摘要：This is the first new city made in America in, I think, quite a few decades.

All right, the Gateway to Mars.

好的，通往火星的门户。

So here we are.

我们到了。

Here we are at the newly incorporated Starbase, Texas.

我们此刻身处德克萨斯州新成立的星舰基地。

This is the first new city made in America in, I think, quite a few decades.

这是美国几十年来新建的第一座城市。

At least that's what I'm told.

至少我是这么被告知的。

And a very cool name.

还有一个非常酷的名字。

And it's named that because it is where we're going to develop the technology necessary to take humanity and civilization and life as we know it to another planet for the first time in the four and a half billion year history of Earth.

之所以如此命名，是因为这里将开发必要的技术，首次将人类、文明以及我们所知的生活带往另一颗行星，这在地球45亿年的历史中尚属首次。

So we go with this little video here.

所以我们先来看这段小视频。

This is how it started off, with basically nothing.

事情就是这样开始的，几乎是从零开始。

So Starbase started off as basically a sandbar, with nothing.

因此，星舰基地最初只是一片沙洲，空无一物。

Even those little things we built, obviously.

显然，即使是那些我们建造的小东西。

That's the original sort of Mad Max rocket.

那就是最初的“疯狂麦克斯”火箭。

This is where you discover lighting is very important for that Mad Max rocket.

在这里，你会发现灯光对于那款疯狂至极的火箭来说至关重要。

So yeah, not that long ago, there was basically nothing here.

是的，就在不久前，这里基本上还是一片空白。

And in the space of about five or six years, thanks to the incredible work of the SpaceX team, we've built a small city.

在大约五到六年的时间里，得益于太空探索技术公司团队的卓越工作，我们已建立起一座小型城市。

And we've built two gigantic launch pads and a gigantic rocket factory for a gigantic rocket.

我们已建造了两个巨大的发射台和一个专为巨型火箭设计的巨大火箭工厂。

And the cool thing is for anyone out there who's watching this, you can actually come and visit because our entire production facility and launch site are on a public highway.

有趣的是， 对于正在观看的各位，你们实际上可以前来参观， 因为我们的整个生产设施和发射场地都位于一条公共高速公路上。

So anyone who comes to South Texas can come and see the rocket pretty close up and see the factory.

因此，任何来到南德克萨斯州的人都可以近距离观看火箭并参观工厂。

Anyone who's interested in seeing the largest flying object on Earth can come here anytime they want and just drive down the public highway and see it, which is pretty cool.

任何对目睹地球上最大飞行物体感兴趣的人， 都可以随时前来， 只需沿着公共高速公路行驶， 便能一睹其风采，这相当令人兴奋。

So then we progress to where we are now, Starbase 2025.

于是，我们发展到了现今的阶段——2025年的星舰基地。

So we're now at the point where we can produce a ship roughly every two or three weeks.

因此，我们现在已达到每两到三周就能生产一艘飞船的水平。

Now, we don't always produce a ship every two or three weeks because we are making design upgrades.

目前，我们并非每隔两三周就能生产出一艘星际飞船，因为正在进行设计上的改进。

But ultimately, we're aiming for the ability to produce a thousand ships a year, so three ships a day.

但最终， 我们的目标是具备年产1000艘星际飞船的能力，即每天生产3艘。

So that's where things are now.

这就是目前的情况。

I'm standing in that building.

我正站在这栋建筑里。

That's our hovercraft.

那是我们的气垫船。

We're driving a booster down the road to the launch site.

我们正驾驶着助推器沿路前往发射场。

You can see the mega bays.

你可以看到那些巨大的机库。

And as I said, the cool thing for those out there watching this video is that you can actually just literally come here, drive down the road, and see it, which is the first time in history that that's been possible.

正如我所说， 对于正在观看这个视频的你们来说， 最酷的事情是， 你们真的可以亲自来到这里，沿着公路驱车前往， 亲眼目睹这一切， 这在历史上是前所未有的。

So all this cool stuff, that road on the left there, that highway, is public, and you can just come here and see it, which I recommend doing.

所以这些很酷的东西， 左边那条路，那条高速公路， 是公共的，你可以直接来这里看看，我建议你这么做。

I think it's very inspiring to see.

我认为这非常鼓舞人心。

So that's our Giga Bay, where we're expanding integration to produce 1,000 Starships per year.

这就是我们的巨型基地，我们正在扩展整合能力，以实现每年生产1000艘星际飞船的目标。

Well, yeah, that hasn't been built yet, but we're building it.

是的，虽然它还未建成，但我们正在建造中。

That is a truly enormous structure.

