奧巴馬總統撰文稱計劃2030年送人類上火星

President Barack Obama has his eyes on the stars -- or more accurately -- a planet.

美國總統貝拉克·奧巴馬一直關注着夜空中的繁星——或者更準確的說，是其中一顆行星。

In an op-ed published last Tuesday on CNN, Obama set a "clear goal" to send humans to Mars by the 2030s and to have them return to Earth safely, "with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time."

在上週二發表於CNN的一篇社論中，奧巴馬公佈了他設定的“清晰目標”：在2030年把人類送上火星，然後再讓他們安然無恙地返回地球，同時還要抱有更大的雄心壯志，有朝一日讓宇航員在火星上停留更長時間。

"Someday, I hope to hoist my own grandchildren onto my shoulders. We'll still look to the stars in wonder, as humans have since the beginning of time," Obama wrote.

“有朝一日，我希望也能讓自己的孫輩坐在我的肩頭上。我們仍會滿懷好奇地凝視夜空中的繁星，就像人類自古以來做的那樣。”奧巴馬寫道。

"But instead of eagerly awaiting the return of our intrepid explorers, we'll know that because of the choices we make now, they've gone to space not just to visit, but to stay -- and in doing so, to make our lives better here on Earth."

“但到那時，我們將不是滿懷渴望的等待勇敢的探險者從太空中歸來，因爲我們知道，由於我們現在所做的決定，他們前往太空並不是進行短期拜訪，而是長期地停留——並通過這種做法，讓地球上的生活更加美好。”

Achieving the goal, Obama added, will "require continued cooperation between government and private innovators" -- a collaboration that will begin in the coming years when companies send astronauts to the International Space Station.

奧巴馬補充說道，要想實現火星之旅，“需要政府和私營創新企業的共同努力”--一種將在未來幾年開啓的合作：私營企業的宇航員將被送上國際空間站。

To that end, Obama announced that the government is "working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space."

爲了這個目標，奧巴馬宣佈，政府“正在與商業領域的合作伙伴聯手，共同打造新的太空居所，供宇航員在深層太空中執行長期任務時生活和運輸之用”。

It isn't the first time Obama has rhapsodized about traveling to Mars in his lifetime.

這並非是奧巴馬首次提出登陸火星計劃。

In a 2010 speech at the Kennedy Space Center, the President outlined an ambitious program that will eventually include human travel to Mars.

早在2010在，他在肯尼迪航天中心時就曾勾畫了一幅雄心勃勃的藍圖，其中就包括登陸火星。

He said then that he believed people could be sent to orbit Mars by the "mid-2030s."

當時他表示，他堅信人類在本世紀30代中期能被送到火星。

"I expect to be around to see it," Obama said in the speech.

他在演講中說道：“我期待看到它的真面目。”