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As Threats in Space Mount, U.S. Lags in Protecting Key Services
这张2021年拍摄的长时间曝光照片记录了SpaceX的一个星链卫星穿过堪萨斯州佛罗伦萨附近一栋古老石屋上空的景致。 美国和中国正在太空和地球上展开新的竞赛，以争夺一种根本资源：时间。
The United States and China are locked in a new race, in space and on Earth, over a fundamental resource: time itself. 6park.com
6park.comAnd the United States is losing. 6park.com而美国正在这场竞争中落败。 6park.com 6park.comGlobal positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their signals have become fundamental to the global economy — as essential for telecommunications, 911 services and financial exchanges as they are for drivers and lost pedestrians. 6park.com提供全球定位服务的卫星像是太空中的时钟，它们发出的信号已成为全球经济的基础，对电信、紧急救难电话服务和金融交易必不可少，对于开车的司机和迷路的行人也是如此。 6park.com 6park.comBut those services are increasingly vulnerable as space is rapidly militarized and satellite signals are attacked on Earth. 6park.com但随着太空迅速军事化，卫星信号在地球上受侵袭，卫星定位服务正在变得越来越易受攻击。 6park.com 6park.comYet, unlike China, the United States does not have a Plan B for civilians should those signals get knocked out in space or on land. 6park.com但如果现有的卫星信号在太空或陆地上被摧毁的话，与中国不同，美国没有可供平民使用的卫星定位替代方案。 6park.com 6park.comThe risks may seem as remote as science fiction. But just last month, the United States said that Russia may deploy a nuclear weapon into space, refocusing attention on satellites’ vulnerability. And John E. Hyten, an Air Force general who also served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and who is now retired, once called some satellites “big, fat, juicy targets.” 6park.com这种风险也许听起来像科幻小说一样遥远。但美国政府已在上个月表示，俄罗斯可能在太空部署核武器，将人们的注意力再次转向卫星的脆弱性上。曾任美国参谋长联席会议副主席、现已退役的空军上将约翰·海滕曾把一些卫星称为“又大、又肥、汁又多的目标”。 6park.com 6park.comTangible threats have been growing for years. 6park.com多年来，对卫星的切实威胁一直在增长。 6park.com 6park.comRussia, China, India and the United States have tested antisatellite missiles, and several major world powers have developed technology meant to disrupt signals in space. One Chinese satellite has a robotic arm that could destroy or move other satellites. 6park.com俄罗斯、中国、印度和美国都试验了反卫星导弹，世界几个主要大国都已发展出旨在干扰太空信号的技术。中国的一颗卫星有一个可能摧毁或移动其他卫星的机械臂。 6park.com 6park.comOther attacks are occurring on Earth. Russian hackers targeted a satellite system’s ground infrastructure in Ukraine, cutting off internet at the start of the war there. Attacks like jamming, which drowns out satellite signals, and spoofing, which sends misleading data, are increasing, diverting flights and confounding pilots far from battlefields. 6park.com地球上正在发生其他侵袭。俄罗斯黑客曾把一个卫星系统在乌克兰地面的基础设施作为打击目标，在俄乌战争爆发时切断了乌克兰的互联网。用干扰信号淹没卫星信号，假冒卫星发送信号等攻击正在增多，导致航班改道，使远离战场的飞行员困惑。 6park.com 6park.comIf the world were to lose its connection to those satellites, the economic losses would amount to billions of dollars a day. 6park.com如果世界失去与定位卫星的连接，每天的经济损失会高达数十亿美元。 6park.com 6park.com官方媒体发布的俄罗斯总统普京和俄罗斯太空计划负责人尤里·鲍里索夫去年10月的同框照片。 6park.com 6park.comDespite recognizing the risks, the United States is years from having a reliable alternative source for time and navigation for civilian use if GPS signals are out or interrupted, documents show and experts say. The Transportation Department, which leads civilian projects for timing and navigation, disputed this, but did not provide answers to follow-up questions. 6park.com尽管意识了到这些风险，但据文件显示和专家的说法，如果GPS信号消失或受到干扰的话，美国距离拥有一个可靠的民用时间源和导航系统替代方案还有数年时间。虽然负责民用授时和导航项目的美国交通部对此表示异议，但没有回答记者提出的后续问题。 6park.com 6park.comA 2010 plan by the Obama administration, which experts had hoped would create a backup to satellites, never took off. A decade later, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order that said that the disruption or manipulation of satellite signals posed a threat to national security. But he did not suggest an alternative or propose funding to protect infrastructure. 