俄火星探測器將於週日墜入地球
The remainder of the crippled Phobos-Grunt spacecraft is set to crash to Earth on Sunday following its botched mission to Mars, space experts have said.
航天專家日前表示，“福布斯－土壤”火星探測器發射失敗後，報廢的航天器碎片將於週日墜入地球。
The minibus-sized Russian craft has been in a low orbit around Earth since losing contact with engineers shortly after its launch on November 8.
在去年11月8日發射後不久，這個麪包車大小的火星探測器就與技術人員失去了聯繫，進入環繞地球的低軌運行。
It had been intended to explore Phobos, one of Mars's two moons, but became stranded while still orbiting Earth and attempts to put it back on its original course failed.
這個探測器原本是用來探測火衛一的，火衛一是火星的兩顆衛星之一。但是探測器升空後一直處於地球軌道，變軌的努力也失敗了，導致計劃擱淺。
Most of its mass is expected to burn up as the craft re-enters the atmosphere but 20 or 30 pieces of small debris collectively weighing about 200kg could reach Earth.
探測器大多數的碎片都會在再次進入大氣層時燃燒殆盡，但其總重約200公斤的20到30個小型殘骸將墜入地球。
In a normal re-entry about 20 per cent of the space junk's mass would be likely to reach Earth, but in the case of Phobos-Grunt it could be even less because it contains large quantities of unused fuel which will burn or dissipate in the atmosphere.
通常情況下，探測器再次進入大氣層時，約有20%的太空垃圾可能會到達地球，但是“福布斯-土壤”帶來的太空垃圾可能會更少，因爲這個探測器攜帶了大量未用燃料，燃料會在大氣層中燃燒或消散。
In theory the remains could land anywhere south of Watford or north of the Falkland Islands, with a sea landing most likely due to the size of the oceans relative to the continents.
理論上看，殘骸可能會落在沃特福德以南或福克蘭羣島以北的任何地方，但因爲這一地區海洋麪積比陸地面積大得多，殘骸最有可能墜入海中。
But scientists said observers would be unlikely to even see the debris crash to Earth unless it flew directly overhead in a clear sky, and that the chances of anyone being injured were absolutely minute.
但科學家稱，觀測者可能連殘骸墜入地球也無法看到，除非殘骸在晴朗的天空從人們頭頂飛過，而且人們因殘骸墜落而受傷的機率微乎其微。
Prof Richard Crowther of the UK Space Agency said: "The chances are so low — it certainly doesn't keep me awake at night worrying about the probability of a piece of space debris coming through my roof."
英國航天局的理查德•克勞塞教授說: “這種機率太小了，我當然不會晚上睡不着，擔心航天器的殘骸會砸透我的房頂”。
He added, however, that international space agencies need to discuss the amount of disused equipment being left in Earth's orbit amid fears space junk could reach a "critical mass" where damaging collisions with active satellites and space craft become inevitable.
然而，他補充道，各國航空局需要討論一下遺留在地球軌道中的廢棄材料，以免太空垃圾達到“臨界質量”，對正在運行中的衛星和航天器造成不可避免的破壞性碰撞。
The craft will explode on its descent meaning any material reaching the ground could be spread over an area measuring 200km long and 20km wide, and many pieces will be so small they would be hard to spot on the ground.
該航天器將在其下落過程中爆炸，這意味着所有到達地面的殘骸都可能分散在長200公里，寬20公里的區域內。一些碎片可能太小，無法在地面上找到。
British experts based at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire will monitor the craft as it descends but even as it begins its last orbit, 90 minutes before it arrives, they will only be able to predict its landing spot with an uncertainty of 4,000km.
約克郡北部，費林戴爾斯皇家空軍基地的英國專家將監視航天器的墜落。但是儘管該航天器最後一次繞軌運行距其墜地還有90分鐘，專家們也只能將其墜落點預測在4000公里內。
詞彙點津：
botched: 搞糟，辦砸
critical mass: 臨界質量
