Students in Ghana launch mini-satellite 迦納學生發射迷你衛星

Their project might not sound like much： The college students recently launched a tiny model of a satellite the size of a soda can on a big yellow balloon.

他們的計畫聽起來或許沒什麼了不起：這些大學生最近用一顆黃色大氣球發射了一枚體積只有汽水罐那麼大的小型衛星模型。

It went aloft to a height of 165 meters and then came back down attached to a parachute. Yet in this developing West African country, ambitious organizers, _who recently launched the Ghana Space Science and Technology Center _ see the test as a sign of bigger things to come.

這枚衛星上升至離地165公尺的空中，再靠著降落傘重返地面。但在這個開發中的西非國家，志向遠大的主事者—他們最近還成立了迦納太空科技中心—認為，這次試射預示著太空研究前途光明。

The effort has drawn some skepticism, acknowledged Samuel H. Donkor, the president of All Nations University. "They think it is a pipe dream, a waste of money," said Donkor, who has directed $50,000 to the program.

這項努力曾引來不少質疑，全國大學校長董柯表示。「他們認為這只是鏡花水月，浪費金錢。」董柯說，他已撥款5萬美元給此衛星計畫。

"Some wonder why we couldn’t concentrate on our problems of water, sanitation, health, all those things. I categorically disagree," said Prosper Kofi Ashilevi, the space center director. "Space will help African countries who are very serious with it to leapfrog their development because it cuts across all sectors of the economy."

「有些人質疑我們為什麼不把焦點集中在解決飲水、衛生、醫療，所有這些問題上。我完全不同意，」太空中心主任艾希勒維說。「太空計畫將可幫助立志前進太空的非洲國家迅速突破現有發展，因為太空計畫將觸及經濟的所有領域。」

Experts say Ghana is probably a good five years or more from developing its own operational satellites, which could one day be used to confront everything from natural disasters to the smuggling of natural resources.

專家認為，迦納若想自行發展出可運轉的衛星，可能還要等上5年或更久，但這些衛星未來可用於解決從天災到自然資源被走私出境等諸多問題。

Owen Hawkins, business development manager for Surrey Satellite Technology in the United Kingdom, called the project "very, very exciting." "Ghana is quite a small country and they’re already punching above their weight by doing things like that," Hawkins said. （AP）

英國薩里衛星科技公司商業發展經理霍金斯表示，這項計畫「非常、非常令人興奮。」「迦納是個很小的國家，他們卻能藉由類似這樣的計畫以小搏大。」霍金斯說。（美聯社）

新聞辭典

pipe dream：名詞，指空想、幻想、白日夢，如His plan for starting his own business was just a pipe dream.（他想要自己創業的計畫只是一場夢。）

leapfrog：名詞原指跳蛙或跳背遊戲，動詞則指快速且突然地前進或超越某人、某事，如Skipping his last two years of high school, he leapfrogged his classmates and went to college.（他跳過最後兩年的中學課程，迅速領先其他同學進入大學就讀。）

punch above one’s weight：片語，主要為英國非正式用語，指以小搏大，如Singapore punches above its weight in the world economy.（新加坡在全球經濟中以小搏大。）