墨西哥瓜達拉哈拉——埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)的火星登陸計劃以一枚超級大的火箭為起點。他目前尚需想出為它買單的辦法。
For years, Musk, the billionaire founder of the SpaceX rocket company, has been offering hints and teases of his desire to colonize the big red planet.
多年來，擁有億萬身家的SpaceX火箭公司創(chuàng)始人馬斯克一直通過各種暗示和愿景來表達殖民這顆巨型紅色星球的愿望，挑逗公眾的神經(jīng)。
In a talk on Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress here, Musk finally provided engineering details, optimistic timelines and a slick video.
周二，馬斯克參加了在這里舉辦的國際宇航大會(International Astronautical Congress)，他在發(fā)言中終于公布了技術細節(jié)、頗為樂觀的日程表，以及一段精美的視頻。
“What you saw there is very close to what we’ll actually build,” Musk said, referring to the rockets and spacecraft in the video.
“你在這里看到的東西和我們將要實際打造的東西十分接近，”馬斯克說。他指的是視頻里的火箭和宇宙飛船。
Musk estimated it would cost $10 billion to develop the rocket, and he said the first passengers to Mars could take off as soon as 2024 if the plans went off without a hitch. For now, SpaceX is financing development costs of a few tens of millions of dollars a year, but eventually the company would look to some kind of public-private partnership.
據(jù)馬斯克估計，研制火箭將耗費100億美元的資金。他還說，如果相關計劃進行得很順利，前往火星的第一批乘客在2024年便可成行。目前，SpaceX一年要負擔幾千萬美元的研發(fā)成本，但該公司最終將會尋求建立某種公私合作伙伴關系。
Each of the SpaceX vehicles would take 100 passengers on the journey to Mars, with trips planned every 26 months, when Earth and Mars pass close to each other. Tickets per person might cost $500,000 at first, and drop to about a third of that later on, Musk said.
每艘SpaceX的太空船可以攜帶100名旅客前往火星，計劃是每隔26個月發(fā)送一艘飛船——這是地球和火星公轉(zhuǎn)到距離最近的位置所需要的時間。馬斯克表示，一開始，每個人的費用要50萬美元，但是漸漸會降到這個數(shù)字的大約1/3水平。
To establish a self-sustaining Mars civilization of a million people would take 10,000 flights, with many more to ferry equipment and supplies.
為了建立一個自給自足、擁有100萬人口的火星文明，需要一萬次這樣的飛行，此外還有更多貨運飛行，用來運送設備和補給。
SpaceX
埃隆·馬斯克分享了SpaceX“猛禽行星際運輸系統(tǒng)”首次于德克薩斯州發(fā)射的畫面。
“We’re going to need something quite large to do that,” Musk said.
“我們會需要一個很大的機構來做這件事，”馬斯克說。
Musk has talked of his “Mars Colonial Transporter,” but a couple of weeks ago, he suggested that its capabilities would be much greater.
馬斯克曾經(jīng)談起過他的“火星殖民運輸系統(tǒng)”(Mars Colonial Transporter)，但幾個星期前，他說它的性能應該更加強大。
He now calls it the Interplanetary Transport System. The booster would include 42 of SpaceX’s new, more powerful Raptor engines.
如今他將之稱為“行星際運輸系統(tǒng)”( Interplanetary Transport System)。SpaceX新研制的更為強大的“猛禽”(Raptor)火箭引擎可能也為他提供了強心劑。
What is less clear is how SpaceX will raise the money needed to bring its Mars dreams to fruition.
目前尚不清楚的是，為了讓它的火星夢開花結果，SpaceX怎樣才能募集到所需的經(jīng)費。
Scott Pace, a former NASA official who is the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said Musk’s vision was plausible technically, but added, “Other than emotional appeal, however, it didn’t really address why governments, corporations or other organizations would fund the effort.” His bottom-line opinion: “Possible, but not probable.”
前NASA官員斯科特·佩斯(Scott Pace)是喬治·華盛頓大學空間政策學院的院長，他說馬斯克的設想在技術上是可行的，但他補充說，“除了訴諸感情，這個計劃無法說動任何政府、公司或其他組織提供贊助?！彼母居^點是：“有可能，但不是特別有可能。”
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