在最遥远的地方工作：探索太空
Careers on the Final Frontier: Working in Space Exploration
AF Education
专属博客 Liam Carrigan
还记得在我12岁的时候有一个梦想，但那个梦想很不幸地被所有我在学校的同学和老师毁灭了。
I remember when I was 12 years old, I had a dream, a dream which sadly was torpedoed by just about everyone I knew at school and my teachers too.
在我的成长经历当中，我一直是《星际迷航》(译者注：《星际迷航》是美国制作的科幻影视系列，由6部电视剧、1部动画片、13部电影组成)经典电视剧的狂热分子，不论是《下一代》系列，还是《深空九号》系列，抑或是《航海家号》系列，可以说星际旅行、行星之间的探索在我打小就已深深吸引着我。
Growing up as a fervent fan of the classic TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation, and its spin-offs Deep Space Nine and Voyager, it’s fair to say that space travel, and the concept of inter-planetary exploration has fascinated me from a very young age.
所以，在1995年，当我刚刚看完《下一代》的最后一集，我就决定写一封信给美国航空航天局，也许我把它称为NASA会更为人熟知吧。简单来说，我的信，就像有读写困难的人写出来的东西一样，充满着12岁学生会出现的许多语法和拼写错误，然而这封信其实只有一个疑问：“嘿NASA，你这边能给我一份工作吗？”
So, in 1995, having just watched the final episode of TNG, I decided to write a letter to America’s world renowned National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA as it is more commonly known. In short, my letter, littered with the usual grammatical and spelling mistakes one would expect from a 12 year old with an, as of yet, undiagnosed case of dyslexia, had one simple question as its premise: “Hey NASA, any chance of a job?”
是的，我梦想着能在NASA工作。成为第一个上太空的苏格兰人，去一个格拉斯哥学生从来没去过的地方。
Yes, I dreamed to work at NASA, to be the first Scotsman in space, to boldly go where no Glasgow schoolboy has gone before.
哎，但是自从我被我的所谓朋友，甚至是一些老师嘲笑过后，这封信就没有寄出。看来我跟宇航员最接近的缘分就只能是在万圣节时剃光头、打扮成皮卡德舰长的样子了！（译者注：“皮卡德舰长”是《星际迷航》的主角。）
Alas, after much ridicule from my so-called friends and even some of my teachers, that letter was never sent. It seems the closest I’ll ever get to being an astronaut is shaving my head and dressing up as Captain Picard for Halloween!
然而，20年后的今天，太空探索已经不再是美苏冷战时期“我的地盘比你大”式的竞赛了。时至今日，欧洲航天局(ESA)已向太阳系发送了各种探测仪，而日本自己的探险小组，简称JAXA，最近也有探测器登陆月球，而中国也在持续巩固自己在航天科技领域的弄潮儿地位。
However, now, some 20 years later, Space Exploration is no longer just a proxy for the ongoing “my house is bigger than yours” cold war nonsense between the Americans and the Russians. Today, The European Space Agency (ESA) has sent various probes out into the solar system, Japan’s own space exploration group, known as JAXA, has recently landed probes on the Moon, and China continues to cement its newfound position as a global trendsetter with its own increasingly ambitious space faring projects.
而且，在这个苹果和谷歌的现金储备比世界上大部分国家的国内生产总值都要多的年代，一些私人企业也开始进入太空了。然而NASA的官方计划是，在2020年再次送人类上月球，到2030年送宇航员登陆火星。亿万富翁科技大亨埃隆·马斯克，这位著名的特斯拉电动车以及数家高新技术企业的CEO，声称各种太空探索机构之间私人或公共的合作关系能够帮助我们在十年之内把人类送上火星。相信这也不会只是一个短暂的访问，马斯克认为，只要有足够的资金和政治支持，我们可以在这个红色星球上建立一个永久性的基地。人类不再是只生活在地球上的种族。
Also, in an age when companies like Apple and Google have cash reserves larger than the GDP of most of the world’s nations combined, the private sector is also entering the space race. Whilst NASA’s official line is that it plans to return men to the Moon sometime in the 2020s, as a precursor to sending men to Mars in the 2030s, Multi-billionaire tech-tycoon Elon Musk, head of the famous Tesla electric car company as well as a host of other hi-tech ventures, has claimed a private/public partnership between various space agencies could get us to Mars in less than 10 years. And it wouldn’t just be a brief visit either. Musk believes that with enough financial support and political will, we could set up a permanent base on the Red Planet. Mankind would no longer be just a Terran race.
在有如此远大志向的领域，同样也有许多就业机会等待着有雄心壮志的年轻人。
And where there are such lofty ambitions, there are also a host of career opportunities for ambitious young graduates.
在中国，和美国一样，越来越多军人被选拔为宇航员，也有越来越多的科学家被委以航天科技的重任。
Whilst China, like America, has a tendency to recruit its astronauts out of the military, an increasing number of scientists are also finding themselves being selected for missions.
当然，除了宇航员等我们所熟知的的太空探险职业，也还有很多其他职业路径帮助年轻毕业生们进行星空探险。
And of course while it is those who take the voyage into space that get most of the publicity, the truth is there are many other ways in which an ambitious young graduate can forge a career in space exploration.
目前，不论是私人的还是公共的航天企业都求贤若渴的是：工程学以及生命科学的人才。
At the moment, the primary needs, both for private and public space-faring enterprise are in engineering and the life sciences.
为了实现我们回到月球、登陆火星，并且在我们有生之年探访太阳系之外的太空等梦想，我们需要创建新型的推进和燃料系统。此外，我们需要研发一种新式保鲜技术，能够长年保存必要食物、药物以及其他太空旅行必备的物品，我们还需要研发一种能够帮助乘客屏障太阳辐射、防止其致命影响的技术，这些技术都需要在我们探索新世界之前先行设计并且创造出来。
In order for us to reach our stated goals of going back to the Moon, onto Mars and hopefully within our lifetime to the outer solar system, new types of propulsion and fuel systems will need to be created. Additionally, novel methods of storing the necessary foods, medicines and other essentials for journeys into space that could take several years, as well as providing adequate shielding to passengers from the potentially deadly effects of solar radiation, will all need to be designed and built before we can even think of exploring strange new worlds.
所有这些任务都需要我们下一代或者是他们的下一代的帮助，我们需要对科学最有求知欲以及最有创造力的思想。基于中国在相关科技的全球领先地位以及全国上下日渐高涨的探索热情，我们完全可以相信中国将会扮演一个重要角色，并终将走向前人没有到达的境域。
All these tasks will require the help of the next generation, and possibly the generation after that, of the keenest scientific and creative minds on Earth. Given their global prominence and an increasing desire across the country to aim higher and higher in their ambitions, it is fully expected that the people of China will play a central role in helping mankind boldly go where no one has gone before.
万一我们真的到达了那些未知的世界，又会怎样呢？精通生命科学的专家会在那里发现许多机遇：从分析土壤样品、到测量大气压力和密度，甚至是追踪过去及现在的微生物踪迹……这是我们一生当中能够分析我们星球以外生命的珍贵机会。而你也可能将成为第一个在这方面有历史性发现的中国人！努力吧，骚年！
But what happens once we get there? Well, this is where there will also be numerous opportunities created for those who are well-versed in the life sciences will find plenty of opportunities here. Everything from analyzing soil samples, to measuring atmospheric pressure and density, and even scanning for traces past and present of microbial life. There is every chance that within our lifetime one of us will discover life that has not originated on our own planet. And with the way things are going, there is every chance that the person who makes that historic discovery could be from China!
