经济学人204:天文 往太空扔钱

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术
　　Astronomy
　　天文
　　Throwing money into space
　　往太空扔钱
　　A shiny new telescope is crowding out NASA's other science missions
　　新的望远镜正在把美国国家航空航天局其它科学任务挤出去
　　THE Hubble space telescope, an orbiting observatory 1 launched in 1990 by NASA, America's space agency,
　　哈勃太空望远镜是1990年由美国国家航空航天局发射的绕地天文台。
　　has been one of that agency's most successful missions since the Apollo moon shots in the 1960s and 1970s.
　　自六七十年代阿波罗登月发射以来，它一直是该局最成功的任务之一。
　　It has produced a string of scientific achievements:
　　它产生了一系列科学成就：
　　confirming that most galaxies 2 have a black hole in the middle;
　　证实大多数星系中心存在一个黑洞；
　　providing a front-row seat for the collision, in 1994, of a comet with the planet Jupiter;
　　为人们提供了1994年苏梅克—列维9号彗星撞击木星的最佳观测位置；
　　and helping 3 to uncover the strange fact that the expansion of the universe seems to be accelerating.
　　帮助人们发现宇宙看上去正在加速扩张这一奇特事实。
　　But beyond the science, it has also been a public-relations hit.
　　但在科学以外，它也一直是承载科学和公众交流的桥梁。
　　Its beautiful images have introduced a generation to the wonders of astronomy.
　　它传回的精美图像引导一代人探索天文领域。
　　So in 2002, when the agency considered plans for a successor that would study the universe in infra-red,
　　因此，该局于2002年开始考虑筹划哈勃望远镜的继任者。
　　rather than visible light, would be ready to fly in 2010 and would cost just $2.5 billion, saying “yes” was easy.
　　耗资25亿美元，通过红外线，而非可见光研究宇宙的望远镜将于2010年升空，计划轻松获得通过。
　　Nine years later, NASA is regretting that decision.
　　九年后，美国国家航空航天局对当时所作出的决定感到愧疚。
　　The James Webb space telescope, as the new machine is called, is still in the workshop, and its launch date has been set back repeatedly.
　　这个被称为詹姆斯·韦伯的新望远镜仍在厂房里。
　　Its cost has gone up to $8.8 billion, a figure that, if history is any guide, could rise still further.
　　其发射日期一推再推该望远镜耗资已攀升至88亿美元，历史如果有其它可能，这一数字还是会进一步攀升。
　　Which would be embarrassing at the best of times, but with public-spending cuts looming 4 and NASA's budget flat for the foreseeable future, it is causing real strains.
　　这是最让人为难的时刻，但随着削减公共开支初见端倪，美国国家航空航天局将在可预见的未来里保持预算不变，这正引起真正的紧张。
　　In July, irritated by the JWST's rising costs, the House of Representatives tried to cut $1.9 billion from NASA's budget for next year, in an attempt to have the project cancelled.
　　7月，出于对詹姆斯·韦伯望远镜不断攀升的开支不满，众议院试图从美国国家航空航天局下一年预算里砍掉19亿美元，以求取消这项计划。
　　On November 1st, after lobbying from the telescope's defenders 5, the Senate passed a bill that restored the telescope's funding.
　　11月1日，经为新望远镜进行辩护的人游说后，参议院通过了一项恢复望远镜资助的法案。
　　But it is not just politicians that are restive 6.
　　但并不仅仅是政治家感到不安，
　　Astronomers 7 have long worried that the ballooning costs of the telescope would affect NASA's other science projects.
　　天文学家一直担心该望远镜激增的开支会影响到美国国家航空航天局其它科研项目。
　　Officially, the space agency will say only that other missions will be delayed,
　　从官方角度看，他们只会表示其它任务将会推后，
　　but there are fears that some could be cut completely.
　　但人们担心其中一些会完全被砍掉。
　　One potential sacrifice is WFIRST, an infra-red space telescope intended for launch in 2020.
　　其中一个潜在的牺牲品就是宽视场红外巡天望远镜，一个计划在2020年发射的红外线天文望远镜。
　　This is designed to probe the nature of “dark energy”, which is thought to be responsible for the quickening expansion of the universe that Hubble helped bring to the world's attention.
　　这部望远镜设计出来是为了探测自然界里的“暗能量”，
　　A string of other, smaller projects could suffer as well.
　　该物质被认为是经哈勃引起全世界关注的宇宙加速扩张的原因。
　　The telescope's advocates say junking it now would be a false economy.
　　该望远镜的支持者称现在抛弃它不值当。
　　Most of the hardware has already been built, so cancelling it, they argue, would mean throwing all that away.
　　他们认为，大多数硬件都已造好，就这么取消意味着将这些东西统统扔掉。
　　And they play on fears that America is in danger of losing its pre-eminence in high-budget “big science”,
　　继今年年初功率为世界第二的粒子加速器，设在伊利诺伊州的垓电子伏加速器关闭后，美国处于逐渐失去建立在对“大科学”
　　following the closure earlier this year of the Illinois-based Tevatron, the second-most-powerful particle accelerator in the world.
　　高投入的卓越地位的危险中，望远镜支持者利用了这些恐慌。
　　The JWST, if it does eventually fly, would surely do some spectacular science.
　　如果詹姆斯·韦伯望远镜最终得以发射，它肯定会开展一些惊人的科研。
　　The size of its mirror—25 square metres, as against Hubble's 4.5—and the location of its orbit far from the reflected light of Earth will allow it to study some of the earliest events in the universe,
　　相对于哈勃4.5平米大的镜头，新望远镜达到25平米—它的轨道也远离地球反射光，可以让它对一些宇宙最早的事件进行研究，
　　including the formation of the first galaxies. It will also help with the search for extrasolar planets.
　　包括第一个星系的形成，帮助科学家寻找太阳系外的行星。
　　Hubble, of course, was also late—and around $2 billion over budget.
　　不久前哈勃的预算也超过约20亿美元。
　　It was lampooned 8 after its launch when a wonky mirror meant that its images were blurred 9 almost to the point of uselessness, and a mission by the Space Shuttle to fix the problem cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
　　讽刺的是，发射升空后，其摇晃的镜头意味着图像虚到几乎没有任何用处，后经航天飞机完成的修补任务耗资上亿美元。
　　Given its subsequent record, few now begrudge 10 the cost.
　　鉴于其后来的成绩，现在很少有人肉疼这笔钱。
　　With all that in mind, NASA will press on with the JWST, at least for now.
　　考虑到所有这些，美国国家航空航天局也许会推动詹姆斯·韦伯望远镜，至少现在是。
　　All that remains 11 for America's astronomers to do is pray that their favourite mission is not one of those delayed, or even cancelled, to keep the new telescope on track.
　　对于美国天文学家来说，他们剩下要做的就是祈求他们钟爱的任务没在那些被推迟的里面，或者即使被取消，也要让新望远镜保持运作。