第十四期杂志选文——《如何修复卫星》

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How to revive a satellite

如何修复卫星

WE JUST made contact. I need to talk to you in 30 minutes," says Keith Cowing, the editor of NASA Watch, an online publication. Just as Babbage called him, Mr Cowing received word from the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico that his colleagues had made contact with a NASA satellite launched in August 1978. When your correspondent called back, Mr Cowing was irrepressible: the satellite had responded to commands and was now set into "coherent ranging mode", which should make it easier to talk to it. The group had captured the satellite.

“我们刚刚取得联系！我需要在30分钟内与你谈谈，”网络杂志《太空视野》的编辑基斯 科文（Keith Cowing）说道. 就在巴贝奇和他打电话时，科文先生收到了来自波多黎各阿雷西博天文台的讯息，他的同事已与一颗1978年8月由美国宇航局发射的卫星取得了联系。当驻地记者打电话回来，科文先生压抑不住激动的心情：卫星对发出的命令进行了回应并设置成了“连贯测距模式”，此模式下卫星将便于与外界沟通。该小组捕捉到了卫星。

“This was no act of space piracy. Mr Cowing, Dennis Wingo of Skycorp and several other experts had received permission from NASA to take control of a satellite for which the space agency has no further purpose nor funding. With the help of nearly $160,000, raised through crowdfunding, the team hopes to start a new mission and release the raw data that emerge.

“宇航局在此项目上已没有进一步计划，也不会再有任何投资。因此科文先生、来自私人空间探索公司Skycorp的丹尼斯与其他专家已经获得了美国宇航局首肯的控制该卫星的权力。该小组已经通过群众集资筹集到160000美元，该团队希望将随着新任务产生的新数据公布于众。

The International Solar-Environment Explorer (ISEE-3, see picture) completed its initial mission close to the sun, where it took measurements of solar properties, and was repurposed in 1983 to hunt comets as the International Cometary Explorer (ICE). During its second lease on life it intercepted comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1985 and then transited between the sun and Halley in 1986. This repurposing involved a series of intricate flybys of the Earth and the moon to slingshot the satellite into its comet-tracking trajectory. NASA shut down the mission in 1997, although occasionally checked in on the bird's status.

国际太阳能环境资源管理器（ISEE-3，见图片）完成了其接近太阳并测量太阳性能这一最初使命，并在1985年重新改组为捕捉彗星为目的的国际彗星探测器（ICE）。在第二次租赁期间，它在1985年成功拦截了贾可比尼—金纳（Giacobini-Zinner）彗星，并在1986年将该彗星运输到了太阳与哈雷彗星之间。这次轨道转换包括了一系列复杂的介于地球与月亮之间的定点飞行，将卫星弹到彗星跟踪轨道。NASA在1997年终止了该任务，只是偶尔会检查一下这颗卫星的状态。

Before they turned off the light, Robert Farquhar, the mission's flight-dynamics manager, and his team used the satellite's propulsion system to set it on a course that 28 years after its final scientific measurements in 1986 would bring it close to Earth. The rendezvous is rapidly approaching. Dr Farquhar is now part of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project to re-establish contact. Mr Cowing says participants range in age from their 20s to their 80s, and include ex-NASA employees like himself as well as a current one who works on the project in his spare time.

在他们终止任务之前，飞行动力负责人罗伯特法夸尔(Robert Farquhar)与他的团队使用该卫星的推进系统为其设定了一条路线，在1986年最后一次科学测量的28年后，卫星将从这条路线接近地球。这场约会即将如期而至。法夸尔博士现在负责ISEE-3重启项目中重新建立联系的部分。科文先生说，参与者的年龄从20多岁到80多岁不等，不妨有跟他一样的前美国航空航天局的员工以及在业余时间参与这个项目的人。

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