(单词翻译:单击)
Have you ever wondered what Earth would be like if it had a big, gorgeous ring like Saturn's?
你有没有想过，如果地球像土星那样有一个华丽的大光环，会是什么样子？
Well, in the 1960s, we did almost put a ring on Earth.
在20世纪60年代，我们几乎给地球装了一个光环。
Starting in 1961, the US military tried to launch hundreds of millions of tiny copper needles into space
从1961年开始，美国军方试图发射数亿枚微小的铜针进入太空，
to create a reliable boost for their communications systems.
以此为他们的通讯系统创造可靠的帮助。
They called it Project West Ford.
他们称其为“西福特计划”。
At the time, if the US wanted to send long-range messages to their allies on the other side of the Atlantic,
那时，如果美国想要向大西洋彼岸的盟国发送远程信息，
they had two main options:
主要有两个选择：
They could send them through undersea cables, or by bouncing radio signals off of the ionosphere,
他们可以通过海底电缆或者电离层反射无线电信号发送信息，
a layer of the upper atmosphere that stretches from about 50-1000 kilometers up.
电离层是上层大气，从离地面约50公里开始一直伸展到约1000公里的高空。
The ionosphere is full of charged particles like ions and electrons,
电离层满是离子和电子之类的带电粒子，
which means you can sometimes use it as a kind of long-range, signal-boosting antenna.
这意味着有时你可以把它当作一种远距离、增强信号的天线。
When radio waves hit electrons in the ionosphere, they vibrate at the same frequency as the radio wave.
当无线电波击中电离层中的电子时，它们的振动频率与无线电波相同。
And as they vibrate, they emit radio waves of their own, bouncing the signal back down to Earth.
当它们振动时，会发出自己的无线电波，将信号反射回地球。
The problem was that neither of these approaches are fool-proof.
问题是，这两种方法都不是万无一失的。
Undersea cables can be sabotaged, and since this was the Cold War, sabotage was business as usual.
海底电缆可能被破坏，因为这是冷战时期，破坏活动习以为常。
And the ionosphere is really unpredictable.
而电离层不可预测。
The number of electrons available to carry a signal
可用于携带信号的电子数
changes with the seasons, solar, weather, and plenty of other factors that we still don't understand.
随着季节、太阳光、天气等许多不可知的因素而变化。
So, the US military wanted a system that was reliable and beyond sabotage.
所以，美国军方想要一个可靠且不可破坏的系统。
They decided that if the ionosphere wasn't reliable for sending messages, well, they'd just make something that was.
他们决定，如果电离层发送信息不可靠，那么，他们就制造出可靠的系统。
And so Project West Ford was born.
于是“西福特计划”诞生了。
The idea was to launch 480 million copper needles into space where they would fill the orbit they were placed into, creating a ring.
他们的想法是将4.8亿枚铜针发射到太空中，铜针会在放置它们的轨道中排成一个针环。
The needles were each 1.28 centimeters long, and about as thin as a human hair.
铜针的长度为1.28厘米，和人的头发一样细。
During the testing phase, each of these copper needles would help boost the signal for a receiver dish in the town of Westford, Massachusetts.
在测试阶段，每枚铜针都有助于增强马萨诸塞州韦斯特福德镇的信号接收器接收的信号。
But eventually, other sites would be able to use the communications ring, too.
但最终，其他网站也可以使用通讯环。
The needles would work by acting as little dipole antennas.
这些铜针和小偶极天线的作用一样。
At its simplest, a dipole antenna is basically a wire that's exactly the right length to boost signals with a specific frequency.
简单来说，偶极天线基本上是一根电线，它的长度正好可以用特定的频率来增强信号。
When you carefully match the signal to the antenna this way, it creates a standing wave,
当你小心地将信号与天线相匹配时，它创造了一个驻波，
where the vibrations of the electrons in the needle bolster one another to produce a strong radio wave.
在这里，铜针间电子的振动相互增强，产生了强烈的无线电波。
That stronger radio wave can then be picked up by other needles, or by stations on the ground.
这种更强的无线电波可以被其他的铜针或地面上的观测站接收。
The first batch of needles was launched on October 21, 1961.
第一批铜针是在1961年10月21日发射的。
The needles were in a cylinder, embedded in naphthalene, otherwise known as mothballs.