那确实是一座极为庞大的建筑。

That'll be one of the biggest structures, I think by some measures, the biggest structure in the world, and it's designed for 1,000 Starships a year.

这将是有史以来最大的建筑之一，按某些标准衡量， 它将成为世界上最大的建筑，设计年产1000艘星际飞船。

We're also building a Giga Bay in Florida, so we'll have two facilities, one in Texas and one in Florida.

我们还在佛罗里达州建设一个巨型工厂，这样我们就有两个设施， 一个在德克萨斯州， 另一个在佛罗里达州。

It's actually difficult to gauge the size of these buildings, because you need a kind of human for scale.

实际上很难估量这些建筑的规模，因为需要用人作为参照物来衡量。

When you see how tiny a human is next to that building, you realize just how enormous it is.

当你看到一个人在那座建筑旁边显得多么渺小时，你会意识到它有多么巨大。

So when we look at our build comparison vehicles per year, And so you look at Boeing and Airbus making airplanes.

因此， 当我们审视年度建造对比时，可以看到波音和空客制造飞机的情况。

Starship will be making at some point probably as many Starships for Mars as Boeing and Airbus make commercial airplanes.

星际飞船将在未来某个时刻，可能制造出与波音和空客生产商用飞机数量相当的飞船，用于火星任务。

So this is really at a scale, an enormous scale.

因此，这实际上是在一个规模上，一个巨大的规模上进行的。

And each Starship will have a capability.

每艘星际飞船都将具备独特的能力。

Each Starship is bigger than a 747 or an A380.

每艘星际飞船都比波音747或空客A380还要大。

Like it's truly enormous.

它真的非常巨大。

And then in terms of Starship Starlink satellites the version 3 satellites making on the order of 5,000 a year maybe at some point closer to 10,000 a year and those Starlink v3 satellites are each the size of Roughly a 737.

在星际飞船和星链卫星方面，V3版本的卫星年产量可达约5000颗，未来某阶段甚至可能接近每年10000颗。这些星链V3卫星的单体尺寸大致相当于一架波音737客机。

They're pretty big that compares to the b-24 bomber in World War two now.

它们相当庞大，与二战时期的B-24轰炸机相比毫不逊色。

It's still small compared to Tesla so And Tesla will probably be doing double or triple that volume in the future.

与特斯拉相比，它仍然规模较小，而特斯拉未来可能会实现双倍甚至三倍于当前的产量。

So it just puts things into perspective that it is actually possible to build a vast number of interplanetary starships.

因此，这让我们更清楚地认识到，实际上有可能建造大量用于星际旅行的星际飞船。

And even when you can compare things on the tonnage standpoint, Tesla and other car companies are still building far more complex manufactured tonnage than SpaceX, which just really is a way of saying that it's very achievable.

即使从吨位角度进行比较，特斯拉和其他汽车公司生产的复杂制造吨位仍远超太空探索技术公司，这实际上是在说， 实现这一目标是非常可行的。

Like these numbers, while they are insanely high by traditional space standards, are achievable by humans because they have been achieved in other industries.

这些数字， 虽然按传统航天标准来看高得离谱，但人类在其他行业已经实现过， 因此也是可以达到的。

Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.

进展以建立火星自给自足文明的时间表来衡量。

That's how we're gauging our progress here at Starbase.

这就是我们在星舰基地评估进展的方式。

So with each launch, especially in the early days of Starship, each launch is about learning more and more about what's needed to make life multi-planetary and to improve Starship to the point where it can be taking ultimately hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people to Mars.

因此，每次发射，尤其是在星际飞船研发的初期，都是为了更深入地了解实现多行星生命所需的条件，并改进星际飞船，使其最终能够运送数十万乃至数百万人前往火星。

Ideally, we can take anyone who wants to go to Mars, we can take to Mars and bring all of the equipment necessary to make Mars self-sustaining so Mars can grow by itself in a worst-case scenario, getting to the point where The fundamental fork in the road for human destiny is where Mars can continue to grow even if the supply shifts from Earth stop coming for any reason.

理想情况下， 我们能够搭载任何渴望前往火星的人，并将他们连同实现火星自给自足所需的所有设备一同送往火星。 这样，即便在最不利的情况下， 火星也能依靠自身力量持续发展，直至达到一个关键节点——人类命运的分岔口：即使出于任何原因， 地球的物资供应中断， 火星依然能够独立成长。

At that point, we've achieved civilizational resilience where Mars can potentially come to the rescue of Earth if something goes wrong, or maybe Earth can come to the rescue of Mars.

