|
文章导读 本文选自《经济学人》2019年7月20日文章。亚马逊总裁贝索斯在今年5月的一个演讲中，阐述了他对太空的未来愿景：在轨道上建造众多人造定居点，每个人造定居点将容纳多达100万人。这听起来让人心潮澎湃，不知我们是否能看到这一天的到来，但是要实现这个愿景，还有一个重要的问题要解决：完善的太空法。目前的太空法是还是1967年签订的《外层空间条约》，它规定了一些基本原则，其中包括所有国家都可以自由探索和使用空间，并且不能提出主权要求。随着人类探索太空的频繁，人类产生的太空垃圾、废弃的卫星越来越多，这给人类的太空探索带来很大隐患。关于太空资源开采和利用这块，各国也需要制定规则，以避免可能的冲突。 由于篇幅较长，本文节选原文标题和全文重点段落进行精讲， 选文精讲  Lawless wastes 不受控制的垃圾 Space law is inadequate for the boom in human activity there 人类太空活动频繁，太空法捉襟见肘 The law has big gaps. Who is liable for space debris? And is space mining even legal? 太空法有很大的漏洞，谁对太空碎片负责?太空采矿合法吗? Jul 18th 2019 IN MAY JEFF BEZOS gave an hour-long presentation on his vision for humanity’s future in space: a series of artificial settlements in orbit that would be home to as many as 1m people each. Mr Bezos was talking in his role as founder of Blue Origin, a privately held rocket-launch firm. But he also referred to the company for which he is better known, Amazon. 今年5月，杰夫·贝佐斯发表了长达一小时的演讲，阐述了他对人类太空未来的愿景：在轨道上建造一系列人造定居点，每个人造定居点将容纳多达100万人。贝佐斯是以私人持股的火箭发射公司Blue Origin创始人的身份发表上述言论的。但他也提到了让他更知名的公司——亚马逊。 Amazon would never have existed, he said, without pre-existing infrastructure: postal services to deliver packages; home computers to order goods; credit cards to make payments. The job of the current generation would be to build an equivalent “infrastructure” for space. Mr Bezos identified two elements of this: much lower launch costs and the exploitation of resources in space. But he might have mentioned another, more basic requirement for enterprise: a proper legal environment. 他说，如果没有预先存在的基础设施:投递包裹的邮政服务、家用电脑订购商品、信用卡支付，亚马逊根本不会存在。当前这一代人的使命将是为太空建设一个类似于“基础设施”的工程。贝佐斯指出了其中两个因素:发射成本大大降低，以及太空资源的开发。但他可能也提到了另一个对企业来说更基本的要求：适当的法律环境。 What rules there are largely date from the cold-war era. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is the foundational space-law text. It sets out some basic principles, among them that space is free for exploration and use by all states, and that no claims of sovereignty can be made. Later agreements assign liability for damage caused by space objects and require states to help rescue astronauts in distress. 太空规则很大程度上可以追溯到冷战时期。1967年的《外层空间条约》是空间法的基本法案。它规定了一些基本原则，其中包括所有国家都可以自由探索和使用空间，并且不能提出主权要求。后来的协议规定对太空物体造成的损害承担责任，并要求各国帮助营救遇险的宇航员。 |
|
|
