峰会”的前一周，美国太空总署就在周三发布了用于实施其提出的深太空探索的商业载人火箭和新技术研发的决定性计划。

    The president's fiscal 2011 budget request, which would cancel the Bush administration's Constellation moon program, does not specify a long-range target for manned exploration or a timetable for moving beyond low-Earth orbit, factors that have generated widespread criticism.

      奥巴马总统将在2011年的财政预算中取消布什政府的星座计划，但没有指明载人探索的长期目标或给出一份飞越低地球轨道的时间表，这些都引起了广泛的评论。

    But NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander, defended the agency's new direction Thursday, saying the president's controversial "vision" is, unlike past programs, affordable and sustainable

      但是美国太空总署行政长官查尔斯·博登 ，这位前航天飞机指挥官，在周三针对太空总署的新计划称，总统饱受争议的“眼光”并不像过去的计划一样，而是可持续的。

"This budget provides an increase to NASA at a time when funding is scarce," he said. "It will enable us to accomplish inspiring exploration, science and R and D, the kinds of things the agency has been known for throughout its history."

      他还说“这个预算不仅有助于使本已缺乏资金的太空总署获得一定的进步，而且还使我们可以实现震撼人心的探索，以及发展科技和R和D，等各种各样太空史上的成就”。

  While deep space targets are not specified, the budget "enables NASA to set its sights on destinations beyond Earth orbit and develop the technologies that will be required to get us there, both with humans and robots," Bolden said.

      博登说：“虽然深太空目标还不明确，但预算将会使美国太空总署把目光放在地球轨道以外并发展能够将机器人和人类载向那里的技术。”

    "We're talking about technologies that the field has long wished we had but for which we did not have the resources," he said. "These are things that don't exist today but we'll make real in the coming years. This budget enables us to plan for a real future in exploration with capabilities that will make amazing things not only possible, but affordable and sustainable."

    “我们所说的技术是指人类所长期期盼但又力不从心的，”他说。“这些虽然我们现在没有，但我们在以后几年内会实现。这项预算让我们可以计划实施的不仅是未来在探索领域的奇迹还可能是可以继续发展下去的事业。”

  But even with increased funding, the looming retirement of the space shuttle and the proposed cancellation of Constellation will mean nearly 10,000 lost jobs at the Kennedy Space Center alone and thousands more at other NASA centers and communities.

      虽然增加了资金但将来可能会报废的太空飞机和星座计划的撤销将使肯尼迪太空总部以及太空总署的其他机构失去一万个岗位。

  "A very serious and real concern for everyone is the jobs," Bolden agreed. "But this is what we call progress, Unfortunately, If you look at every area of technology in this country, as you advance there are fewer and fewer manual-type jobs. That's what happens when you advance technology.

    “工作岗位是每个人都非常关心和现实的问题，”博登承认道。“但是很遗憾的是，这就是我们称之为的进步，如果你细看我们国家科技的每个领域就会发现我们每前进一步就要失去一些体力劳动的岗位。这就是科技发展所带来的一切。”

"We're doing everything within our power ... to help everybody understand we're expanding the amount of programs we have so that we can try to put people to work who are interested in being a part of the space program. Are we going to be able to employ everybody that used to work in shuttle? No, we're not. But that was never a vision."

   “我们会尽力使人们明白我们在不断地计划使对太空计划感兴趣的人能找到工作。我们能雇佣所有以前为太空飞机工作的人吗？当然不能。但也不是一点可能也没有。”

Constellation cancellation

撤销星座计划

    In the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, President Bush decided to complete the space station and retire the shuttle by 2010. At the same time, he directed NASA to begin development of new rockets, capsules and landers to carry astronauts back to the moon by the early 2020s. NASA came up with the Constellation program to implement those directives, spending some $9 billion over the past five years.

      在2003年哥伦比亚失事后，布什总统决定完善空间站并在2010年撤回太空飞机。与此同时，他还命令太空总署在2020年早些时候，研发出新的火箭、太空舱和将宇航员送返月球的着陆舱。太空总署提出的星座计划就是为了完成这些指令的，并在过去的五年里花费了大约九十亿美元。

During the presidential campaign, Obama expressed support for Constellation but after the election, he set up a panel of outside experts to review NASA's plans and how much they might ultimately cost.

The panel concluded NASA could not afford to implement Constellation, or any other reasonable exploration program, without an additional $3 billion or so per year, primarily to make up for earlier budget reductions.

      在奥巴马竞选期间他就表示要支持星座计划，但在选举成功后他又成立了一个由外部专家组成的专门小组重审太空总署的计划并核定它们的最终花费。
专门小组得出的结论是如果没有每年额外的约三十亿美元的话，太空总署将不能实施星座计划或者其它任何适当的探索计划，首先要补足以前削减了的预算额。

   The group favored a shift to commercial launch services to carry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit while NASA focused on development of a new heavy-lift rocket system that would enable eventual flights to the moon, nearby asteroids, or even the moons of Mars.

