夜空中發(fā)光的不一定是星星：俄羅斯企業(yè)計(jì)劃將廣告打到天上去

近日，俄羅斯一家公司宣布將把廣告做到天上去，讓全世界的人們仰望夜空時(shí)都能看見(jiàn)。月朗星稀的好風(fēng)景，可能將會(huì)成為歷史。

Imagine looking up to gaze at the moon on a clear summer night only to see the sky full of glowing advertising billboards. That’s the future envisioned by a Russian start-up which plans to launch billboard advertisements into low-Earth orbit as early as 2021.

想象一下，在一個(gè)晴朗的夏日夜晚仰望明月，卻看見(jiàn)滿天都是閃閃發(fā)光的廣告牌。這就是俄羅斯一家初創(chuàng)企業(yè)設(shè)想的未來(lái)。該公司計(jì)劃最早于2021年將廣告牌發(fā)射到近地軌道上。

Russian company StartRocket announced plans to introduce orbital advertising billboards made up of a grid of tissue box-sized satellites called CubeSats. These tiny satellites will orbit 400-500 kilometers above the Earth and use reflective Mylar sails around 30 feet in diameter to catch and reflect sunlight, creating a pixelated matrix. The ads would only be visible at night but could be seen from just about anywhere on the planet. The company already has a CubeSat prototype, and could start testing its sky advertisements next year.

俄羅斯公司StartRocket宣布，計(jì)劃推出用紙巾盒大小的衛(wèi)星CubeSat排列成的入軌廣告牌。這些微型衛(wèi)星將在地球上方400至500千米的高空運(yùn)行，并用直徑約30英尺(9米)的反射性聚酯薄膜帆布捕捉和反射太陽(yáng)光，從而構(gòu)建出像素矩陣。這些廣告牌只有夜晚可見(jiàn)，但是在地球上幾乎任何地方都能看得到。該公司已經(jīng)有CubeSat的原型，明年就可能開(kāi)始測(cè)試“天空廣告”。

Mylar['ma?'lɑr]: n. 聚酯薄膜

"We are ruled by brands and events,” StartRocket project leader Vlad Sitnikov told Futurism. “The Super Bowl, Coca Cola, Brexit, the Olympics, Mercedes, FIFA, Supreme and the Mexican wall. The economy is the blood system of society. Entertainment and advertising are at its heart. We will live in space, and humankind will start delivering its culture to space. The more professional and experienced pioneers will make it better for everyone.”

StartRocket公司的項(xiàng)目負(fù)責(zé)人弗拉德·西特尼科夫告訴Futurism網(wǎng)站說(shuō)：“我們的生活被各種品牌和大事所主導(dǎo)著。超級(jí)碗、可口可樂(lè)、英國(guó)脫歐、奧運(yùn)會(huì)、梅賽德斯、國(guó)際足聯(lián)、潮牌Supreme、墨西哥邊境墻。經(jīng)濟(jì)是社會(huì)的血液系統(tǒng)。娛樂(lè)和廣告是經(jīng)濟(jì)的中心。未來(lái)我們將生活在太空中，人類會(huì)開(kāi)始將文化傳送到太空。作為先驅(qū)者，我們?cè)綄I(yè)，越有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，對(duì)大家越有好處。”

However, not everyone agrees that having enormous billboard-style advertisements in the night sky will be good for everyone. Experts have argued that the bright ad banners could interfere with the ability to study the skies, or that the grid of satellites will eventually become space junk and potentially interfere with more significant space activity or aviation safety.

然而，不是所有人都贊成，在夜空中放多個(gè)巨大的廣告牌對(duì)大家都有利。專家指出，耀眼的廣告牌會(huì)阻礙人類研究天空，而且這種衛(wèi)星網(wǎng)最終會(huì)成為太空垃圾，可能會(huì)對(duì)更重要的太空活動(dòng)或飛行安全造成干擾。

"Putting more satellites up there is going to cause more opportunities for collisions, and we don’t want that happening,” John Crassidis, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo, told NBC News. “My biggest issue is that these objects are going to become space junk. It’s not serving any good purpose outside of advertising, I’m not a big fan of this at all.”

布法羅大學(xué)航天機(jī)械工程學(xué)教授約翰·克拉西迪斯告訴美國(guó)全國(guó)廣播公司新聞網(wǎng)說(shuō)：“將更多的衛(wèi)星發(fā)射到空中會(huì)增加碰撞的機(jī)會(huì)，這是我們不想看到的。我最大的擔(dān)憂是這些物體會(huì)成為太空垃圾。除了廣告以外，這些物體毫無(wú)用處，總之我不看好這個(gè)項(xiàng)目。”

Astronomer John Barentine told Astronomy.com: "It’s a threat to the ability to do astronomical research from the ground, every one of those moving blips of light in the night sky is something that can interfere with our ability to collect photons from astronomical sources.”

天文學(xué)家約翰·巴倫廷告訴天文學(xué)網(wǎng)站說(shuō)：“這會(huì)對(duì)地面上的天文研究能力造成威脅。夜空中每一個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)的光點(diǎn)都會(huì)影響我們收集來(lái)自天文活動(dòng)的光子的能力。”

blip[bl?p]: n. (在雷達(dá)屏幕顯示出的)物體光點(diǎn)

photon['fotɑn]: n. [物] 光子;輻射量子

Sitnikov doesn’t seem to be bothered about the criticism his company’s project has received from the scientific community, though. He claims space advertising is inevitable, and compared the reactions “Orbital Display” has been getting to people’s reactions to TV ads at the advent of television.

不過(guò)西特尼科夫似乎并不在意科學(xué)團(tuán)體對(duì)公司項(xiàng)目的批評(píng)聲。他表示，太空廣告是不可避免的，并將“軌道展示”所引起的反應(yīng)和電視機(jī)剛出現(xiàn)時(shí)人們對(duì)電視廣告的反應(yīng)相提并論。

"If you ask about advertising and entertainment in general — haters gonna hate,” Skorupsky said. “We are developing a new medium. At the advent of television no one loved ads at all. What if we will invent a new media, the first media in orbit?”

“如果你問(wèn)人們對(duì)廣告和娛樂(lè)的看法，總會(huì)有人看不慣。”西特尼科夫說(shuō)：“我們正在研發(fā)的是一種新媒介。在電視機(jī)剛出現(xiàn)時(shí)，不是也沒(méi)人喜歡廣告么?說(shuō)不定我們就此發(fā)明了一種新媒體——首個(gè)軌道媒體呢?”

Although, technically feasible, the Orbital Display project is likely to face some regulatory hurdles. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if instead of stars, we’ll be looking at ads from the world’s biggest brands when looking at the night sky in the not so distant future.

不過(guò)，就算在技術(shù)上可以實(shí)現(xiàn)，軌道展示項(xiàng)目也會(huì)面臨一些制度上的障礙。盡管如此，在不久的將來(lái)，如果我們仰望夜空，看到是國(guó)際大品牌的廣告而不是星星，我也不會(huì)感到驚訝。