Would You Hop On A Train To The Moon? US Department Of Defense Wants To Build 'Lunar Railroad'
Would You Hop On A Train To The Moon? US Department Of Defense Wants To Build 'Lunar Railroad'
The U.S. Defense Department's secretive advanced research agency wants to figure out how to transport people to the moon via train.
美国国防部秘密的高级研究机构想弄清楚如何通过火车将人们运送到月球。
What To Know: DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research and development agency of the Department of Defense, selected Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE:NOC) on Tuesday to further develop the concept of building a moon-based railway.
须知：国防部研发机构DARPA或国防高级研究计划局周二选择了诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司（纽约证券交易所代码：NOC）来进一步制定建造月球铁路的概念。
The new developments are part of DARPA's 10-year Lunar Architecture Capability Study, which aims to establish an analytical framework for lunar infrastructure that provides commercial services in the future, while minimizing lunar footprint.
这些新进展是DARPA为期十年的月球架构能力研究的一部分，该研究旨在为月球基础设施建立分析框架，在未来提供商业服务，同时最大限度地减少月球足迹。
"The envisioned lunar railroad network could transport humans, supplies and resources for commercial ventures across the lunar surface — contributing to a space economy for the United States and international partners," Northrop Grumman said in a statement on Tuesday.
诺斯罗普·格鲁曼在周二的一份声明中说：“设想的月球铁路网络可以为商业企业运送人力、物资和资源穿越月球表面，为美国和国际合作伙伴的太空经济做出贡献。”
The defense contractor will study the resources required to build a lunar railway, establish a list of costs and risks, identify prototypes and analyses of a fully operating lunar rail system concept and explore other concepts for constructing and operating the system with robotics.
国防承包商将研究修建月球铁路所需的资源，制定成本和风险清单，确定原型并分析全面运行的月球轨道系统概念，并探索使用机器人建造和运营该系统的其他概念。
Why It Matters: Humans have not set foot on the moon in more than 50 years. The last crewed mission to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972, but public interest is rising after Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ:LUNR) successfully launched a lunar lander onto the moon's surface last month, making Intuitive Machines the first company to land a private spacecraft on the moon.
它为何重要：人类已经有50多年没有踏上月球了。上一次载人登月任务是1972年的阿波罗17号，但在Intuitive Machines Inc（纳斯达克股票代码：LUNR）上个月成功将月球着陆器发射到月球表面，这使Intuitive Machines成为第一家将私人航天器降落在月球上的公司之后，公众的兴趣正在上升。
Other companies like SpaceX and Rocket Lab USA Inc (NASDAQ:RKLB) continue to further space exploration efforts and multiple companies have hit new space tourism milestones in recent years including Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SPCE) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
SpaceX和美国火箭实验室公司（纳斯达克股票代码：RKLB）等其他公司继续进一步开展太空探索工作，近年来，包括维珍银河控股公司（纳斯达克股票代码：SPCE）和亚马逊公司（纳斯达克股票代码：AMZN）创始人杰夫·贝佐斯的《蓝色起源》在内的多家公司都达到了新的太空旅游里程碑。
According to DARPA strategic technology program manager Michael Nayak, a "large paradigm shift" is coming in the next 10 years for the lunar economy. This DARPA project will help to accelerate key technologies that may be used by the government and commercial space industry to get to a "turning point" in space more quickly.
根据DARPA战略技术项目经理迈克尔·纳亚克的说法，未来10年月球经济将发生 “大规模的模式转变”。该DARPA项目将有助于加快政府和商业航天业可能使用的关键技术，从而更快地到达太空 “转折点”。
Photo: JB from Pixabay.
照片：来自 Pixabay 的 JB。
译文内容由第三方软件翻译。