这些铜针放在一个圆筒里，嵌在萘中，萘也称为樟脑球。
But they didn't choose that compound because they wanted the needles to smell like your grandmother's closet;
但他们没有选择那种化合物，因为他们想让铜针闻起来像你祖母的壁橱；
naphthalene was convenient because it would evaporate in the near-vacuum of space.
萘很方便，因为它会在接近真空的空间蒸发。
The idea was that when the cylinder was released, it would spin,
他们的想法是，圆筒被释放时会旋转，
creating a force on the needles that would push them out into space.
然后在针上形成一股力，把它们推向太空。
That force, combined with the evaporation of the naphthalene, would disperse the needles. And...it didn't work.
这种力再加上萘的蒸发，会使铜针分散。但它失效了。
The test failed because even though the needles were pushed out of the cylinder,
测试失败了，因为即使铜针被推出圆筒，
there were so many crammed into such a tight space that they clumped together into about a half dozen big clusters.
但那么多铜针挤在一个狭小的空间里，会聚集在一起，形成大约6个大群。
But in May of 1963, the military tried again, putting 350 million more needles into 5 smaller cylinders instead of one big one.
但在1963年5月，军方再次试验，他们没有把3.5亿枚铜针放在一个大圆筒里，而是放到了5个较小的圆筒中。
And that launch was successful.
这样就发射成功了。
The needles transmitted radio signals much more reliably than our natural ionosphere,
与我们的自然电离层相比，铜针发射无线电信号要可靠得多，
and it would've been pretty tough for the Soviet Union to go up there and destroy the ring.
而且对于苏联来说，到那里去摧毁针环是相当困难的。
So if the test was successful, and the idea worked, why aren't we constantly bragging about our awesome metal space ring?
既然测试成功了，想法生效了，那为什么我们不经常吹嘘自己的金属空间针环呢？
Well, the main reason is that satellites became a thing pretty soon after that.
主要原因是卫星随之很快变重要了。
And they were a way better solution than Project West Ford.
它们是比“西福特计划”更好的解决方案。
Satellites are easier to put into orbit, they can transmit and relay a much wider range of microwave and radio wave signals,
人造卫星更容易进入轨道，它们可以发射和传递更广的微波和无线电波信号，
and can be actively controlled and pointed at different things.
可以被主动控制和指向不同的事物。
Plus, it's a lot easier to fit a camera on a satellite than on a tiny copper needle.
此外，在卫星上安装相机比在微型铜针上安装要容易得多。
The other reason we don't use a giant ring of needles anymore is that there was a lot of protest from other scientists.
我们不再使用巨大针环的另一个原因是其他科学家提出了很多抗议。
Interference from the needles would've messed with sensitive telescopes,
铜针的干扰会使灵敏的望远镜发生混乱，
and there were a lot of people accusing the U.S. of "dirtying space".
也有很多人指责美国“污染空间”。
So the military shelved Project West Ford, and the Earth doesn't have a ring of tiny needles.
所以美国军方搁置了“西福特计划”，地球没有了小针环。
But some leftovers from the project are still out there.
但计划中的一些残留物还在外面。
The needles they launched were meant to fall to Earth within a few years,
他们发射的铜针本打算在几年内落到地球上，
but dozens of batches of them are still being tracked by NASA, including plenty of clumps from that first failed test.
但是，美国宇航局仍在跟踪数十批铜针，其中有许多是在第一次失败测试中残留的。
Which is a lot of debris from just a couple of early tests.
是几个早期测试中的大量残留物。
If nothing else, Project West Ford helped to shape how we treat the space around our planet,
别的不提，“西福特计划”帮助我们形成了对待地球周围空间的方式，
and made us much more aware of the debris we put up there.
让我们更加认识到太空留了很多残留物。
Today, the project stands as a both ridiculous and wonderful testament to our capacity to think beyond the obvious.
如今，该计划证明了我们探索未知的能力，尽管它既荒谬又精彩。
And as the time, humanity tried to turn Earth into a mini-Saturn.
随着时间的推移，人类试图将地球变成一颗迷你土星。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Space, brought to you by our patrons on Patreon.
感谢收看本期的太空科学秀，“Patreon”的赞助商为您带来这一切。
If you want to help support this show and join our Patreon community, go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果你想帮助支持这个节目，加入到Patreon社区，请登录patreon.com/scishow。
