What Is Space Junk1?什么是太空垃圾钥

游余

Theres space junk orbiting2 Earth， and its getting more and more everyyear. Space junk is the name that scientists give to the thousands of pieces ofbroken satellites3 and spacecraft4. It takes up the Earths orbit. Space junkcan be as small as a piece of paint or as large as a broken rocket5. No matterthe size， it is a great danger to the astronauts6 and spacecraft that work inEarths orbit.

太空垃圾在圍绕地球飞行，而且每年都在增加。太空垃圾是科学家们给成千上万颗破碎的卫星和航天器取的名字。它占据了地球的轨道。太空垃圾可以小到一块油漆，也可以大到一枚破碎的火箭。无论大小，它对在地球轨道上工作的宇航员和航天器来说都是巨大的危险。

The space junk in orbit becomes more hand-in-hand with the growth of thespace industry7 on Earth. A group of international researchers wrote an articleand showed people the growing problem of space junk. They called for a treaty8to“help protect Earths orbit”before it becomes completely polluted9 with junk.

轨道上的太空垃圾与地球上航天工业的发展越来越紧密。一组国际研究人员写了一篇文章，向人们展示了太空垃圾问题日益严重。他们呼吁制定一项条约，在地球轨道被垃圾完全污染之前“帮助保护地球轨道”。

Heres something you need to know about space junk， and why scientistsfollow the problem.

以下是一些你需要了解的关于太空垃圾的信息，以及科学家们关注这个问题的原因。

What is space junk？

什么是太空垃圾？

Space junk is any human-made junk left in orbit around Earth. This includes awhole satellites that have run out of power and been left in orbit after the end oftheir missions10， as well as broken parts of larger objects. Even small pieces ofpaint that have fallen off the rockets is space junk.

太空垃圾是指留在地球轨道上的任何人造垃圾，包括一整颗卫星，它们在任务结束后耗尽了燃料，被留在轨道上，还包括较大物体脱落的部分。即使是从火箭上掉下来的小块油漆也是太空垃圾。

How much space junk is there right now？

现在有多少太空垃圾？

The United States now tracks11 more than 23，000 pieces of space junk that arelarger than a softball12. This includes about 3，000 broken satellites that have beenleft in orbit， according to the Natural History Museum of London.

美国现在追踪到比垒球还大的太空垃圾超过23000 块。据伦敦自然历史博物馆称，这其中包括大约3000 颗被留在轨道上报废的卫星。

However， most pieces of the junk are far too small to be tracked. Researchersguess that there are more than 100 trillion untracked13 pieces of space junk inEarth orbit， according to the study. The most of this untracked junk islikely less than 0.4 inches （1 cm） wide.

然而，大多数垃圾太小，无法被追踪。根据《科学》杂志的研究，研究人员猜测地球轨道上有超过100 万亿块未被追踪到的太空垃圾。在这些未被追踪到的垃圾中，大部分可能不到0.4 英寸（1 厘米）宽。

Why is space junk a problem？

为什么太空垃圾是个问题？

Even small pieces of space junk can cause great damage14. Thats becauseobjects in orbit move very quickly. If two objects moving in opposite directions runinto one another in space， then the damage becomes even greater. This means thateven the smallest things can become the most dangerous in orbit.

即使是微小的太空垃圾也会造成巨大的破坏。这是因为轨道上的物体移动得非常快。如果两个朝相反方向移动的物体在太空中碰撞，那么破坏力会变得更大。这意味着，即使是最小的东西也可能成为轨道上最危险的物体。

Can space junk fall to Earth？

太空垃圾会落到地球上吗？

Yes， space junk often falls to Earth. From 200 to 400 pieces of tracked spacejunk falls through Earths atmosphere15 every year. Most of this free-falling junk issmall enough that it burns16 up in the atmosphere， never reaching the ground.Larger objects that dont burn up in the fall （like satellites） usually fall down intothe ocean， but not always.

会，太空垃圾经常掉到地球上。每年有200 到400 块被追踪的太空垃圾落入地球大气层。这些自由下落的垃圾大多足够小，以至于在大气层中就燃烧殆尽，绝不会落到地面。大部分在降落时燃烧不了的较大物体（如卫星）通常会落入海洋，但也有例外。

Space junk events

太空垃圾事件

On Feb. 10， 2009， a broken Russian spacecraft ran into a U.S. spacecraft. Itdamaged both and added more than 2，300 pieces of space junk to orbit. In March2021， a piece of a Russian rocket ran into and damaged a Chinese satellite. In June2021， a small piece of unknown space junk ran into the International Space Stationsrobotic17 arm and damaged it.

2009 年2 月10 日，一艘破损的俄罗斯航天器撞上了一艘美国航天器。两者都有损坏，并导致2300 多块太空垃圾进入轨道。2021 年3 月，一枚俄罗斯火箭的碎片撞击并损坏了一颗中国卫星。2021 年6 月，一小块未知的太空垃圾撞上了国际空间站的机械臂并造成损坏。

There are more and more events， so more space junk is added to orbit each year.

这类事件越来越多，因此每年都会造成更多的太空垃圾进入轨道。

Notes

1. junk 廢旧杂物；垃圾；破烂

2. orbit 环绕地球；太阳等运行的轨道；沿轨道运行

3. satellite 卫星；人造卫星

4. spacecraft 宇宙飞船；航天器

5. rocket 火箭

6. astronaut 宇航员；太空人

7. industry 工业；生产制造；行业；产业

8. treaty 国家之间的条约；协定

9. pollute 污染；弄脏

10. mission 尤指赴他国的使命；重要任务

11. track 追查；追踪

12. softball 垒球

13. untracked 无足迹的；无路径的

14. damage 损坏；损害；有形的损坏

15. atmosphere 包围地球或其他行星的大气；大气层

16. burn 燃烧；消耗；烧坏；烧毁

17. robotic 机器人的；机械的