繞地衛(wèi)星們急需一套交通規(guī)則

The traffic in Earth's orbit is getting busier. In space, there are no road rules, and with the number of active satellites on track to increase exponentially in the coming years, experts are increasingly worried about the risk of collisions.

地球軌道上的交通越來越繁忙。在太空中，沒有道路規(guī)則，隨著未來幾年軌道上活動衛(wèi)星的數(shù)量呈指數(shù)增長，專家們越來越擔心發(fā)生碰撞的風險。

On Monday, the European Space Agency (ESA) was forced to move its observation satellite aside to make room for a SpaceX satellite in the Starlink constellation.

周一，歐洲航天局(ESA)被迫將其觀測衛(wèi)星移到一旁，以便為位于“星鏈”星座的SpaceX衛(wèi)星騰出空間。

Generally speaking, collision manoeuvres aren't that uncommon - ESA did them 28 times last year - but typically these events are caused by uncontrollable satellites or dead fragments from previous collisions.

一般來說，碰撞演習并不罕見——歐洲航天局去年進行了28次——但通常這些事件是由無法控制的衛(wèi)星或以前碰撞的碎片造成的。

The Starlink satellite is active however, meaning it still receives signals from Earth. When the ESA contacted Starlink about the increasingly close approach last Wednesday, the company reportedly said they had no plans to move their satellite out of the way.

然而，這顆星鏈衛(wèi)星是活躍的，這意味著它仍然接收來自地球的信號。上周三，當歐洲航天局就日益接近的問題與Starlink取得聯(lián)系時，該公司表示，他們沒有將衛(wèi)星移開的計劃。

The agency's Earth observation satellite, Aeolus, had been in this region for 9 months, and Starlink 44 was a newcomer. As the days passed, the probability of collision continued to increase, and the space agency decided to take action.

該機構的地球觀測衛(wèi)星“Aeolus”已經(jīng)在該地區(qū)存在了9個月，“Starlink 44”是一顆新衛(wèi)星。隨著時間的推移，碰撞的可能性不斷增加，航天局決定采取行動。

According to the ESA, it's the first time one of its satellites has had to fire it thrusters to avoid a potential collision with a 'mega constellation' - a fleet of hundreds or thousands of spacecraft.

據(jù)歐空局稱，這是其第一次衛(wèi)星發(fā)射推進器，以避免與“巨型星座”(一個由成百上千個航天器組成的艦隊)發(fā)生潛在碰撞。

A statement from the space agency explains that at the time of the manoeuvre, the chances of collision were around 1 in 1000, 10 times higher than the threshold dictated by safety regulations.

航天局的一份聲明解釋說，在演習時，碰撞的幾率約為千分之一，比安全條例規(guī)定的閾值高出10倍。

SpaceX claims it had a bug in its on-call paging system that prevented officials from seeing this update, but if they had, they would have moved the satellite if necessary.

SpaceX公司聲稱，該公司的呼叫尋呼系統(tǒng)有一個漏洞，導致官員無法看到這一更新，但如果他們看到了，如果有必要，他們會把衛(wèi)星移走。

"This example shows that in the absence of traffic rules and communication protocols, collision avoidance depends entirely on the pragmatism of the operators involved," says Holger Krag, the head of space safety at ESA.

歐空局空間安全主管霍爾格·克拉格說：“這個例子表明，在沒有交通規(guī)則和通信協(xié)議的情況下，避免碰撞完全取決于相關運營商的務實態(tài)度。”

"Today, this negotiation is done through exchanging emails - an archaic process that is no longer viable as increasing numbers of satellites in space mean more space traffic."

“今天，這項談判是通過交換電子郵件來完成的——這是一個古老的手段，隨著太空中衛(wèi)星數(shù)量的增加意味著更多的太空交通，這一過程不再可行。”

(ESA)SpaceX isn't the only company launching hundreds of new satellites into space, but it is the most ambitious. If successful, Starlink may one day be a fleet of 12,000 satellites, providing ultra-fast internet services worldwide. At the same time, companies like OneWeb and Kuiper are also launching major constellations in competition.

SpaceX并不是唯一一家向太空發(fā)射數(shù)百顆新衛(wèi)星的公司，但它是最雄心勃勃的公司。如果成功的話，Starlink可能有一天會擁有一支由1.2萬顆衛(wèi)星組成的艦隊，在全球范圍內(nèi)提供超高速互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務。與此同時，OneWeb和Kuiper等公司也在競爭中推出了主要星座。

Today, there are over 5,000 objects orbiting Earth, and 2,000 of those are active. Experts on space debris at ESA are worried what these mega constellations might do to space traffic if no rules are implemented.

今天，有5000多個物體圍繞地球運行，其中2000個是活躍的。歐空局的空間碎片專家擔心，如果不執(zhí)行任何規(guī)則，這些巨型星座可能會對空間交通造成什么影響。

They argue that as the number of potential collisions rapidly increases, the ability to manage these events will require far more than human brain power. The manual system we currently use just won't be able to keep up with the sheer number of objects soon to be orbiting Earth.

他們認為，隨著潛在碰撞的數(shù)量迅速增加，管理這些事件的能力將需要遠遠超過人類的腦力。我們目前使用的人工系統(tǒng)無法跟上即將環(huán)繞地球運行的物體的數(shù)量。

"No one was at fault here, but this example does show the urgent need for proper space traffic management, with clear communication protocols and more automation," explains Krag.

克拉格解釋說：“沒有人有錯，但這個例子確實表明，迫切需要適當?shù)目臻g交通管理，有明確的通信協(xié)議和更多的自動化。”

"This is how air traffic control has worked for many decades, and now space operators need to get together to define automated manoeuvre coordination."

“這就是空中交通管制幾十年來的工作方式，現(xiàn)在空間運營商需要團結起來定義自動操縱協(xié)調(diào)。”

The ESA says it is now creating an automated collision avoidance system to weigh up the possibility of collisions and potential outcomes quicker than ever. But keeping peace on the 'streets' of Earth's orbit will require more than just that, they argue; it will also require cooperation.

歐空局表示，目前正在創(chuàng)建一個自動避碰系統(tǒng)，以比以往更快地衡量碰撞的可能性和潛在后果。但他們認為，在地球軌道的“街道”上維持和平不僅需要這些，還需要合作。

"What I want is an organised way of doing space traffic. It must be clear when you have such a situation who has to react," Krag told Forbes.

“我想要的是一種有組織的空間交通方式。當你遇到這樣的情況時，必須有明確的反應。”克拉格告訴《福布斯》。

"It cannot be when we have 10,000 satellites in space that there are operators writing the email what to do. This is not how I imagine modern spaceflight."

“當我們在太空中有1萬顆衛(wèi)星的時候，運營商就不可能寫郵件來說明該怎么做了。這不是我想象的現(xiàn)代太空飛行。”