届时，我们将实现文明的韧性， 若地球遭遇不测， 火星或能施以援手；反之亦然，地球也可能拯救火星。

But having two planets that are... that are both self-sustaining and strong, I think is going to be incredibly important for the long-term survival of civilization.

然而，拥有两颗都具备自我维持和强大能力的行星，我认为对于文明的长远生存将至关重要。

I think any given civilization is likely to last maybe, I don't know, 10 times longer, maybe much longer.

我认为任何一个文明都可能延续大约十倍的时间，甚至可能更长。

if it is a multi-planet civilization than if it is a single-planet civilization.

如果是多行星文明，那么相较于单一行星文明，其情况将更为复杂和多样化。

Because there's always some chance that, you know, us humans could do something crazy like World War III.

因为总有可能， 你知道的，我们人类会做出一些疯狂的事情， 比如第三次世界大战。

Hopefully not, but it's possible.

希望不会，但有可能。

Or that there could be some natural event like meteors or super volcanoes or something that we don't expect.

或者可能发生一些我们未曾预料的自然事件，比如流星雨或超级火山爆发之类的。

And then if we only have one planet, then that could be curtains.

如果我们就只有这一颗星球，那可能就完蛋了。

But if we have two planets, we keep going.

但如果我们拥有两颗行星，我们就会继续前行。

And then we go beyond Mars, ultimately, to maybe the asteroid belt, the moons of Jupiter, and beyond, and ultimately to other star systems.

然后， 我们将超越火星，最终可能抵达小行星带、木星的卫星，乃至更远的地方， 最终探索其他恒星系统。

And we can be out there among the stars, making science fiction no longer fiction.

我们能够遨游星际，让科幻小说不再只是虚构。

So in order to achieve this goal, we have to make rapidly reusable rockets so that the cost per flight, the cost per ton to Mars is as low as possible.

因此，为了实现这一目标， 我们必须制造快速可重复使用的火箭， 以使每次飞行的成本，即每吨货物到火星的成本尽可能低。

So for that rapidly reusable rockets, I said, it's actually four R's, it's like a pirate, RRR.

因此，对于快速可重复使用的火箭，我曾说，实际上是四个R，就像海盗一样，RRR。

It's like rapidly reusable, reliable rockets is the key, RRR.

快速可重复使用的可靠火箭是关键，简称RRR。

Congrats to the SpaceX team on making incredible progress on catching a giant rocket.

祝贺太空探索技术公司团队在捕捉巨型火箭方面取得了令人难以置信的进展。

So it's really mind-blowing that the SpaceX team has been able to catch the largest flying object ever made multiple times.

因此，太空探索技术公司团队能够多次捕捉到有史以来最大的飞行物体，这真是令人叹为观止。

Using a very novel method of catching it out of the air with giant chopsticks.

采用一种非常新颖的方法，用巨大的“筷子”在空中捕捉它。

I mean, have you ever seen that before?

我是说，你以前见过这种东西吗？

Yeah, congrats again, that was an incredible achievement.

再次恭喜，这真是了不起的成就。

So the reason we are catching it in this way, which has never been done before, is in order to achieve the rapidly reusable portion of the, in order to make the rocket rapidly reusable.

因此，我们采用这种前所未有的方式捕捉火箭，是为了实现火箭的快速重复使用，从而使其具备快速再利用的能力。

So if it is, if the super heavy booster, which is gigantic, it's like 30 feet in diameter, if it were to land with landing legs on a landing pad, we would then have to, pick it up, stow the legs, and put it back in the launch pad.

因此，如果超重型助推器——它非常庞大，直径达30英尺——采用着陆腿在着陆台上降落，那么我们随后将不得不将其抬起，收起着陆腿，并重新安置回发射台。

And it's quite difficult to transport such a large thing.

运输如此庞大的物体确实相当困难。

But if we catch it with the same tower that it's used to put it in the launch mount to begin with, that is the best case outcome for rapid reuse.

但如果我们用同一座塔来捕捉它， 就像最初用来将其固定在发射架上的那样，那将是快速重复使用的最佳情况。

So it literally gets caught by the same arms that placed it in the launch ring, and then it is placed back in the launch ring immediately.

因此，它实际上会被放置在发射环上的同一组机械臂捕获，然后立即被放回发射环中。

So in principle, the Super Heavy Booster can be reflown within an hour of landing.

因此，原则上，超重型助推器在着陆后一小时内即可重新飞行。

So it comes back in about five or six minutes, one way or another, and then It gets caught by the tower arms, placed back in the launch mount, and then you can refill propellant in about 30 to 40 minutes, and place a ship on top of it, and in principle, reflight the entire booster every hour.

