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来一场说走就走的太空漫游 美国轮状太空旅馆将于2025年建成
去太空漫游一直是很多人的梦想。美国一家基金会近日公布了将打造的太空旅馆的设计,这个被设计成轮子形状的旅馆酷似斯坦利·库布里克在《2001太空漫游》中塑造的空间站。这家太空旅馆将于2025年建成。
It's 50 years since man first stepped on the moon, and we're still harboring dreams of escaping life on Earth for the mysteries of space.
距离人类第一次登上月球已经50年了,而我们仍然怀揣着逃离地球的梦想,去探索神秘的太空。
If a career as an astronaut isn't for you, perhaps the promise of a sojourn in a space hotel might be appealing.
如果你不适合当宇航员,也许在太空旅馆住一段时间会很有吸引力。
sojourn ['sɒdʒɜːn]:n.逗留;旅居
Californian company The Gateway Foundation has released plans for the Von Braun Station, a cruise ship-style hotel floating among the stars.
美国加州盖特韦基金会公布了冯·布劳恩太空旅馆的建设计划,这是一家漂浮在群星之间的游轮风格的酒店。
The aim is to get the hotel off the ground by 2025 and make it fully operational for travel by 2027.
这家太空旅馆将在2025年前建成,并在2027年前全面投入运营。
According to digitally rendered video and images released by the Gateway Foundation, the station resembles a rotating wheel, comprised of 24 modules, orbiting the Earth.
根据盖特韦基金会发布的数字渲染视频和图像,冯·布劳恩太空旅馆外形酷似一个旋转的轮子,由24个模块组成,环绕地球运行。
Tim Alatorre, senior design architect at the Gateway Foundation, says the rotating wheel would create a simulated gravity.
盖特韦基金会的高级设计建筑师蒂姆·阿拉托雷说,太空旅馆会产生模拟重力。
"The station rotates, pushing the contents of the station out to the perimeter of the station, much in the way that you can spin a bucket of water -- the water pushes out into the bucket and stays in place," he tells cnn Travel.
他告诉美国有线新闻网旅游频道说:“太空旅馆会旋转,把其中的物品推到外围,就像你旋转一桶水一样——水会被推到桶里,并保持原位。”
The Gateway Foundation's hotel design is named for Wernher von Braun, an aerospace engineer who pioneered rocket technology, first in Germany and later in the United States.
酒店设计是以航空航天工程师沃纳·冯·布劳恩的名字命名的。布劳恩先后成为德国和美国的火箭技术先驱。
"The basic physics of the station haven't changed since the 1950s, the way the station rotates," says Alatorre.
阿拉托雷说:“自从20世纪50年代以来,空间站的基本物理结构和旋转方式从未改变。”
The main difference is the modern materials -- new metal alloys, carbon composites, 3D printing and launch pad technology that, says Alatorre, make a space hotel more probable in our current era.
他说,主要的不同之处在于现代材料——新的金属合金、碳复合材料、3D打印和发射台技术,使太空旅馆在当今更可能实现。
Space tourism is an expensive game -- Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to launch passengers into sub-orbital space at the hefty sum of $250,000 per person, per trip.
太空旅行是昂贵的游戏——理查德•布兰森的维珍银河计划以每人每次25万美元(约合人民币177万元)的高价将乘客送入亚轨道空间。
hefty ['heftɪ]:adj.异常大的
Meanwhile, Aurora Station says a stay in its space hotel will cost an eyewatering $9.5 million.
与此同时,奥罗拉空间站表示,在其太空旅馆住宿将耗资950万美元。
Price wise, in the early phases the Von Braun hotel will also be catering to those with dollars to spend, but the foundation is hoping to make it equivalent to "a trip on a cruise or a trip to Disneyland."
就价格而言,在早期阶段,冯·布劳恩太空旅馆也将为富有的顾客提供服务,但该基金会希望,它能等同于“一次游轮之旅或迪士尼乐园之旅”。
Aurora Station aims to sleep just 12, whereas the Von Braun Station will sleep 352 people with a maximum capacity of 450.
奥罗拉空间站的目标仅为容纳12人,而冯·布劳恩太空旅馆将容纳352人,最大接待能力为450人。
So what will Von Braun Station be like inside?
那么冯·布劳恩太空旅馆里面会是什么样子呢?
Alatorre says the hotel's aesthetic was a direct response to the Stanley Kubrick movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" -- just maybe not in the way you might think
阿拉托雷说,酒店的美学是对斯坦利·库布里克的电影《2001太空漫游》的直接回应——只是可能不是你想象的那样。
"I think the goal of Stanley Kubrick was to highlight the divide between technology and humanity and so, purposefully, he made the stations and the ships very sterile and clean and alien."
