Alibaba is Launching a Space Station for its 11.11 Shopping Festival
阿里巴巴即将为双十一购物节发射一个空间站

Space: the final frontier… for brands and shopping?! Seems to be the way things are going. 
太空已经成为品牌和购物服务的最前沿地带了吗？！貌似是这样的。

Alibaba has decided to launch its own satellite and a mini-space station to mark the Tmall and Taobao-led festival of consumerism that is 11.11, also known as “Singles’ Day”.
阿里巴巴已经决定要为天猫和淘宝发起的双十一购物节——也称“光棍节”——发射自己的卫星和一个迷你空间站。

The small scale space station will be called Candy Tin and the satellite will be named Tmall International according to reports. 
据报道这个小型空间站叫作“糖果罐号”，卫星叫作“天猫国际号”。

 

China Daily stated that, “The purpose is to enhance user experience during the 24-hour shopping extravaganza” — that, and to generate headlines and media coverage like this, we expect.

《中国日报》称：“这一活动的目的在于提升这一24小时购物狂欢中的用户体验”，我们预计会产生类似的大标题和媒体报道。

CD went on to say that, “Space technology will better serve the integration of online and offline shopping interactions during the festival.” 

《中国日报》继续阐明：“空间技术将在购物节期间更好地服务于网络一体化和离线购物互动。”

 

Offline shopping interactions… in space?
在太空进行离线购物互动？

It’s not clear quite what Alibaba’s involvement with the development and production of this “space technology” has been exactly, but launching objects into the stratosphere seems like the natural next step after having Pharrell Williams and Luis Figo appear at a promotional gala last year.
还不清楚阿里巴巴为何研发和生产这一“空间技术”，但在去年双十一晚会邀请过Pharrell Williams（美国说唱歌手）和Luis Figo（退役足球明星）之后，向太空发射卫星似乎是很自然的一步。

For the uninitiated, Singles’ Day was once a delightfully cynical push back against the saccharine romanticism and pressure to couple up that pervades most areas of Chinese society. 
对别人来说，曾经“光棍节”是一个对大把撒狗粮的浪漫主义和中国社会普遍的催婚压力进行冷嘲热讽的反击的愉快节日。

 

In the last decade, it’s become a more corporately cynical way to get people to fill the void in their lives by buying stuff, with first Taobao and Tmall, and now a whole host of online shopping platforms, offering an array of deals. What started out as a one day thing has also widened to take over almost an entire month, with “pre-deals” already underway on a number of sites this year.
过去的十年中它却演变成了一个全民通过买东西填补生活空虚的方式。最初是淘宝和天猫，现在整个线上购物平台都搞促销活动。最初只持续一天的活动现在延长到几乎整个月，今年许多网站已经开始“预售”。

Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall brands still pretty much “own” 11.11 though, and its they who’ll be throwing another star-studded gala on the day this year to encourage online shoppers to open their digital wallets. 
然而阿里巴巴的淘宝和天猫仍然在很大程度上“控制”着双十一，也正是它们将要在今年的这一天再次举办一个众星云集的晚会以鼓励线上消费者打开数字钱包。

The company’s aim this year — the tenth anniversary of the sales event — will be to top the 25 billion USD they raked in through Singles’Day promotions in 2017.
该公司今年双十一活动十周年的目标是要超越2017年“光棍节”促销所创下的250亿美元的销售额。

In fact, Alibaba is not so alone in China when it comes to the matter of commercial exploration into the space.
其实，阿里巴巴并非中国唯一一个对太空进行商业探索的公司。

Quietly observing Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launch from afar were a whole host of Chinese companies. 
大批中国公司都曾静静地看着杰夫·贝索斯（亚马逊CEO）的蓝色起源公司发射火箭。

As the country’s private space industry expands, and the likes of Bezos and Elon Musk continue to play rockets, an increasing number of firms are jostling for the mantle of “China’s Blue Origin” or “China’s SpaceX”.
随着中国私人太空产业的扩大以及贝索斯和伊隆·马斯克（特斯拉CEO兼董事会主席）对持续发射火箭的热爱，越来越多的公司争相要创建“中国的蓝色起源”或“中国的太空探索技术公司”。

 

China’s moves in space exploration have been dominated by the State since the launch of the country’s first manned space flight in 2003, but in recent years more independent actors have come into play.
中国探索太空的行动从2003年本国首次载人航天飞行器的发射开始就一直被国家掌控，但近些年出现了越来越多独立行动。

Not long ago, Beijing-based OneSpace won the race to become the first private Chinese company to successfully launch a rocket, sending their OS-X to a reported altitude of 24 miles; next year, the company plans to make 10 launches.
在不太久的过去，北京的零壹空间公司胜出成为中国第一家成功发射火箭的私营公司，所发射的OS-X火箭据报道高度达到24英里。该公司计划明年要进行10次发射。

 

（翻译： 菲菲）