因此，无论何种方式， 它大约在五六分钟后返回，随后被塔臂捕捉，重新安置在发射架上， 接着你可以在30到40分钟内为它重新加注燃料，并在其顶部安置一艘飞船，原则上，每小时都能实现整个助推器的再次飞行。

Maybe every two hours to give it a little bit of extra time.

或许每隔两小时，再额外多给一点时间。

But let's just say it's in the limit of rapid reuse.

但可以说，它处于快速重复使用的极限范围内。

And the next thing we need to do is catch the ship, too.

我们接下来需要做的，就是也要抓住飞船。

So we haven't done this yet, but we will.

我们虽未实现，但必将达成。

So that's what we hope to demonstrate later this year, maybe as soon as two or three months from now.

因此， 我们希望在今年晚些时候，或许最快在两三个月内， 展示这一成果。

And then the ship would be placed on top of the booster, and then, again, refilled with propellant and flown again.

然后， 飞船将被置于助推器顶部，随后再次加注燃料并进行飞行。

With the ship, it takes a bit longer because it's got to orbit Earth a few times until the ground track comes back over the launch pad.

由于飞船需要绕地球几圈，直到地面轨迹再次经过发射台，因此所需时间稍长。

But the ship is also intended to be reflowing multiple times per day.

然而，这艘飞船还计划每天进行多次重复使用。

This is the new Raptor 3, which is an awesome engine.

这是全新的猛禽3发动机，一款卓越非凡的引擎。

Big hand to the Raptor team for this.

热烈祝贺猛禽团队取得这一成就。

This is very exciting.

这真是令人兴奋不已。

So Raptor 3 is designed to require no basic heat shield, saving a lot of mass on the bottom and actually improving reliability so that if there is, for example, a small fuel leak from the Raptor engine, it will simply leak into the existing flaming plasma and not really matter.

因此，猛禽3发动机设计为无需基本隔热罩，从而在底部节省大量质量， 并实际提高可靠性，例如，如果猛禽发动机发生小规模燃料泄漏，它将简单地泄漏到现有的燃烧等离子体中， 不会产生实质性影响。

Whereas a fuel leak when the engines are contained in a box is a very scary thing indeed.

当发动机被封装在一个箱体内时，燃料泄漏确实是一件非常可怕的事情。

So this is a Raptor 3.

这就是猛禽3发动机。

It'll take probably a few kicks at the can, but it's a massive increase in payload capability, in engine efficiency, and in reliability.

可能需要几次尝试，但这将大幅提升有效载荷能力、发动机效率和可靠性。

So this is really a revolutionary engine.

所以这确实是一款革命性的发动机。

The Raptor 3 is really, I'd say, kind of alien technology rocket engine.

猛禽3号，我得说，简直是外星科技级别的火箭发动机。

I mean, even industry experts, when we showed a picture of the Rafter 3, said that engine is not complete.

我的意思是， 即便是业内专家， 当我们展示猛禽3发动机的图片时，他们也认为这台发动机尚未完工。

So then we said, well, here's the engine not complete, firing at a level of efficiency that has never been achieved before.

于是我们说， 看， 这台发动机尚未完工，但其燃烧效率已达到前所未有的水平。

I mean, that is one clean engine.

我的意思是，这可是一台干净得发亮的发动机。

So in order to make the engine like that, we had to simplify so many parts of the design, incorporate secondary fluid circuits and electronics in the structure of the engine itself, so everything is contained and protected.

因此， 为了制造出这样的发动机，我们不得不简化设计的许多部分，将二次流体回路和电子设备集成到发动机结构中，从而使所有部件都被容纳并得到保护。

It is a marvel of engineering, frankly.

坦率地说，这是一项工程奇迹。

Then one of the other technologies that's key for Mars is doing orbital propellant transfer.

另一项对火星任务至关重要的技术是实现轨道燃料补给。

So you can think of this like similar to aerial refueling for airplanes, but in this case it's orbital refilling of rockets, which has never been done before.

你可以将此视为类似于飞机的空中加油，但在这里， 这是火箭的轨道燃料补给，这在以前从未实现过。

But it is, you know, technically feasible.

但你知道，这在技术上是可行的。

I always feel like these things are a little NSFW, sort of.

我总觉得这些内容有点不太适合在工作场合看。

Listen, you've got to transfer fluid somehow.

听着，你总得想办法转移液体。

There's no... This has got to be done.

这是必须完成的任务，没有其他选择。

So the two starships would get together, and one starship would transfer fuel and oxygen.

因此，两艘星际飞船会汇合，其中一艘将燃料和氧气转移给另一艘。

And actually, most of the mass is oxygen.