他说:“我认为斯坦利·库布里克的目标是突出科技与人类之间的鸿沟,因此,他有意地让空间站和飞船变得乏味、干净和陌生。
Instead, Alatorre wanted to bring a slice of earth to space, to avoid a laboratorial, overly Star Trek-esque feel.
相反,阿拉托雷想要把地球的部分装饰带到太空中,以避免实验室式的,过度星际旅行式的感觉。
On board, there'll be warm suites with carpets and stylish monochrome touches and chic bars that wouldn't look out of place back on Earth, just with star-gazing views.
太空旅馆中将会有温暖的套间,铺着地毯,点缀着时尚的纯色装饰,还有时髦的酒吧,这些酒吧在地球上看起来也不会显得格格不入,区别是太空酒吧可以观星。
monochrome ['mɒnəkrəʊm; mɒnə(ʊ)'krəʊm]:adj.单色的;黑白的
There will also be plenty of fun recreational activities for guest to enjoy, says Alatorre.
阿拉托雷说,酒店还将为客人提供许多有趣的娱乐活动。
"We're going to have a number of different recreation activities and games that'll highlight the fact that you're able to do things that you can't do on Earth," he says. "Because of the weightlessness and the reduced gravity, you'll be able to jump higher, be able to lift things, be able to run in ways that you can't on Earth."
他说:“太空旅馆中将有许多不同的娱乐活动和游戏,重点是,你可以做一些在地球上做不到的事情。由于失重和重力降低,你将能够跳得更高,能够举起重物,跑起来也和地球上不一样。”
If it all sounds like a space-age gimmick, Alatorre is emphatic that the concept will have widespread, enduring appeal.
如果这一切听起来像太空时代的噱头,阿拉托雷强调,这个概念将具有广泛、持久的吸引力。
gimmick ['gɪmɪk]:n.暗机关;骗人的玩意;花招
"People will want to go and experience this just because it's a cool new thing and they've never done it before," he admits.
他承认:“人们会想去体验一下,因为这是很酷的新事物,从未体验过。”
"But our goal -- the overall goal of the Gateway Foundation -- is to create a starship culture where people are going to space, and living in space, and working in space and they want to be in space. And we believe that there's a demand for that."
“但盖特韦基金会的总体目标是创造一种星际飞船文化,让人们去太空,在太空生活,在太空工作,他们想要进入太空。我们相信这是有需求的。”
The Gateway Foundation also intends the space station to be used for research purposes, as well as asteroid mining.
盖特韦基金会还打算将空间站用于研究目的,以及小行星采矿。
Given the design is still exactly that -- just a design -- there are some questions that remain unanswered about how the space hotel will function in actuality.
鉴于该方案仍然在设计中,关于太空旅馆将如何实际运作,仍有一些疑问有待解答。
For example, it's been suggested that living in low gravity for an extended period of time is damaging to the human body. While vacationers will probably only visit the hotel for a few weeks, staff will plan to be there for six months to a year.
例如,有人认为长时间生活在低重力环境中对人体有害。虽然度假者可能只会在太空旅馆停留几周,但员工将在那里工作6个月至一年。
They'll adjust schedules as needed, says Alatorre, but right now, the foundation thinks this proposition would be "perfectly safe."
阿拉托雷说,他们会根据需要调整日程,但是现在,基金会认为这个提议是“完全安全的”。
There's also the sustainability question, as people look for more eco-friendly vacations, surely going to space is not the solution?
可持续发展也是个问题。人们在寻求更环保的假期,去太空肯定做不到?
Alatorre points to SpaceX's Raptor engine, which uses methane instead of petroleum-based fuel, suggesting "eco-friendly" rocket designs are the future.
阿拉托雷指出,SpaceX的猛禽发动机使用甲烷代替石油燃料,这表明“环保”火箭设计是未来的发展方向。
"On the station itself, it's going to be about the most environmentally friendly vacation you'll ever have. Because we're recycling everything," says Alatorre.
“就太空旅馆本身而言,这将是你度过的最环保的假期。因为我们会回收利用所有的物品,”他说。
"There's no amount of water or trash or waste that is going to be discarded, everything will be recycled, reused, stored, converted to some other form."
“没有任何水、垃圾或废物会被丢弃,所有的东西都会被回收、再利用、储存,并转换成其他物品。
Terrestrial construction on the Gateway Foundation's project is set to begin October 1, 2019.
该项目的地面建设将于2019年10月1日开始。