6park.com奥巴马政府曾在2010年提出了一项计划，专家们曾希望该计划会建立一个卫星备份系统，但计划从未实施。十年后，前总统特朗普在他发布的一项行政命令中说，干扰或操纵卫星信号对国家安全构成威胁。但他没有提出替代方案，也没有为保护基础设施提供资金。 6park.com 6park.comThe Biden administration is soliciting bids from private companies, hoping they will offer technical solutions. But it could take years for those technologies to be widely adopted. 6park.com拜登政府正在向私营公司招标，希望它们能提出技术解决方案。但广泛采用这些技术可能需要数年时间。 6park.com 6park.comWhere the United States is lagging, China is moving ahead, erecting what it says will be the largest, most advanced and most precise timing system in the world. 6park.com在美国落后的地方，中国正在取得进展，建立其所谓世界上最大、最先进、最精确的授时系统。 6park.com 6park.comIt is building hundreds of timing stations on land and laying 12,000 miles of fiber-optic cables underground, according to planning documents, state media and academic papers. That infrastructure can provide time and navigation services without relying on signals from Beidou, China’s alternative to GPS. It also plans to launch more satellites as backup sources of signals. 6park.com据规划文件、官媒报道和学术论文，中国正在陆地上建设数百个授时站，在地下铺设两万公里的光缆。这个基础设施能提供授时和导航服务，不需依赖北斗卫星系统，后者是中国替代GPS的系统。中国还计划发射更多作为备用信号源的卫星。 6park.com 6park.com“We should seize this strategic opportunity, putting all our efforts into building up capabilities covering all domains — underwater, on the ground, in the air, in space and deep space — as soon as possible,” researchers from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, a state-owned conglomerate, wrote in a paper last year. 6park.com“我们应抓住战略机遇，全力推进，尽快建设形成能力，覆盖水下、地面、空中、太空、深空，”国有企业中国航天科工集团的研究人员去年在一篇论文中写道。 6park.com 6park.comChina retained and upgraded a World War II-era system, known as Loran, that uses radio towers to beam time signals across long distances. An enhanced version provides signals to the eastern and central parts of the country, extending offshore to Taiwan and parts of Japan. Construction is underway to expand the system west. 6park.com中国保留并升级了第二次世界大战期间研发出来的“罗兰”(Loran)系统，该系统使用无线电发射塔来发送远距离时间信号。改进后的系统能为中国东部和中部地区提供时间信号，并把信号覆盖延伸到台湾沿海和日本部分地区。将该系统向西扩展的建设正在进行中。 6park.com 6park.com一辆载着记者的巴士前往中国酒泉卫星发射中心的发射前新闻发布会，摄于2021年。 6park.com 6park.comRussia, too, has a long-range Loran system that remains in use. South Korea has upgraded its system to counter radio interference from North Korea. 6park.com俄罗斯也有一个仍在使用的远距离罗兰系统。韩国已升级本国的系统以对抗朝鲜的无线电干扰。 6park.com 6park.comThe United States, though, decommissioned its Loran system in 2010, with President Barack Obama calling it “obsolete technology.” There was no plan to replace it. 6park.com但美国已在2010年正式停止使用本国的罗兰系统，奥巴马 将其称为“过时的技术”。还没有可以取代它的计划。 6park.com 6park.comIn January, the government and private companies tested an enhanced version of Loran on U.S. Coast Guard towers. But companies showed no interest in running the system without government help, so the Coast Guard plans to dispose of all eight transmission sites. 6park.com今年1月，美国政府和几家私有企业用海岸警卫队的无线电发射塔测试了一个改进版的罗兰系统。但企业对在政府不提供资助的情况下运行该系统没有兴趣，因此海岸警卫队打算把八个传输站全部处理掉。 6park.com 6park.com“The Chinese did what we in America said we would do,” said Dana Goward, the president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation in Virginia. “They are resolutely on a path to be independent of space.” 6park.com“中国人做了我们美国人说我们要做的事情，”达纳·戈沃德说，他是位于弗吉尼亚州的韧性导航和授时基金会的主席。“他们正在坚定地走上不依赖太空的道路。” 6park.com 6park.comWhat Is the United States Doing? 美国在做什么？
