把回收太空垃圾變成一門好生意

TOKYO — Sitting in a drab industrial neighborhood surrounded by warehouses and factories, Astroscale’s Tokyo office seems appropriately located for a company seeking to enter the waste management business.

東京――Astroscale公司的東京辦事處坐落在一個四周環(huán)繞著倉庫和工廠的工業(yè)區(qū)內(nèi)，這里的環(huán)境并不起眼，但似乎很適合一家正在試圖進(jìn)入垃圾管理行業(yè)的公司。

Only inside do visitors see signs that its founder, Mitsunobu Okada, aspires to be more than an ordinary garbageman. Schoolroom pictures of the planets decorate the door to the meeting room. Satellite mock-ups occupy a corner. Mr. Okada greets guests in a dark blue T-shirt emblazoned with his company’s slogan: Space Sweepers.

參觀者只有走入公司內(nèi)部，才能看出其創(chuàng)始人岡田光信(Mitsunobu Okada)不僅僅是渴望成為一個普通的垃圾處理者。用來掛在學(xué)校教室的行星圖片裝飾著會議室的大門，衛(wèi)星模型占據(jù)著屋子一角。岡田接待著賓客，深藍(lán)色的T恤上寫著公司的口號：“太空清潔工”(Space Sweepers)。

Mr. Okada is an entrepreneur with a vision of creating the first trash collection company dedicated to cleaning up some of humanity’s hardest-to-reach rubbish: the spent rocket stages, inert satellites and other debris that have been collecting above Earth since Sputnik ushered in the space age. He launched Astroscale three years ago in the belief that national space agencies were dragging their feet in facing the problem, which could be tackled more quickly by a small private company motivated by profit.

作為企業(yè)家，岡田的愿景是創(chuàng)建第一家特殊垃圾收集公司，專門清理那些人類最難以觸及的垃圾：被丟棄的多級火箭部件、不活躍的衛(wèi)星以及其他殘骸，自從斯普特尼克(Sputnik)宣告太空時代到來后，這些垃圾便開始在地球上空越積越多。三年前，他成立了Astroscale公司，認(rèn)為各國的國家航天部門在處理這個問題時步伐緩慢，由一個受利潤驅(qū)動的小型私營公司來解決可能會更快。

“Let’s face it, waste management isn’t sexy enough for a space agency to convince taxpayers to allocate money,” said Mr. Okada, 43, who put Astroscale’s headquarters in start-up-friendly Singapore but is building its spacecraft in his native Japan, where he found more engineers. “My breakthrough is figuring out how to make this into a business.”

“坦誠地講，對于航天部門來說，廢物管理不夠迷人，不足以說服納稅人分配資金，”43歲的岡田說，他把Astroscale的總部設(shè)立在對初創(chuàng)公司十分友好的新加坡，但在可以找到更多工程師的祖國日本建造該公司自己的太空船。“我的突破在于，我正在找到辦法使它成為一項(xiàng)生意”。

Over the last half-century, low Earth orbit has become so littered with debris that space agencies and scientists warn of the increasing danger of collisions for satellites and manned spacecraft. The United States Air Force now keeps track of about 23,000 pieces of space junk that are big enough — about four inches or larger — to be detected from the ground.

在過去的半個世紀(jì)中，近地軌道已經(jīng)變得雜亂無章、布滿殘骸，航天部門和科學(xué)家們警告說衛(wèi)星和載人太空船遭遇碰撞的危險(xiǎn)越來越大。美國空軍現(xiàn)在監(jiān)控著大約2.3萬件大小約在4英寸(約合10厘米)或以上的空間垃圾，這樣大的體積從地面上就可以檢測到。

Scientists say there could be tens of millions of smaller particles, such as bolts or chunks of frozen engine coolant, that cannot be discerned from Earth. Even the tiniest pieces move through orbit at speeds fast enough to turn them into potentially deadly projectiles. In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger returned to Earth with a pea-size pit in its windshield from a paint-chip strike.