      集团赞成开展往返低地球轨道的商业性的发射业务，但太空总署却着力于发展重型火箭系统因为它才有能力抵达月球，接近小行星，甚至火星的卫星。

    The Obama administration agreed with the idea of commercial launch services, but it did not specify any long-range destinations or timetables, focusing instead on development of enabling technologies.

      奥巴马政府同意开展商业性发射业务，但是却没有给出任何长期计划或时间表，反倒是关注于可行的技术。

   Obama funding request

   奥巴马特批基金

The administration's $19 billion fiscal 2011 budget request for NASA would pump an additional $6 billion into the agency's budget over the next five years to kick start development of a new commercial manned spaceflight capability.

      太空总署将把向政府申请的190亿美元的2011年预算资金抽出60亿美元在未来五年发展一项新的商业性太空载人技术。

   During a teleconference Thursday, Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver unveiled how some of that money will be spent, assuming Congressional approval, and which NASA centers would be responsible for implementing the new programs.

      在周三的视频（电话）会议上，国会通过了博登 和副主席劳瑞·加弗公布的资金的计划用途，且由太空总署总部负责新计划的执行。

   At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the International Space Station program is managed and where astronauts are trained, a flagship technology demonstration program office would be established, receiving $424 million in fiscal 2011 and $6 billion over the next five years.

      位于休斯顿的约翰逊太空总部是操纵国际空间站和培训宇航员的地点，在那里将建成一个一流的技术示范计划处，它将获得2011年的2400万美元的预算资金和未来五年60亿美元的预算资金。

   The program would be responsible for flight tests of new technologies such as autonomous rendezvous and docking, in-orbit refueling, and inflatable habitat modules. JSC also will continue to manage the space station program and work with the Kennedy Space Center on development of commercial manned spacecraft.

      这个计划将负责进行一些诸如飞行器自动会合和外层空间对接，以及轨道内加油和充气式居留舱等新技术的试验。联合科学委员会将继续对空间站计划进行管理并和肯尼迪太空中心一起发展商业性载人太空飞船。

  Asked if Johnson will give up its role in astronaut training and mission design as the agency shifts its focus to private-sector launch services, Bolden said he envisions a multifaceted approach.

      当被问及如果太空总署着力于发展私营企业的发射业务约翰逊太空总部是否会放弃对宇航员的培训和飞行策划时，博登说他想会有一个多方面的处理。

  "At NASA, we provided astronauts for exploration," he said. "A lot of that exploration and experimentation today and in the future will be done on the International Space Station. So what we are doing is relying on commercial capability to get us access to low Earth orbit, to get us to the International Space Station.

    “我们为太空总署提供用于探索的宇航员”他说。“现在和将来的许多探索和实验研究将在国际空间站完成。所以我们所要做的就是依靠商业功能让我们进入低地球轨道，让我们进入国际空间站。”

  "But to get to places like the moon and Mars and other beyond LEO places, that, we feel, is the responsibility of your government. Because that's risky, that's an investment that we can't really count on a commercial entity taking until we've demonstrated the ability to do that and do it safely."

   “但是要到达像月球，火星还有低地球轨道以外的其它地方，我认为，是政府的事。因为那是有风险的，所以那是我们不能完全指望商业机构去实现的投资，除非我们能够证明有能力并且可以安全地去做。”

    At Kennedy, the commercial crew development program office would manage $500 million in fiscal 2011 and $5.8 billion over the next five years to encourage development of a new private-sector launch industry. The deputy manager of the flagship technology demonstrations program would be based at Kennedy and a new program office will manage $1.9 billion over five years to upgrade and modernize the launch infrastructure.

      在肯尼迪总部，商业者发展计划处将预计五千万美元作为2011年的资金，且将58亿美元作为未来五年发展一项新的私营企业航天产业的资金。首要技术示范计划的副操作机构将建在肯尼迪总部且一个新的计划处将会在未来五年用19亿美元来完善发射基础建设。

   At the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., $3.1 billion would be spent over the next five years for heavy lift propulsion research and technology development to come up with designs for new rockets that can lift the large payloads needed for deep space exploration.

      位于阿拉巴马州汉斯维尔的马歇尔航天中心将花费31亿美元用于未来五年的重型推进器研究和深太空探索的大载荷量新型火箭技术的发展。

    While the new plan for NASA does not specify a long-range target for exploration, Bolden said Mars is the ultimate objective. But getting there, he said, will require the new technologies that NASA's new approach is designed to develop.

      虽然太空总署的新计划没有为探索指明一个长期目标，但博登称火星是终极目标。但是他说，要到达火星，将要求太空总署发展新的技术。