6park.comSince Mr. Trump’s executive order, about a dozen companies have proposed options, including launching new satellites, setting up fiber optic timing systems or restarting an enhanced version of Loran. But few products have come to market. 6park.com自从特朗普发布行政命令以来，大约十几家公司已提出了可供考虑的选择，包括发射新卫星、建立光纤授时系统，或重启改进版的罗兰。但几乎没有产品上市销售。 6park.com 6park.comA private firm, Satelles, working with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado, has developed an alternative source for time using satellites that were already orbiting about 485 miles above Earth. 6park.com一家名为Satelles的私有公司与位于科罗拉多州的美国国家标准与技术研究院（简称NIST）合作，用已经运行在地球表面上方约780公里的轨道上的卫星研发了一个替代时间源。 6park.com 6park.comN.I.S.T. scientists say the signals are a thousand times stronger than those from GPS satellites, which orbit more than 12,000 miles above Earth. That makes them harder to jam or spoof. And because low-Earth-orbit satellites are smaller and more dispersed, they are less vulnerable than GPS satellites to an attack in space. 6park.comNIST的科学家说，来自这些卫星的信号比来自GPS卫星的强1000倍，GPS卫星的轨道位于地球表面上方约2万公里处。高强度信号使它们更难被干扰或被假冒。而且近地轨道卫星的体积更小、分布更广，因此与GPS卫星相比，它们更不容易受到太空攻击。 6park.com 6park.com位于科罗拉多州博尔德的美国商务部国家标准与技术研究院，摄于2012年。 6park.com 6park.comThe satellites obtain time from stations around the world, including the N.I.S.T. facility in Colorado and an Italian research center outside Milan, according to Satelles’s chief executive, Michael O’Connor. 6park.com这些卫星从世界各地的授时台获取时间，包括科罗拉多州的一个NIST设施和米兰郊外的一个意大利研究中心，Satelles首席执行官迈克尔·奥康纳说。 6park.com 6park.comChina has similar plans to upgrade its space-time system by 2035. It will launch satellites to augment the Beidou system, and the country plans to launch nearly 13,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit. 6park.com中国也有一个在2035年前升级本国授时系统的类似计划。中国将为增强北斗系统发射卫星，计划把近1.3万颗卫星发送到近地轨道上去。 6park.com 6park.comChina says its investments are partly motivated by concerns about an American attack in space. Researchers from China’s Academy of Military Sciences have said that the United States is “striving all-out” to build its space cyberwarfare abilities, especially after the war in Ukraine brought “a deeper appreciation of the critical nature of space cybersecurity.” 6park.com中国表示，进行这些投资的动机部分来自对美国发动太空袭击的担忧。中国军事科学院的研究人员表示，美国正在“全力以赴”建设自己的太空网络战能力，尤其是在俄乌战争让人们“更加深刻地认识到太空网络安全的重要性”之后。 6park.com 6park.com赫尔松的乌克兰人用星链接入卫星互联网，摄于2022年。 6park.com 6park.comThe United States has increased its spending on space defense, but Space Force, a branch of the military, did not answer specific questions about the country’s antisatellite abilities. It said it was building systems to secure the nation’s interests as “space becomes an increasingly congested and contested domain.” 6park.com虽然美国政府已增加了太空防御预算，但美国太空军（美国军队的一个军种）没有回答有关本国反卫星能力的具体问题。太空军称正在建立确保国家利益的系统，因为“太空已成为一个日益拥挤和充满争议的领域”。 6park.com 6park.comSeparate from civilian use, the military is developing GPS backup options for its own use, including for weapons like precision-guided missiles. Most of the technologies are classified, but one solution is a signal called M-code, which Space Force says will resist jamming and perform better in war than civilian GPS. It has been plagued by repeated delays, however. 6park.com美国军方正在研发与民用系统分开的军用GPS备份系统，用于精确制导的导弹等武器等。这套系统的大多数技术都保密，但解决方案之一是使用所谓的M码信号，太空军表示，这种信号能抵御干扰，在战争中的运作能力比民用GPS更好。但该系统已受到多次推迟的困扰。 6park.com 6park.comThe military is also developing a positioning, timing and navigation service to be distributed by low-Earth-orbit satellites. 6park.com美军也在研发一个分布在近地轨道卫星上的定位、授时和导航服务系统。 6park.com 6park.comOther countermeasures look to the past. The U.S. Naval Academy resumed teaching sailors to navigate by the stars. 6park.com其他对抗手段着眼于历史。美国海军学院已恢复了教授水手如何用星星导航的课程。 6park.com 6park.comWhat Happens if the U.S. Doesn’t Find a Solution? 如果美国找不到解决方案会发生什么？ 