TED演講者：Jennifer Heldmann / 詹妮弗·海德曼

演講標題：SpaceX's supersized Starship rocket -- and the future of galactic exploration / SpaceX 的超大型星艦火箭與銀河探索的未來

內(nèi)容概要：SpaceX's Starship launch vehicle has the potential to explore the solar system in a bold, new -- and supersized -- way. Planetary scientist Jennifer Heldmann talks about how reusable, large-scale spacecraft like Starship could help humanity achieve its next galactic leaps and usher in a new era of space exploration, from investigating the solar system's many ocean worlds to launching bigger telescopes that can see deeper into the universe.

SpaceX 發(fā)射的星艦航天器讓我們可以以一種全新的方式在太陽系探索上“大”展拳腳。行星科學(xué)家詹妮弗·海德曼（Jennifer Heldmann）介紹了像星艦這樣的可反復(fù)使用的大型航天器如何幫助人類邁出新的星際一步，步入太空探索的新紀元，展示了研究太陽系中有海洋的星球和發(fā)射擁有更寬廣深邃視野的更大型望遠鏡。

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【1】Well, thank you all so much for being here today, because I am super excited to tell you that we are about to explore space in a big way.

非常感謝各位今天來到這里, 因為我很興奮地想要告訴大家, 我們要在太空探索上 “大”顯身手了。

【2】And the future of space exploration is like nothing we've ever seen before, and the future is one we can hardly even imagine.

太空探索的未來與我們之前 所見的任何事物都不一樣, 它的未來是我們無法想象的。

【3】Well, why is that?

為什么呢？

【4】We've been exploring space since the 1950s, so what's different now?

我們從上世紀 50 年代 就開始探索太空, 現(xiàn)在有什么不同呢？

【5】Well, for the first time ever, we are going to be using supersized spacecraft for our journey into the solar system.

這是我們首次 使用超大型火箭 邁上前往太陽系的征程。

【6】This is the Starship vehicle that's being developed by the company SpaceX.

這就是 SpaceX 公司 開發(fā)的星艦（Starship）航天器。

【7】This vehicle will be able to launch more mass - or payload - have more power and be able to launch over and over and over again, more than any spacecraft ever designed or built, ever.

這個航天器將承載更大質(zhì)量, 或者說裝載量, 擁有更大馬力, 可以反復(fù)發(fā)射, 次數(shù)大于任何以往的航天器。

【8】So the Starship and its Super Heavy booster are a fully reusable transportation system.

星艦和它的超重型助推器 是一個完全可反復(fù)利用的運輸系統(tǒng)。

【9】So that means that you don't have to build a new vehicle every time you want to fly.

這就意味著每次想飛行的時候, 不需要重新造一個航天器。

【10】And so what that does is that reduces the cost of each flight and it lets you have more flights.

這個系統(tǒng)降低了每次飛行的成本, 讓你可以多次飛行。

【11】Now historically, rockets have been used once, and then that's it.

縱觀歷史,火箭都是一次性的, 用完即拋。

【12】But if you think about it, would you ever build an airplane, fly it once and then throw it away?

但是如果你想想, 你會造一架飛機, 飛了一次 就把它扔了嗎？

【13】Like, no, that's ridiculous, because the cost of each flight would be way too high, and you wouldn't have very many flights, right?

不可能,太扯了, 因為這樣每次飛行的成本就太高了, 你就不會飛行很多次了,對吧？

【14】So let's put this in perspective a little bit.

那我們再好好看看。

【15】So think about the last rover that we just sent to Mars.

想一想我們上次發(fā)射的火星探測車。

【16】It is an amazing mission; it's still on Mars collecting great data.

這是個偉大的航天任務(wù), 它現(xiàn)在還在火星上收集數(shù)據(jù)。

【17】So the launch cost for that mission was 243 million dollars.

這個航天任務(wù)的發(fā)射成本 為 2.43 億美元。

【18】So that works out to be about 100,000 dollars per pound to launch that rover to Mars.

動手算一下就能得出 向火星發(fā)射一輛探測車

【19】And that's where we are today.

