印度成爲第四個實施火星探測的國家

India placed a satellite in orbit around Mars on Wednesday, confirming its place as a cost-effective explorer of outer space and becoming only the fourth nation to succeed in a scientific mission to the red planet.

印度週三將一枚衛星送入火星軌道，證實了該國已經是高效率的外太空探測者，併成爲全球第四個成功在火星上實施科學探測的國家。

“India has successfully reached Mars,” a proud Narendra Modi, prime minister, told cheering scientists at the mission control centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in Bangalore.

印度總理納倫德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)在位於班加羅爾的印度空間研究組織(ISRO)任務控制中心宣佈：“印度已成功抵達火星。”現場的科學家們歡欣鼓舞。

The satellite – called Mangalyaan, or “Mars craft” – was launched from India in November last year and travelled for more than nine months to reach its destination.

這顆衛星，即火星探測器，名爲“曼加里安”(Mangalyaan)，去年11月從印度發射，航行逾9個月才抵達目的地。

By global standards, India’s first interplanetary mission is extraordinarily cheap, with a budget of just $72m – as Mr Modi has boasted, that is less than the $100m cost of making the film Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

根據全球標準，印度首次星際間任務的成本極其低廉，預算僅爲7200萬美元，正如莫迪所誇耀的那樣，這都趕不上桑德拉•布洛克(Sandra Bullock)和喬治•克魯尼(George Clooney)主演的電影《地心引力》(Gravity)的製作成本（1億美元）。

The satellite’s primary purpose is to test Indian technology in deep space communication and navigation with the help of Nasa of the US, but it will also examine the Mars atmosphere for methane and study the planet’s surface. The satellite’s five scientific payloads weight only 15kg in total.

這顆衛星在美國國家航空航天局(Nasa)的幫助下，其主要任務是，測試印度在深度空間交流及航行的技術，還將考察火星的甲烷大氣並研究火星表面。這顆衛星的科學探測載荷總共只有15公斤重。

With radio signals taking 12 minutes to travel the 100m kms between Mars and Earth and the satellite passing behind the planet, Isro scientists had waited nervously on Wednesday morning to discover if their instructions to ignite the main engine – slowing the Indian craft and placing it in orbit around the planet – had been fulfilled.

無線信號穿越火星與地球之間1億公里的行程需要12分鐘，印度空間研究組織的科學家們週三早晨緊張地等待着觀看他們發出的點燃主引擎的指令是否完成。這一指令將令火星探測器減速，並將其送入預定火星軌道。

the success of the mission so far has silenced most of the naysayers and stoked national pride. “Mangalyaan starts Mars orbit, India succeeds where China, Japan fail” said one headline on the Firstpost news website.

此次發射任務的成功讓多數反對者緘默並激發了印度的國民自豪感。新聞網站Firstpost的一篇文章標題是：“曼加里安成功啓動火星軌道，在中國和日本都失敗的領域印度成功了”。