伊隆馬斯克：坐火箭瞬間穿梭地球

Elon Musk: Rockets will fly people from city to city in minute

導讀:伊隆馬斯克表示SpaceX將工作重心轉移到BFR火箭，人們很快就能在幾分鐘內從一座城市飛到另一座城市。

People will soon be able to fly from city to city within minutes, rocket and car entrepreneur Elon Musk says.

火箭與汽車企業家埃伊隆馬斯克說，人們很快就能在幾分鐘內從一座城市飛到另一座城市。

Mr Musk made the promise at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia.

馬斯克在澳大利亞阿德萊德的國際宇航大會（IAC）上做出承諾。

A promotional video says the London-New York journey would take 29 minutes.

一段宣傳視頻上稱從倫敦到紐約將僅需29分鐘。

Mr Musk told the audience he aimed to start sending people to Mars in 2024. His SpaceX company would begin building the necessary ships to support the mission next year.

馬斯克告訴觀眾，他的目標是在2024年開始將人類送往火星。其公司SpaceX將於明年開始製造必要的船隻來支持此項任務。

He says he is refocusing SpaceX to work on just one type of vehicle - known as the BFR - which could do all of the firm』s current work and interplanetary travel.

他說，他正在將SpaceX重新聚焦於一種名為BFR的火箭上，它可以完成公司目前所有的工作和星際旅行。

Mr Musk first laid out his Mars travel ambitions at the IAC in 2016. Twelve months on, he returned with more detail.

2016年馬斯克首次在IAC發布了火星旅行計劃。12個月後，他帶來了更多細節。

His BFR, although still massive, is now a little smaller at 106m in height and 9m in width.

即便BFR依舊巨大，但現在小些了，高度只有106米，寬度9米。

The major difference compared with the original version, however, was cost.

然而與原始版本相比，最大的不同在於成本。

"I think we』ve figured out how to pay for it. This is very important."

「我認為我們已經找到了支付方法，這非常重要。」

The route to affordability, he explained, was in refocusing all of the company』s efforts into the one system - and then using that to meet all its customers』 needs.

他解釋說，足以支付的辦法是把公司所有的精力都集中在一個系統上，然後用它來滿足所有客戶的需求。

This means the BFR would launch satellites and service the space station - as SpaceX』s Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule do now - but also take people to the Moon and Mars, and do what is termed "point to point" travel on Earth.

這意味著BFR將用來發射衛星並服務於空間站，就像SpaceX的獵鷹九號和「龍」太空艙現在所做的工作，但同時也會把人類送上月球和火星，完成地球上所謂的「點到點」旅行。

"Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips could be completed in less than half-an-hour," he told the Adelaide audience.

他對阿德萊德的觀眾說:「大多數人所認為的長途旅行可以在半小時內完成。」

"Some of our customers are conservative and they want to see the BFR fly several times before they』re comfortable launching [on it]," Mr Musk said.

馬斯克表示:「我們的一些客戶很保守，他們希望看到BFR飛行幾次，然後才會放心地乘坐。」

"So what we plan to do is to build ahead and have a stock of Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles, so that customers can be comfortable if they want to use the old rocket, the old spacecraft - they can do that because we』ll have a bunch in stock.

「因此，我們的計劃是提前做，先製造一批獵鷹九號和「龍」太空艙，如果他們想使用舊火箭、舊飛船，客戶可以放心，他們可以這樣做，因為我們將有很多庫存。」

"But all of our resources will then turn to building BFR."

「但我們所有的資源都將轉向製造BFR。」

As well as being the CEO and chief designer at SpaceX, Mr Musk also founded the Tesla electric car company and is chairman of SolarCity which specialises in renewables technologies, such as high-storage batteries.

除了擔任SpaceX的首席執行官和首席設計師外，馬斯克還創立了特斯拉電動汽車公司，同時也是SolarCity的董事長，該公司專註於如高容量電池這樣的可再生能源技術。

He has attracted a rock-star following from fans. And although his promises have often taken much longer to deliver, he has achieved a number of notable firsts.

他吸引了一位搖滾巨星成為他的粉絲。儘管他的承諾通常要花很長時間才能實現，但他已經取得了一些顯著的成績。

Key to his thinking is the concept of reusability. Space activity is currently expensive only because it is disposable, he says. There is no reason, he claims, why rocket systems cannot be made to operate like airliners where the most significant ongoing cost is the fuel in the tanks.

他思考的關鍵是可重複利用的概念。他說，目前太空活動之所以昂貴，只是因為它是一次性的。他聲稱，沒有任何理由，為什麼火箭系統不能像飛機那樣運行，最重要的持續成本是燃料箱里的燃料。

His Falcon 9 rocket is partially reusable; the BFR would be totally reusable. The same vehicle would fly time and time again.

獵鷹九號火箭部分可重複使用；BFR將完全可重複使用。同一火箭將一次又一次地飛行。

Mr Musk recognises that his ambitious timelines sometimes slip. When he put up a slide in Adelaide stating that the first cargo (no humans aboard) versions of BFR would go to Mars in 2022, he said: "That』s not a typo, although it is aspirational."

馬斯克承認，他雄心勃勃的時間表有時會落空。當他在阿德萊德放映幻燈片時稱，2022年BFR將第一批貨物(沒有人乘坐)運往火星，他說:「儘管雄心勃勃，但這不是一個打字文稿的小錯誤。」

His many fans in the audience lapped up the presentation, but his numerous business customers will also have stiffened slightly at the news that SpaceX is to begin diverting its energies towards the all-new rocket system.

聽眾中許多粉絲都欣然接受他的演講，但眾多商業客戶也會對SpaceX公司開始將其精力轉移到全新火箭系統的消息感到有些生硬。

These customers are extremely conservative - as Mr Musk himself concedes. They are only just beginning to grapple with the idea that they can put their very expensive satellites on "second-hand" Falcons. Now they must also get used to the idea that the Falcon will eventually be replaced by another rocket system - the BFR.

正如馬斯克自己所說的那樣，這些客戶非常保守。他們只是剛剛開始考慮可以用「二手」獵鷹來運載他們非常昂貴的衛星。現在，他們還必須適應這種想法，即獵鷹最終將被另一個火箭系統BFR所取代。

Prof Alan Duffy is from the centre for astrophysics and supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He was among the 4,000-strong audience at the IAC.

來自墨爾本斯威本科技大學天體物理學和超級計算中心的Alan Duffy教授也是IAC4000名觀眾中的一位。

"This is SpaceX』s Elon Musk. This is what he does," he told the BBC.

他告訴BBC：「這就是SpaceX公司的伊隆馬斯克。這就是他所做的事情。」

"What I love about SpaceX - and why the world』s scientists and engineers are willing to give them that credence - is that they make things profitable at every step of the way. "

「我對SpaceX的熱愛以及為什麼世界上的科學家和工程師都願意給予他們信任，是因為他們讓事情在每一步都有利可圖。」

"They have a big vision, they work towards it, but the steps they take are always with the profit in mind. And if there』s a profit there, you can guarantee that businesses will see it through."

「他們有一個很大的願景，並朝著這個方向努力，但他們每走一步總是與利潤相關。如果有利潤，企業一定會堅持到底。」

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