我們現(xiàn)在就能做到這個程度。

【20】So SpaceX is aiming to have a launch cost for Starship on the order of a couple million dollars.

SpaceX 希望能以 幾百萬美元的成本

【21】And so that means that you could launch that same Mars rover for about 900 dollars per pound.

這就意味著發(fā)射同一輛火星車 每磅大約只需要 900 美元。

【22】So that's 100,000 dollars versus 900 dollars.

10 萬美元對比 900 美元。

【23】That's a huge difference.

差得太多了。

【24】And actually, it's probably cheaper than that because you could fit like 100 of those Mars rovers inside one Starship because it's just that big.

實際上有可能會 比 900 美元還便宜, 因為既然星艦如此龐大, 一架星艦或許可以搭載 100 輛火星車。

【25】It's really incredible.

太厲害了。

【26】And it's not just SpaceX.

不止是 SpaceX。

【27】There are multiple commercial companies building new rockets now of all different sizes, for all different purposes.

還有多家商業(yè)公司正在建造 不同尺寸的 新型火箭, 滿足不同需求。

【28】And this is great because this is really helping to open up space to more people.

這太棒了,因為這樣能夠幫助 更多人接觸到太空。

【29】So here's an image of some of the current rockets compared to NASA's mighty Saturn V rocket.

這是一張近期研發(fā)的火箭 與美國宇航局的 超級火箭土星 5 號的對比圖。

【30】So the Saturn V is the rocket that launched astronauts to the Moon in the '60s and '70s.

土星 5 號是 在上世紀 60 及 70 年代 將宇航員送上月球的火箭。

【31】The last Saturn V launched in 1973.

上一次發(fā)射升空在 1973 年。

【32】And full disclosure, I was not even born yet, so I think this is incredibly unfair because there has never been a rocket more powerful since.

坦白地告訴你, 那時候我還沒有出生, 所以我覺得太不公平了, 因為在那之后 就沒有過這么厲害的火箭。

【33】So I just have to emphasize that the changes we're talking about today, these are not incremental, small advances in rocketry and spacecraft.

所以我必須強調(diào) 我們今天討論的改變 不是逐步遞增的,不是火箭 和航天器史上微小的進步。

【34】These are truly transformational technologies that are giving us completely new capabilities and changing the paradigm for space exploration.

這些都是革命性技術(shù), 給予我們?nèi)碌哪芰? 改變了太空探索的局面。

【35】And what's really going to happen is we're going to move from where we are today, which is usually, you know, more specialized, one-off, boutique-style missions into more mass-produced, large-scale operations in space.

眼下馬上要發(fā)生的是 我們要從現(xiàn)狀出發(fā), 將現(xiàn)在常見的 過于局限的、一次性的、 高端的航天任務(wù), 改變?yōu)楦慨a(chǎn)化、大規(guī)模的 太空行動。

【36】And the reason is because we are being largely freed of these traditional, very severe mass and cost restraints that we've been working under in the aerospace industry for decades.

原因就是我們已經(jīng)在很大程度上 不再受到過往 質(zhì)量和成本的嚴格限制, 而航天行業(yè)在過去的幾十年里 都受到這樣的約束。

【37】Now there is one vehicle that's really forced us to change the conversation regarding space exploration and space architectures, and that is the Starship.

現(xiàn)在有了這樣一個航天器, 強迫我們改變對太空探索 和太空結(jié)構(gòu)的看法, 它就是星艦。

【38】That entire system is designed to be even more powerful than the Saturn V.

整個系統(tǒng)設(shè)計得 比土星 5 號還要強勁得多。

【39】And the Starship vehicle itself will be able to launch over 100 metric tons of payload to Earth orbit, to the surface of the Moon, to the surface of Mars and even beyond.

星艦這個航天器本身 可以承載 超過 100 公噸的裝載量, 發(fā)射至地球軌道、 月球表面、 火星表面, 甚至更遠。

【40】Like, 100 metric tons of payload.

100 公噸的裝載量。

【41】Like, that's crazy.

太驚人了。

【42】That is a crazy number that we would never have been discussing a while ago because in spaceflight, we are always trying to reduce mass, right?

