印度科技水平突飞猛进 专注于推进火星项目

On Tuesday, India's space agency will launch a spacecraft designed to boldly go where no Asian nation has gone before: Mars.

印度航天部门周二将发射一枚航天器，按照设计方案，该航天器将前往亚洲国家此前还没有去过的地方：火星。

The mission, if successful, would be a technological leap that would propel India ahead of space rivals China and Japan in the field of interplanetary exploration.

该任务如果成功，这一技术上的飞跃将令印度在行星际探测领域超过空间对手中国和日本。

It will take more than 10 months for India's Mars satellite, equipped with instruments that can examine the surface of the Red Planet from above, to reach Martian orbit and begin beaming information back to Earth.

印度的卫星将需要10个多月的时间才能到达火星轨道并从那里向地球发送信息。该卫星配备了能够从上方检测这颗红色行星表面的设备。

'This is a major turning point in our space program--towards exploration,' said Koppillil Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, the country's civilian space agency. It will bring 'technological advantage for the country.'

该国的民用航天机构印度空间研究组织(Indian Space Research Organization)的主席拉达克里希南(Koppillil Radhakrishnan)说：这是我国空间项目一个重大的转折点，在空间探测方面的转折点。他说，这将给印度带来技术优势。

Decades after the U.S. and Soviet Union battled for supremacy in space during the Cold War, Asian powers have embarked on their own space race-a contest with political, military and technical ramifications here on Earth.

美国和前苏联在“冷战”期间的太空争霸赛几十年后，亚洲大国已经纷纷开始了自己的空间竞赛，而这一竞赛将对地球上的政治、军事和技术等方面的力量对比产生影响。

In recent years, Japan, China and India-in cooperation with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-have put satellites into lunar orbit. China has also put astronauts into Earth orbit and conducted spacewalks.

近些年来，日本、中国和印度（与美国国家航空航天局(NASA)合作）已经把卫星送到了月球轨道。中国还把航天员送到了地球轨道，并完成了空间行走。

India spends 68 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) a year on its space program and has 20 satellites in orbit for communication and remote sensing.

印度每年花在空间项目上的资金有680亿卢比（合11亿美元），有20颗在轨卫星，执行通讯和遥感等任务。

Critics argue that a country where more than 350 million people live on less than $1.25 a day and where a third of the population lacks access to electricity should be focused more on terrestrial problems.

批评人士辩称，在一个有3.5亿人口每天生活费不足1.25美元、三分之一的人口用不上电的国家，更多的精力应该用来解决地球上的问题。

'The bread or gun argument' is real for India, said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a space-security expert at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank. 'But India doesn't live in a benign neighborhood.'

总部位于新德里的智库组织印度观察家研究基金会(Observer Research Foundation)的空间安全专家拉贾戈帕兰(Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan)说，这种“要面包还是要机枪”的争论的确是印度面临的一个现实问题，但印度的周边环境并不怎么友好。

Ms. Rajagopalan said that while India is focused on peaceful use of outer space, 'this is the background against which the Mars mission is taking place. There is a sort of arms race,' especially since China in 2007 successfully tested an antisatellite missile.

拉贾戈帕兰说，印度正专注于和平利用外太空，火星项目的背景就是如此；但这有点像军备竞赛，特别是在中国于2007年成功试射了一枚反卫星导弹之后。

In August, India launched its first dedicated military satellite for naval intelligence gathering, amid mounting concerns about the Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean.

随着对中国在印度洋的海军力量的担忧不断加剧，今年8月印度发射了首颗专用军事卫星，用来搜集海军情报。

Boosters also point to the civilian benefits of the space program, such as improved meteorological forecasting, which prompted the government to evacuate 1 million people from areas along the southeast coast before a major cyclone last month-a move credited with saving thousands of lives.

支持者还指出，空间项目也有民事用途，例如提高气象预报能力。上个月印度政府就在一场大飓风来临前从东南沿海疏散了一百万人，据信挽救了成千上万人的性命。

India's Mars satellite, dubbed Mangalyaan, or Mars craft in Hindi, is scheduled to reach Martian orbit on Sept. 24 after a journey of 422 million miles. If it makes it, it will join two rovers and two orbiters belonging to NASA and a European satellite already exploring Mars.

印度的火星卫星名为“Mangalyaan”，在北印度语中是火星飞行器的意思。按计划，该卫星将在行驶了4.22亿英里后，于9月24日到达火星轨道。如果获得成功，这颗卫星将加入已经在探索火星的美国国家航空及太空总署(NASA)的两辆火星车和两颗卫星及一颗欧洲卫星的行列。

China's 2011 attempt with Russia to send the Yinghuo-1 satellite to Mars failed after the Russian rocket carrying it was unable to leave Earth orbit. A Japanese 2003 mission to Mars was unable to place a satellite into Martian orbit.

中国和俄罗斯曾于2011年合作尝试发射萤火1号火星探测卫星，由于搭载该卫星的俄罗斯运载火箭未能飞离地球轨道，发射失败。日本在2003年试图发射的一颗卫星也未能进入火星轨道。

China's National Space Science Center has been quoted in Chinese media as saying that it won't attempt another voyage to Mars until at least 2016.

中国媒体援引中国国家空间科学中心(National Space Science Center)的话称，至少在2016年之前，中国不会再有火星探测新动作。

India's Mars mission, with a budget of $73 million, is far cheaper than comparable missions including NASA's $671 million Maven satellite that is expected to set off for Mars later in November. The program was approved by the government in 2012.

印度的火星探测项目在2012年获得政府批准，预算为7,300万美元，比包括NASA 6.71亿美元的Maven卫星在内的同类项目要低的多。NASA的Maven火星探测卫星预计将在11月晚些时候发射。

'Our previous experience has helped a lot,' said Deviprasad Karnik, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation. 'We had an indigenous space craft bus already available from our moon mission and the design [for the satellite] was already available so we could do it quickly.'

印度空间研究组织(Indian Space Research Organisation)发言人Deviprasad Karnik称，印度之前的经验帮了大忙，有来自月球探测项目的现成宇宙飞船可以用，（卫星）设计也已经有了，因此火星探测可以很快成行。

Ram Jakhu, a professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University in Canada, said the space contest among India, China and Japan was different from the U.S.-Soviet race, because 'to some extent it's about a rush for natural resources.' He said India's Mars mission 'is a signal to the world about equality and efforts and capabilities to look for resources.'

加拿大麦吉尔大学(McGill University)航空航天法研究所(Institute of Air and Space Law)教授Ram Jakhu称，印度、中国和日本之间的空间竞赛与美国和苏联之间的空间竞赛不同，因为从某种程度上说前者是为了争夺自然资源。他称印度的火星探测计划是向全世界释放的一个关于在寻找资源方面的平等、努力和能力的信号。

If India were to land upon a major deposit of titanium, for instance, during future missions, it would be a boost to the economy, he said. 'India and China want to be major world players and feed their huge populations so they need natural resources.'

例如，若印度在未来的探测行动中发现了大量的钛储备，那么印度经济将获得提振。他称，印度和中国希望成为世界强国并养活大量人口，因此它们需要自然资源。