实际上，大部分质量是氧气。

It's almost 80% oxygen that gets transferred, a little over 20% fuel.

转移的气体中几乎80%是氧气，略高于20%是燃料。

And so you send a Starship to orbit that's full of payload, and then you send a bunch of other Starships up, and you would refill the propellant on that Starship.

因此， 你将一艘满载货物的星际飞船送入轨道，然后发射多艘其他星际飞船，在轨道上为那艘星际飞船补充燃料。

And once the propellant tanks are mostly full, then you can depart for Mars or the Moon.

一旦燃料箱基本装满，就可以启程前往火星或月球了。

So this is an important technology, which we should hopefully demonstrate next year.

因此，这是一项重要的技术，我们希望能在明年进行展示。

One of the toughest problems to solve is the reusable heat shield.

其中一个最棘手的问题是可重复使用的隔热罩。

So no one has ever developed a truly reusable orbital heat shield.

因此，从未有人开发出真正可重复使用的轨道级隔热罩。

So it's extremely difficult to do so.

因此，要做到这一点极其困难。

Even the shuttle's heat shield required several months of refurbishment, basically fixing broken tiles, testing each tile, because it's an extremely hard problem to be able to withstand the extreme heat and pressure of re-entry, and the only things that can really withstand this level of heat are advanced ceramics, basically glass, alumina, some types of carbon-carbon, but very little actually can survive with reusability, without eroding.

即便航天飞机的隔热罩也需要数月的翻新工作，主要是修复破损的瓦片，并对每块瓦片进行测试，因为能够承受重返大气层时极端高温和压力是一个极其艰巨的挑战。真正能承受这种高温的材料只有先进陶瓷，基本上就是玻璃、氧化铝和某些类型的碳-碳复合材料，但事实上，能够实现重复使用而不被侵蚀的材料非常少。

or falling off or cracking, can survive the stresses of re-entry.

或者不会脱落或开裂，能够承受重返大气层的应力。

So this will be the first time that it's done, that a reusable orbital heat shield is developed.

因此，这将是有史以来首次开发可重复使用的轨道级隔热罩。

And it needs to be, obviously, extremely reliable.

显然，它需要具有极高的可靠性。

So this will be something they'll be working on for a few years, I think, to keep honing the heat shield.

因此，我认为他们将在未来几年内致力于不断完善隔热罩技术。

It's a very, it is an achievable thing, so we're not trying to do something that isn't achievable.

这是一项非常，它是一项可实现的目标，所以我们并不是在尝试做一件无法实现的事情。

It is within the realm of physics to get this done, just an extraordinarily difficult thing to get done.

从物理学的角度来看，完成这项任务是可行的，只是实现起来极其困难。

And Mars, the Mars atmosphere is carbon dioxide, which at first may seem better, but actually it ends up being worse because when the CO2 turns into a plasma and you've got, you actually end up with more free oxygen entering on a Mars atmosphere than on Earth's atmosphere.

至于火星，其大气主要成分是二氧化碳，初看似乎更理想， 但实际上情况更糟。 因为当二氧化碳转化为等离子体时，火星大气中释放出的自由氧含量反而比地球大气中的还要多。

So Earth's atmosphere is only around 20% oxygen and Mars ends up being basically more than double that, maybe triple that when you consider, when the CO2 becomes a plasma and you get carbon and O2.

地球大气中的氧气含量约为20%，而火星大气最终将变得几乎是地球的两倍甚至三倍，因为当二氧化碳转化为等离子体时，会产生碳和氧气。

So that wants to oxidize the heat shield, basically burn the heat shield.

因此，这会导致隔热罩氧化，基本上会烧毁隔热罩。

So that's why we tested very rigorously in a CO2 atmosphere because it's got to work not just for Earth but also for Mars.

因此，我们在二氧化碳大气环境中进行了非常严格的测试，因为这项技术不仅要适用于地球，还要能在火星上发挥作用。

We want to use the same heat shield for Earth that we use for Mars because there are many other factors with the heat shield such as making sure the tiles don't crack or fall off or anything like that.

我们希望在地球上使用与火星任务相同的隔热罩，因为隔热罩还有许多其他因素需要考虑，比如确保隔热瓦不破裂、不掉落等。

So we want to have the same heat shield structure, same material on Earth as on Mars so we can test it hundreds of times on Earth before going to Mars and be confident that when it goes to Mars it will work.

因此，我们希望在地球和火星上使用相同的隔热罩结构和相同材料，这样在前往火星之前， 我们就能在地球上对其进行数百次测试， 并确信它在火星上也能正常工作。

来源：英语东