這是我們未曾想過的 天文數(shù)字, 因為在太空飛行途中, 我們通常想方設(shè)法要減重,對吧？

【43】Miniaturize your components, have your instruments be as lightweight as possible because of the mass and cost constraints.

縮小零部件的尺寸, 由于質(zhì)量和成本限制, 盡量減輕工具的重量。

【44】And so now we actually have the opposite problem where we have to figure out, like - how are we going to fill 100 metric tons of payload?

所以我們現(xiàn)在遇到了一個 截然相反的問題, 我們必須搞明白 如何填滿 這 100 公噸的裝載量？

【45】Like, seriously, like, what are we going to fly?

你想想,我們到底要發(fā)射什么？

【46】So this is a great place to be, and it's a great problem to have.

這是個好節(jié)點, 這是個好問題。

【47】How can you actually fly such a ridiculous amount of payload into the solar system?

怎樣可以把如此巨大的裝載量 發(fā)射進太陽系？

【48】Well, Starship will conveniently refill its propellant tanks in space with methane and oxygen.

星艦可以輕松地 在太空中給推進儲存槽 加滿甲烷和氧氣。

【49】So the way that this works is you launch your first Starship, right?

前提是你得發(fā)射了 這第一艘星艦,對吧？

【50】You've got your payload you want to send wherever into the solar system.

你把你想發(fā)射的貨物 發(fā)射進了太陽系。

【51】You launch that into orbit.

你把它送上了軌道。

【52】Then you launch another Starship, and we'll just call it a tanker because it's basically just another Starship, but it's full of propellant.

然后你又發(fā)射了一艘星艦, 我們就把它稱為“加油機”, 因為它其實就是另一艘星艦, 但是滿載推進劑。

【53】And then those two vehicles meet and they dock in Earth orbit.

這兩艘飛船相遇了, 然后停靠在地球軌道上。

【54】And the tanker refills the propellant tanks of your starship.

加油機給星艦的推進槽加滿推進劑。

【55】So essentially what you're doing is you're refilling your gas tanks before you go out on a big, long trip.

所以這本質(zhì)上就像 在長途旅行啟程前加滿油箱。

【56】And that's how you can send so much payload capacity out into the solar system.

這正是把這么大量的貨物 送進太陽系的方式。

【57】Now this is so important because Earth is such a large gravity well.

值得注意的是, 地球的重力場很強。

【58】It just takes so much energy, and hence, so much fuel, just to launch off the surface of the Earth.

需要消耗大量的能量, 也就意味著大量的燃料, 離開地球表面。

【59】So by refilling the tanks in space, we're essentially resetting the rocket equation in orbit, and then we can send these payloads out to wherever they need to go.

因此,在太空中加推進劑, 等于我們在軌道上 重置了火箭的狀態(tài), 然后就可以把這些貨物 想運去哪里就運去哪里。

【60】So this is fantastic.

太棒了。

【61】Like, we have this new capability and this is how it works, but now I'd like to go to the really exciting part:

我們有了新的能力, 就是如此, 但是我現(xiàn)在要講 最激動人心的部分:

【62】What are we going to do with this capability?

有了這個能力, 我們要做些什么呢？

【63】So consider this.

這樣想一想。

【64】Scientists, myself included, have long been interested in the possibility of life on Europa.

科學(xué)家們,包括我自己, 一直對木衛(wèi)二（Europa）上 是否可能存在生命充滿興趣。

【65】Europa has a subsurface - salty, liquid-water ocean - and we wonder if life might be able to exist there.

木衛(wèi)二有地下層 含有鹽分、液態(tài)水的海洋, 我們在思考生命是否可能存在于此。

【66】So given our current exploration strategies - there is a mission in development right now to study Europa, it'll actually orbit Jupiter and it'll do flybys of Europa and remotely measure the Moon and its ocean.

鑒于我們目前的探索策略, 現(xiàn)在正在進行一個 研究木衛(wèi)二的航天任務(wù), 航天器環(huán)繞木星軌道, 飛越木衛(wèi)二, 遠距離測量 這顆衛(wèi)星和它的海洋。

【67】But how about this?

