把愛寫在星星上？情人節祝福信息能上太空了！

Valentine's Day can be a bit of a struggle. How much should you spend on him to let him know you care? Will she like that perfume you bought her?
情人節是個有些令人糾結費神的日子。你該花多少錢才能讓他知道你在乎他？她會喜歡你買給她的香水嗎？

And then there's the card - is it too cheesy, or just nice enough?
然后就是卡片了，會不會太過俗氣？還是也算不錯呢？

Well, now there might be another option, thanks to three enterprising PhD researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium - yes, really, they're a romantic bunch.
多虧比利時魯汶大學3位具有開創精神的博士研究員，如今你或許能有另一種選擇了，沒錯，他們真的是個浪漫團隊。

Maarten, Tjorven and Jeroen have launched writeitinthestars.com, a project to fund future research at their university.
Maarten、Tjorven和Jeroen三人推出了writeitinthestars網站，這一項目旨在為他們大學未來要做的研究籌集資金。

Essentially, they're going to put people's paid-for messages on a cubesat, or miniature satellite, and send it up into orbit. It has its setbacks, but it's a nice enough gesture if you're stuck for a present to buy.
其實，他們要做的是將人們付過費的信息放入一個迷你衛星中，然后將衛星送到繞地軌道上去。雖然這份禮物有其自身的缺陷，但如果你不知道要買什么禮物好，它也算是相當不錯的選擇。

What happens?
會發生什么事？

"We take your love message into space, where it will pass over every part of the world for years to come. After 10 years, the satellite will enter the atmosphere and your message will turn into a beautiful shooting star."
“我們會將你的愛之信息送入太空，在接下來的幾年里，它將飛過地球的每個角落。十年后，這顆衛星將進入大氣層，而你的信息也會隨之化為一顆美麗的流星。”

What's the catch?
缺點是什么？

The launch of the cubesat isn't set to take place until next year... So your loved one will be waiting a long time before your message gets up into orbit. Let's hope you're still together by then.
這顆迷你衛星直到明年才會發射……所以你的愛人在你的信息發上地球軌道前要等很久。但愿那時你們還在一起。

You also won't be able to see it, of course, as the tiny object will be orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 500km and a speed of 27000 km/h.
當然，你也看不到這顆迷你衛星，因為這個小小的物體會在500公里的高空，以每小時2.7萬公里的速度繞地球轉動。

How much does it cost?
這份禮物多少錢？

At the moment the price of the messages is about €0.88 per character - or 65p for us Brits.
目前，發信息上太空的價格是每個字符約0.88歐元，或對英國人來說是65便士。

What will happen to the money?
所得收入用來作什么？

The team at writeitinthestars.com is planning to fund 'lots of stuff' with the money they make from this project.
writeitinthestars.com網站小組計劃用他們從該項目中賺到的錢，為很多將要進行的項目提供資金。

"Our goal is to fund space research at KU Leuven and we want to do plenty. For example, extra funding will allow us to purchase more components for our Master thesis students."
“我們的目標是為魯汶大學的太空研究募資，我們還有很多事想做。比如說，盈余的資金能讓我們為寫碩士論文的學生購入更多組件。”

What about old-fashioned romance?
傳統羅曼蒂克怎么樣？

The Valentine's message also comes with a print-out version of one of five unique designs that can be downloaded from writeitinthestars.com, so you can hand it to the person you love.
情人節祝福信息也有印刷版，用戶可從writeitinthestars.com下載五種獨到設計中的一種，將其送給所愛之人。

Vocabulary

cheesy: 粗陋的，低級的
enterprising: 具有開創能力的
cubesat: cube satellite的縮寫，微型衛星
shooting star: 流星
altitude: 高度，海拔
design: 圖案

（譯者：實習生陳思迪 編輯：丁一）