科學(xué)家說，空間中可能有數(shù)以千萬計(jì)更小的顆粒，不能從地球上識別，比如螺栓、或凍結(jié)的發(fā)動機(jī)冷卻劑的小塊。即使是最微小的物體，如果以足夠快的速度在軌道上移動，也能成為潛在的致命拋射物。1983年，航天飛船“挑戰(zhàn)者號”(Challenger)返回地球時，舷窗上便帶了一個豌豆大小的坑，這是與一塊小漆片碰撞的結(jié)果。

And plans are being made to make low orbit even busier, and more essential for communications on Earth. Companies like SpaceX and OneWeb are aiming to create vast new networks of hundreds or even thousands of satellites to provide global internet connectivity and cellphone coverage. The growth of traffic increases the risk of collisions that could disrupt communications, as in 2009 when a dormant Russian military satellite slammed into a private American communications satellite, causing brief disruptions for satellite-phone users.

此外，正在制定之中的一些規(guī)劃會讓低地軌道變得更加繁忙，并且變得對地球上的通訊更加重要。SpaceX和OneWeb之類的公司正致力于創(chuàng)建巨大的由數(shù)百顆乃至數(shù)千顆衛(wèi)星構(gòu)成的新網(wǎng)絡(luò)，以便讓全世界所有人都接入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，讓手機(jī)信號覆蓋每一個角落。在軌衛(wèi)星數(shù)量越多，就越有可能發(fā)生那種可以擾亂通訊的碰撞。例如在2009年，一顆報(bào)廢的俄羅斯軍用衛(wèi)星撞上了一顆美國私人通訊衛(wèi)星，致使一些衛(wèi)星電話用戶遭遇了短暫的通訊中斷。

Worse, each strike like that creates a cloud of shrapnel, potentially setting off a chain reaction of collisions that could render low orbit unusable.

更糟糕的是，每一次類似的碰撞都會制造出一大堆碎片，有可能引發(fā)導(dǎo)致低地軌道不可使用的連鎖碰撞反應(yīng)。

“If we don’t start removing these things, the debris environment will become unstable,” said William Ailor, a fellow at the Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center in California. “We will continue to have a growing debris population that could affect the ability to operate satellites.”

“如果我們不著手清除這些東西，有碎片出沒的環(huán)境會變得很不穩(wěn)定，”美國航空航天公司(Aerospace Corporation)的威廉·愛勒(William Ailor)說。“碎片的數(shù)量將繼續(xù)與日俱增，操控衛(wèi)星的能力可能會受到影響。”美國航空公司是位于加州的一個由聯(lián)邦政府提供資金的研發(fā)中心。

Enter Mr. Okada, a former government official and internet entrepreneur, who said a midlife crisis four years ago prompted him to return to his childhood passion of space. As a teenager in 1988, he flew to Alabama to join the United States Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, and later chose to attend business school at Purdue University, the alma mater of his hero, Neil Armstrong.

就在這時，岡田出場了。他曾是一名政府官員和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)者。他說，四年前的一場中年危機(jī)讓他找回了對太空的熱情。1988年，還是十幾歲的少年的他飛赴阿拉巴馬州，到位于亨茨維爾市的美國太空和火箭中心(U.S. Space and Rocket Center)參加美國太空訓(xùn)練營(United States Space Camp)。后來，他選擇到普渡大學(xué)(Purdue University)商學(xué)院就讀，那所大學(xué)是他心目中的英雄尼爾·阿姆斯特朗(Neil Armstrong)的母校。

Later, Mr. Okada realized that he could use his experience in the start-up world — he had founded a software company in 2009 — to get a jump on other space debris projects.

再后來，岡田意識到可以讓自己的經(jīng)歷在創(chuàng)業(yè)世界里派上用場——他此前已經(jīng)在2009年創(chuàng)辦了一家軟件公司——搶在其他太空碎片項(xiàng)目啟動之前試水。

“The projects all smelled like government, not crisp or quick,” he said of conferences he attended to learn about other efforts. “I came from the start-up world where we think in days or weeks, not years.”

