宇宙无垠 Beyond The Sky
过去数十年间,不同的全球定位系统卫星陆续加入环绕地球轨道的行列,但中国名叫北斗的新型卫星网络,设计上特别为自动驾驶车辆作出考虑,利用了氢钟大幅提高其精确度。但这些导航及通讯用的卫星网络,曝露于太空中时而受太阳喷发出的高能粒子威胁,不免令我们的日常生活倍受太空天气影响。因此,中国与欧洲太空总署联手把SMILE 卫星送上地球极地上空的轨道,研究太阳风暴对卫星的潜在影响。另一边厢,中国由2000年代初起运作的探月计划,历年来已送了各两颗卫星到月球轨道以及月球地表,当中更包括一辆月球车到月球背面的艾托肯盆地,成为人类航天史上的创举。中国期望能在这些卫星所收集的月球样本到手后,开展载人登月任务,正式进入新一轮的宇宙竞赛。
Constellations of global positioning system satellites have been orbiting the Earth for decades, but China’s new satellite network called BeiDou, which harnesses atomic hydrogen clocks for extra precision, has been built with the new age of self-driving cars in mind. These networks of satellites for navigation and communication, make our lives increasingly susceptible to space weather; the large outbursts of charged particles which the Sun periodically hurls towards Earth. So China has teamed up with the European Space Agency to mount a mission that will orbit the Earth’s polar regions, to shed light on how such Solar Storms might affect future satellites. China’s Moon exploration program, in operation since the early 2000s, has now placed two satellites in lunar orbit, and two more on the Moon’s surface; including a robotic rover in the ancient Aitken Basin the lunar far side; a first in spaceflight history. A Moon sample return mission is next, and China hopes human explorers could follow. Welcome to a new race for space.