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第一段
1 .In today’s astronomy lecture, I’m going to talk about the need for a system to manage the movement of satellites and other objects in orbit around the Earth.
在今天的天文讲座中，我将谈论管理围绕地球轨道上的卫星和其他物体运动的系统的必要性。
2 .In other words, a Space Traffic Management system.
换句话说，太空交通管理系统。
3 .We already have effective Air Traffic Control systems that are used internationally to ensure that planes navigate our skies safely.
我们已经拥有有效的国际航空交通管制系统，用于确保飞机安全地航行在我们的天空中。
4 .Well, Space Traffic Management is a similar concept, but focusing on the control of satellites.
嗯，太空交通管理是一个类似的概念，但它专注于卫星的控制。
5 .The aim of such a system would be to prevent the danger of collisions in space between the objects in orbit around the Earth.
这种系统的目的是防止地球轨道上的物体之间发生碰撞事故。
6 .In order to do this, we’d need to have a set of legal measures, and we’d also have to develop the technical systems to enable us to prevent such accidents.
为了做到这一点，我们需要一套法律措施，并且我们还需要开发技术系统，使我们能够预防这类事故发生。
7 .But unfortunately, at present we don’t actually have a Space Traffic Management system that works.
但不幸的是，目前我们实际上没有一个有效的太空交通管理系统。
8 .So why not? What are the problems in developing such a system?
那为什么呢？开发这样一个系统存在哪些问题？
9 .Well, for one thing, satellites are relatively cheap these days, compared with how they were in the past, meaning that more people can afford to put them into space.
首先，与过去相比，如今卫星的价格相对较低，这意味着更多的人有能力将它们送入太空。
10 .So there’s a lot more of them out there, and people aren’t just launching single satellites but whole constellations, consisting of thousands of them designed to work together.
因此，太空中的卫星数量越来越多，人们不仅仅是发射单个卫星，还有由数千个卫星组成的整个星座，旨在共同工作。
11 .So space is getting more crowded every day.
因此，太空每天都变得更加拥挤。
12 .But in spite of this, one thing you may be surprised to learn is that you can launch a satellite into space and, once it’s out there, it doesn’t have to send back any information to Earth to allow its identification.
但尽管如此，你可能会惊讶地了解到，你可以发射一颗卫星到太空中，一旦它在那里，它并不需要向地球发送任何信息来进行识别。
13 .So while we have international systems for ensuring we know where the planes in our skies are, and to prevent them from colliding with one another, when it comes to the safety of satellites, at present we don’t have anything like enough proper ways of tracking them.
因此，尽管我们在确保我们知道天空中的飞机位置并防止它们相互碰撞方面有国际制度，但目前在卫星的安全性方面，我们没有足够的适当追踪方式。
14 .And it isn’t just entire satellites that we need to consider.
我们需要考虑的不仅仅是整个卫星。
15 .A greater threat is the huge amount of space debris in orbit around the Earth – broken bits of satellite and junk from space stations and so on.
更大的威胁是地球轨道上的大量太空碎片——破碎的卫星零件和来自空间站等的垃圾。
16 .And some of these are so small that they can be very hard to identify, but they can still be very dangerous.
其中一些碎片非常小，很难识别，但仍然非常危险。
17 .In addition, some operators may be unwilling to share information about the satellites they’ve launched.
此外，一些运营商可能不愿意共享他们发射的卫星的信息。
18 .For example, a satellite may be designed for military purposes, or it may have been launched for commercial reasons, and the operators don’t want competitors to have information about it.
例如，一颗卫星可能被设计用于军事目的，或者可能是出于商业原因发射的，运营商不希望竞争对手获得相关信息。
19 .And even if the operators are willing to provide it, the information isn’t easy to collect.
即使运营商愿意提供信息，也不容易收集。
20 .Details are needed about the object itself, as well as about its location at a particular time – and remember that a satellite isn’t very big, and it’s likely to be moving at thousands of kilometres an hour.
需要了解物体本身的细节，以及其在特定时间的位置——请记住，卫星并不是很大，而且可能以每小时数千公里的速度移动。
21 .We don’t have any sensors that can constantly follow something moving so fast, so all that the scientists can do is to put forward a prediction concerning where the satellite is heading next.
我们没有任何可以持续跟踪如此快速移动物体的传感器，所以科学家们只能提出关于卫星下一步运动方向的预测。
第二段
1 .So those are some of the problems that we’re facing.
这些是我们面临的一些问题。
2 .Let’s consider now some of the solutions that have been suggested.
现在让我们考虑一些已经提出的解决方案。
3 .One key issue is the way in which information is dealt with.
一个关键问题是如何处理信息。
4 .We need more information, but it also needs to be accessible at a global level, so we need to establish shared standards that we can all agree on for the way in which this information is presented.
我们需要更多的信息，但它也需要在全球层面可访问，因此我们需要建立共享标准，我们可以就信息呈现方式达成共识。
5 .We already do this in other areas of science, so although this is a challenge, it’s not an impossible task.
在科学的其他领域，我们已经在做到这一点，所以尽管这是一个挑战，但并非不可能的任务。
6 .Then, as all this information’s collected, it needs to be put together so it can be used, and that will involve creating a single database on which it can be entered.
然后，随着所有这些信息的收集，需要将其整合在一起以供使用，并需要创建一个可以输入这些信息的单一数据库。
7 .As we continue to push forward new developments, congestion of the space environment is only going to increase.
随着我们不断推动新的发展，太空环境的拥挤只会增加。
8 .To cope with this, we need to develop a system like the one I’ve described to coordinate the work of the numerous spacecraft operators, but it’s also essential that this system is one that establishes trust in the people that use it, both nationally and at a global level.
为了应对这一点，我们需要开发像我描述的那样的系统，以协调众多航天器运营商的工作，但同样重要的是，这个系统必须建立起对使用它的人的信任，无论是在国家层面还是全球层面。
9 .One interesting development …
一个有趣的发展……