私人公司爲富人和特權人士提供月亮旅行大綱
THE space race between America and the Soviet Union was as much about ideological one-upmanship as extraterrestrial exploration. A new space race to the moon has an even less lofty goal: sightseeing. Two space-tourism companies are planning rival lunar missions that could see private individuals paying to fly to Earth's nearest celestial neighbour.
美國和蘇聯的空間競爭是關於外星探索上誰高人一等的問題。一個新的到月球的競爭有一個更加崇高的目標：旅遊觀光。兩個空間旅遊公司計劃在月球項目上競爭以使私人個體可以掏錢飛上地球最近的天體鄰居。
On June 19th Excalibur Almaz, a space company based on the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea, became the second company-after Space Adventures, an American space-tourism firm-to offer tickets for a commercial moonshot. Both firms are charging $150m a seat, a price that includes months of ground-based training. Neither is offering a descent to the moon's surface-just a lunar fly-by.
一個英國支持的位於英國曼島的神劍在六月19號成爲第爲繼美國空間旅遊公司空間探險公司之後第二家空間旅行公司爲登月的商業用途提供票。兩個公司都要1500萬一個座位，包括數月的地上訓練。兩個公司都不提供降落地面的服務————僅僅是繞月飛行。
Whereas the Americans won the first space race, the Russians are favourites for the rematch. Both Excalibur Almaz and Space Adventures are using Russian-made rockets and spacecraft. Space Adventures plans to re-engineer the veteran Soyuz craft that it has used to shuttle seven space tourists up to the International Space Station (ISS). Excalibur Almaz intends to refit two Almaz space stations that were originally made for the Soviet armed forces.
鑑於美國贏得了第一次空間競賽，俄羅斯人熱衷於重新開賽。神劍和太空探險兩家公司都使用俄羅斯生產的火箭和飛船。空間探險公司計劃重新設計自身的聯盟號宇宙飛船，該飛船曾經把7位旅客送進國際航空站。神劍公司傾向於使用重新整修的2號鑽石空間站，該站由以前的蘇聯軍隊建造。
The space-tourism business is famously long on hype but rather short, so far, on results. And both firms face big engineering challenges, to put it mildly. The easier task probably falls to Space Adventures, whose well-tested Soyuzcapsules-which have been flying, in one form or another, since the 1960s-require a beefier communications system, larger portholes (everyone wants a window seat, after all) and a better heat shield for re-entry. A separate booster rocket will be necessary to break the craft out of Earth orbit.
到目前爲止，空間旅遊已經大力宣傳了很長時間，但是實際上剛剛開始。兩個公司都面臨着巨大的工程挑戰，使他們抓狂。比較簡單的任務可能降落在空間探險公司身上，其調試良好的聯盟號飛船自從20世紀60年代以來已經以一種形式或另一種形式飛過——僅僅需要加裝強大的制動裝置，大的舷窗（畢竟每個人都想坐在離窗戶近的地方）另外爲重新進入加裝好的隔熱層。助推火箭分離器需要有強大的推力使航天器脫離地球軌道。
Excalibur Almaz's bulky space stations will need a lot more work to convert into lunar spacecraft. The first step will be to attach engines. The company plans to use ion thrusters, a high-tech propulsion system in which propellant is ejected using an electric field. Such motors are extremely efficient, and can be powered from a station's solar panels. But they generate little thrust, meaning that Excalibur Almaz's mission will take at least six months, compared with just six days for Space Adventures' chemical-powered craft. In fact, the low-energy trajectory planned by Excalibur Almaz will take its crew members farther from the Earth than any other humans have been.
神劍的龐大空間站需要更多的工作使其成爲旅月航天器。第一步將需要安裝引擎。公司計劃使用例子推動器，這是一種高科技的推動系統其推動劑是一種電場。這種發動機效率非常高，並且可以從空間站太陽能電極板得到能量。但是他們進展緩慢，意思是神劍的使命可能至少推遲6個月，相比於空間探索公司僅僅需要6天就能加註的化學推動劑飛船。事實上，神劍計劃的低能量軌道將能把它的工作人員送到離地球比以前所有人都遠的地方。
A journey that long would be risky. One danger is from unpredictable and potentially deadly solar flares, giant releases of stellar energy that would bombard the craft with radiation and fry its occupants. To protect its passengers, the company plans to build an internal "storm shelter" that uses the spacecraft's water supplies to absorb radiation.
長距離的旅行將很危險。危險之一來自不可預定和可能的致命的太陽耀斑，恆星能量的巨大釋放將用射線炸燬飛船並且燒焦乘客。爲了保護乘客，該公司計劃建立內部"風暴掩體"用飛船的供水系統來吸收射線。
Neither firm will start refitting its spacecraft, a process expected to take around three years, until it has sold all the seats on its maiden flights (two for Space Adventures, three for Excalibur Almaz). The companies are marketing their lunar missions to the same high-tech entrepreneurs and ultra-rich thrill-seekers who have snapped up tourist visits to the ISS and suborbital joyrides-long planned, but yet to fly-with firms such as Virgin Galactic.
這一計劃預計需要三年的時間，兩個公司都將不重新修理飛船知道其賣掉所有的處女飛行的座位（兩個太空研究者，三個旅行者），兩公司想類似的高科技公司和富有刺激性的富人們宣傳市場，這些人把計劃很長時間但是沒有實施的去國際空間站和軌道兜風的旅遊票一搶而空比如Virgin Galactic公司。
Space Adventures already claims to have sold one ticket. That has led Excalibur Almaz to sweeten its deal by offering equity in the company to its first paying passengers. But filling seats may prove tricky. Not only is the asking price more than seven times the $20m cost of a jaunt to the ISS, it also requires months of demanding physical and psychological training. And even if the engineering can be perfected, it remains to be seen how many daredevil billionaires will be willing to spend months cooped up in a metal tube eating freeze-dried food.
空間探索公司已經聲明賣出一張票。這促使神劍公司推出爲首位付款遊客提供裝備的優惠政策。但是填充座位可能很棘手。這不僅僅需要超過到達空間站所需200萬美元七倍的價格，還需要花費數月來進行體力和心理的鍛鍊。並且即使發動機非常好，還需要看有多少不怕死的億萬富翁將希望花費數月被關閉在金屬的容器內吃着冰冷乾燥的食物。