“那些項(xiàng)目都帶有政府的氣息，一點(diǎn)也不爽利，也不夠快，”他在談及為了了解其他人的進(jìn)展而參加過的會議時說。“我來自創(chuàng)業(yè)世界，我們的日子是以天或者星期計(jì)算的，而不是論年。”

He said he has created a two-step plan for making money from debris removal. First, Astroscale plans to launch a 50-pound satellite called IDEA OSG 1 next year aboard a Russian rocket. The craft will carry panels that can measure the number of strikes from debris of even less than a millimeter. Astroscale will use this data to compile the first detailed maps of debris density at various altitudes and locations, which can then be sold to satellite operators and space agencies, Mr. Okada said.

他說，為了從碎片清除業(yè)務(wù)中賺到錢，他已經(jīng)制定了一個分兩步走的計(jì)劃。第一步，Astroscale打算在明年利用一枚俄羅斯火箭發(fā)射一顆重量為50磅(約合23公斤)、名為IDEA OSG 1的衛(wèi)星。這顆衛(wèi)星屆時攜帶的面板，可以測量哪怕是由不到一毫米的碎片制造的撞擊的次數(shù)。岡田說，Astroscale會利用這些數(shù)據(jù)，就各種高度和位置的碎片密集度繪制出首批詳盡的地圖，然后可以將地圖賣給衛(wèi)星運(yùn)營商和航天機(jī)構(gòu)。

“We need to get revenue at an early stage, even before doing actual debris removal, to prove that we are commercial, as a business,” said Mr. Okada, who added that he had already raised $43 million from investors.

“我們需要在初期，甚至是在從事真正的碎片清除工作之前就有進(jìn)帳，以便證明我們是一個商業(yè)化的企業(yè)，”岡田說道。他還透露自己已經(jīng)從投資者那里募集到了4300萬美元資金。

The more ambitious step will come in 2018, when Mr. Okada says Astroscale will launch a craft called the ELSA 1. Larger than its predecessor, the ELSA 1 will be loaded with sensors and maneuvering thrusters that will allow it to track and intercept a piece of debris.

更加雄心勃勃的一步將在2018年邁出，岡田說，到那時Astroscale將發(fā)射一顆名叫ELSA 1的衛(wèi)星。ELSA 1比前一顆衛(wèi)星要大，將會配有使其可以追蹤并攔截碎片的傳感器和機(jī)動推進(jìn)器。

The company settled on a lightweight and simple approach to grabbing space debris: glue. Astroscale has worked with a Japanese chemical company to create an adhesive that would cover a flat surface about the size of a dinner plate on the ELSA 1. The craft would bump into a piece of space junk, which would stick to the craft and be dragged out of orbit. Both the ELSA 1 and the debris would burn up on re-entry.

該公司決定采用輕巧簡單的工具來捕獲太空碎片：膠水。為了研制會被涂在ELSA 1的一塊餐盤大小的平坦表面之上的粘附劑，Astroscale正跟日本的一家化工企業(yè)合作。撞到這顆衛(wèi)星的太空垃圾會粘附其上，并被帶離軌道。ELSA 1及碎片都會在返回大氣層時燃燒殆盡。

Mr. Okada said the key to bringing down a price tag of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars is to reduce the weight. He said that the Elsa 1’s adhesive would weigh just a few ounces, far less than, say, a 100-pound robotic arm, and that his company’s engineers had found ways to bring the spacecraft’s weight down to 200 pounds, making it much lighter than other proposed craft.

岡田說，把價格從數(shù)千萬乃至數(shù)億美元降下來的關(guān)鍵是減輕重量。他說，ELSA 1的粘附劑重量僅為幾盎司，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)輕于一只100磅的機(jī)械臂，而且該公司的工程師已經(jīng)找到了把這顆衛(wèi)星的重量降至200磅的方法，會讓它比其他擬議中的衛(wèi)星輕得多。

“In the U.S., aerospace engineers are more interested in working on missions to Mars, not waste management,” Mr. Okada said. “Japan doesn’t have so many interesting space missions, so engineers were excited by my idea.”

“在美國，航空工程師更感興趣的是參加火星任務(wù)，而非垃圾管理，”岡田說。“日本沒有那么多有意思的太空任務(wù)，因此我的點(diǎn)子讓一些工程師很興奮。”