6park.com 6park.comSatellite systems — America’s GPS, China’s Beidou, Europe’s Galileo and Russia’s Glonass — are the important sources of time, and time is the cornerstone of most methods of navigation. 6park.com卫星系统——美国的GPS、中国的北斗、欧洲的伽利略和俄罗斯的格洛纳斯——是重要的时间源，而时间是大多数导航方法的基石。 6park.com 6park.comIn the American GPS system, for example, each satellite carries atomic clocks and transmits radio signals with information about its location and the precise time. When a cellphone receiver picks up signals from four satellites, it calculates its own location based on how long it took for those signals to arrive. 6park.com以美国的GPS系统为例，每颗卫星携带原子钟，卫星发出其位置和精确时间的无线电信号。手机的GPS接收器收到来自四颗卫星的信号后，根据这些信号传到手机需要的时间来计算自己的位置。 6park.com 6park.comCars, ships and navigation systems on board aircraft all operate the same way. 6park.com汽车、船舶和飞机携带的导航系统都以同样的方式工作。 6park.com 6park.comOther infrastructure relies on satellites, too. Telecom companies use precise time to synchronize their networks. Power companies need time from satellites to monitor the state of the grid and to quickly identify and investigate failures. Financial exchanges use it to keep track of orders. Emergency services use it to locate people in need. Farmers use it to plant crops with precision. 6park.com其他基础设施也依赖卫星。电信公司同步其网络需要精确的时间。电力公司监控电网状态、快速识别排查故障需要精确的卫星授时。金融交易所跟踪订单情况需要精确的时间。紧急服务部门用卫星来定位需要帮助的人。农民精准播种作物需要卫星授时。 6park.com 6park.com一艘货船驶过斯里兰卡南端，摄于2018年。 6park.com 6park.comA world without satellite signals is a world that is nearly blind. Ambulances will be delayed on perpetually congested roads. Cellphone calls will drop. Ships may get lost. Power outages may last longer. Food can cost more. Getting around will be much harder. 6park.com没有卫星信号的世界是个近乎失明的世界。持续堵车的道路会导致救护车延误。手机通话会中途断掉。船只可能会迷失航向。断电的时间可能会更长。食物可能会更贵。到各地旅行会更困难。 6park.com 6park.comYet, some critical civilian systems were designed with a flawed assumption that satellite signals would always be available, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 6park.com但据美国网络安全和基础设施安全局的说法，一些至关重要的民用系统设计基于一个有错误的假设，那就是卫星信号总在那里。 6park.com 6park.comThat reliance can have dire consequences. A recent report from Britain showed that a weeklong outage of all satellite signals would cost its economy nearly $9.7 billion. An earlier report put the toll on the U.S. economy at $1 billion a day, but that estimate is five years old. 6park.com这种依赖可能有极其严重的后果。一份最近来自英国的报告显示，所有的卫星信号中断一周会给英国经济带来近97亿美元的损失。一份更早的报告估计美国经济的损失每天达10亿美元，但这是五年前的报告。 6park.com 6park.com“It’s like oxygen, you don’t know that you have it until it’s gone,” Adm. Thad W. Allen, a former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard who leads a national advisory board for space-based positioning, navigation and timing, said last year. 6park.com“它像是氧气，在没了之前，你觉察不到它的存在，”美国海岸警卫队前司令员海军上将萨德·艾伦去年说，他是天基定位、导航和授时国家顾问委员会的负责人。 6park.com 6park.comFor now, mutually assured losses deter major attacks. Satellite signals are transmitted on a narrow radio band, which makes it difficult for one nation to jam another’s satellite signals without shutting off its own services. 6park.com目前，相互保证的损失阻止了大攻击。卫星信号在一个狭窄的无线电频段上传输，这让一个国家很难在不打断本国服务的情况下干扰另一个国家的卫星信号。 6park.com 6park.comHaving GPS for free for 50 years has “gotten everybody addicted,” according to Mr. Goward from the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation. The government has not done enough to make alternatives available to the public, he said. 6park.com用了50年的免费GPS系统已“让所有的人离不开它”，韧性导航和授时基金会的戈沃德说。政府在为公众提供替代系统上做得还不够，他说。 6park.com 6park.com“It’s only admiring the problem,” he said, “not solving the problem.” 6park.com“政府只是意识到这个问题很重要，而不是在解决问题，”他说。
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