Now the final frontier has turned into a rather messy one. 現在人類的最後疆界已經變得一片狼籍。
New computer-generated images show planet Earth as you've never seen before. 新的電腦影像顯示出您從未見過的地球樣貌。
Yeah, and if you like people who tidy up after themselves, this might disturb you. 的確，如果您喜歡那些會自行善後的人，這則新聞可能會讓您感到擔憂。
Now what we're discovering is that the Earth is surrounded by orbiting space junk. 現在我們發現地球被許多在地球軌道上運行的垃圾所圍繞。
Jackie Kabler reports on how the galactic junkyard may pose a threat now, even to those who are trying to explore space. 傑姬‧凱布勒要報導，現在太空垃圾場如何可能成為一項威脅，甚至威脅到那些試圖探索太空的人。
This extraordinary image proves it's not just our streets and our oceans that are polluted with litter. 這幅壯觀的畫面證實了遭到垃圾污染的地方，不只有我們的街道和海洋。
There are more than 12,000 pieces of space junk known to be circling the planet, 現在已知正環繞著地球的太空垃圾便有一萬兩千多片，
and probably tens of thousands more bits too small for scientists to track. 另外體積太過微小，以致於科學家無法追蹤的太空垃圾可能還有數萬多個。
Frozen rocket fuel, dead satellites, human waste from manned spacecraft -- they're all circling around up there. 結凍的火箭燃料、報廢的衛星、來自載人太空船的人類排泄物──這些全都在太空中打轉。
With things like rocket parts and literally screws and in some cases bolts, perhaps even tools that astronauts have dropped, a whole range of things, 火箭的零件像是螺絲，有時候是螺栓，甚至可能是太空人掉落的工具，很多種東西，
and it's a massive issue, simply because there is so much of it. 這個問題很嚴重，因為數量實在是太多了。
The biggest space litter lout is China. 製造最多太空垃圾的國家當屬中國。
When it destroyed its aging weather satellite, there was suddenly more than 150,000 extra pieces of space junk orbiting the earth. 中國在摧毀它老化的氣象衛星時，忽然間地球軌道上多了十五多萬片的太空垃圾。
It all poses little risk to us down here. Anything coming close will be burned up in the atmosphere. 這些垃圾對我們地球人並不會構成太大的危險，任何接近地球的垃圾都會在大氣層中燃燒殆盡，
But for those who venture into space it's a different story. 但是對那些前往太空探險的人來說就不是這麼回事了。
Look at this damage on space shuttle Endeavor caused by space debris. 看看這個太空破片在奮進號太空梭機身上造成的損傷。
If a spacecraft is hit by a piece of debris, the closing impact can be about 52,000 kilometers an hour in some cases, 如果太空船被一塊破片擊中，在某些案例中，衝擊速度可達到大約時速五萬兩千公里，
and that's moving pretty fast, and it will destroy anything in its path. 這個速度非常快，它會摧毀沿途擋住它的任何東西。
Only professional astronomers with telescopes much larger than this one can actually see all that space junk. 唯有擁有比這個望遠鏡還要大上許多的望遠鏡的專業天文學家，才能真正看到那些太空垃圾。
Now one of the most unusual things ever seen up there was back in the '60s after the first U.S. space walk when an astronaut dropped a glove. 太空中見到過最不尋常的東西是六零年代美國首次進行太空漫步時，太空人掉落的一只手套。
That glove went on to be the most dangerous garment in history, 那只手套後來成為歷史上最危險的一件衣物，
hurtling around the earth at over 17,000 miles an hour for several months until it finally burnt up. 它以超過一萬七千英里的時速繞著地球飛馳了幾個月，最後才燃燒殆盡。
So far, there's been no serious damage caused by space junk, but it's probably only a matter of time. 目前為止，太空垃圾尚未造成嚴重的損害，但這恐怕只是時間早晚的問題罷了。