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Are we smarter than the dinosaurs? Specifically, are we clever enough to avoid their fate? If we don’t want to be blown away by an asteroid, it would help to know what’s out there. That’s the idea behind the Sentinel mission.
我們比恐龍聰明？具體來說，我們的頭腦是否夠聰明，懂得如何避免與恐龍一樣的命運？如果我們不想被小星星撞擊毀滅，那么了解外面的世界會對我們有所幫助。
Sentinel is an infrared space telescope designed to spot near-Earth asteroids. But it won’t be near-Earth. It will launch in 2017 or '18 and adopt a Venus-like orbit around the sun. From there it will search space for any asteroids that might come dangerously close to Earth. It could double the known count of near-Earth asteroids in a matter of weeks. With enough warning, we’d have a chance to deflect an inbound asteroid.
Sentinel是一種紅外太空望遠鏡，被設計用來探測地球附近的小行星。但是它不在地球表面探測。計劃2017-2018年間將其發射到太空，以類似金星的軌道圍繞太陽轉動。在那里它會探測太空，以發現靠地球太近，造成威脅的小行星。它能在大約幾個星期內就檢測出兩倍于目前已知數量的近地小行星。有了足夠的預警，我們就有機會轉移入站小行星。
Sentinel is the brainchild of the B612 Foundation. B612 was the asteroid home of literature’s Little Prince. The group announced their plans for Sentinel on June 28th.
Sentinel是B612基金會的智慧結晶。B612就是小王子在小行星上的家。基金組織于6月28日宣布了Sentinel計劃。
But those plans depend on funding. The B612 Foundation is a nonprofit that aims to finance Sentinel through philanthropy. Former NASA astronaut Ed Lu heads the foundation. He says Sentinel needs a few hundred million dollars to get off the ground.
但是這個項目需要資金。B612基金會是非盈利組織，致力于通過慈善事業為Sentinel籌集資金。前NASA宇航員盧杰為基金會的領導人。他說道，將Sentinel送離地球需要幾百萬美金。
That’s a lot of cash, but the B612 Foundation might make it. After all, when it comes to fundraising, humans leave the dinosaurs in the dust.
這是筆很大的數目，但是B612基金會或許辦得到。總之，一涉及到募資籌款，人們就把恐龍拋到腦后了。
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