但是這樣如何？

【68】So I envision a future where to study Europa's ocean, we send submarines down into the ocean itself.

我正在暢想這樣的未來 我們可以把潛水艇送進海里, 直接研究木衛(wèi)二的海洋。

【69】And we study the ocean from within the ocean, and we directly search for signs of life.

我們在海里學(xué)習(xí)海洋, 直接監(jiān)測生命跡象。

【70】And while we're at it, we should also send submersibles to Enceladus.

等能做到這個程度的時候, 我們也可以把潛水器 送去土衛(wèi)二（Enceladus）。

【71】Enceladus is a moon of Saturn.

土衛(wèi)二是土星的衛(wèi)星。

【72】It's amazing.

太厲害了。

【73】It also has a subsurface - salty, liquid-water ocean - because we see literally geysers of water ice coming out of its south polar region.

它也有地下層 含有鹽分、液態(tài)水的海洋, 因為我們發(fā)現(xiàn) 有冰自其南極區(qū)域間歇性噴射而出。

【74】And it's not just Europa and Enceladus.

不僅僅是木衛(wèi)二和土衛(wèi)二。

【75】The outer solar system is full of ocean worlds.

外太陽系有許多 有海洋的星球。

【76】And if we have learned one thing about studying life on Earth - which, by the way, also an ocean world - it's that all life requires liquid water to survive.

如果要說我們從地球生命身上 學(xué)到了什么, 順帶一提, 地球也是有海洋的星球, 那就是所有生命的生存 都需要液態(tài)水。

【77】So we wonder: Could there be life in these other oceans as well?

所以我們才會這么想: 這些星球的海洋里 會不會也有生命呢？

【78】There's other possibilities, too.

還有別的可能。

【79】Let's consider astronomy and astrophysics.

我們來看看天文和天體物理。

【80】This is a beautiful image from the Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation of Orion.

這是哈勃太空望遠鏡傳來的 一張美麗的獵戶座圖像。

【81】It is a nebula: a star-forming region where new stars are being born.

這是一團星云 新的恒星在這個區(qū)域誕生。

【82】And in order to understand these processes in the universe, we need large telescopes in space to send us back this type of data.

為了了解宇宙中的這些過程, 我們需要在太空中架設(shè)巨型望遠鏡, 將這類數(shù)據(jù)傳輸回來。

【83】Now you could fit a telescope three times the diameter of Hubble in a Starship.

現(xiàn)在,你可以在星艦里裝下 三倍哈勃望遠鏡直徑的望遠鏡。

【84】You could actually fit several of those very large telescopes in a Starship.

星艦可以裝下 好幾個這么大的望遠鏡。

【85】And that's important because telescopes - size matters, right?

這非常重要,因為望遠鏡的 尺寸很重要,對吧？

【86】The telescope is like a light-collecting bucket, and you want to collect as many photons as you possibly can to see objects that are faint and to see objects that are far away.

望遠鏡就像一個聚光的桶, 為了看清楚光線微弱的物體 和遙遠的物體, 必須要盡量收集更多的光子。

【87】Because the telescope - a telescope is a time machine.

因為望遠鏡 是一個時光機。

【88】The further away an object is, the older it is, because it takes a finite amount of time for that light to travel from that object to your eyeball, right?

物體的距離越遠, 距今的時間就越久遠, 因為光從物體傳到你的眼球 需要一定量的時間,對吧？

【89】That's why it's called the speed of light.

這就是為什么被稱為“光速”。

【90】So with these larger telescopes, we can address these science questions, like searching for exoplanets, planets around other stars and understanding the formation of stars and planetary systems ...

有了更大型的望遠鏡, 我們就可以解決一些科學(xué)問題, 比如搜索系外行星、 環(huán)繞其他恒星轉(zhuǎn)動的行星, 了解恒星和 行星系統(tǒng)的形成,

【91】and looking back to the cosmic dawn - the literal beginning of time - and fundamentally understanding our own place in the universe.

回顧宇宙黎明 時間的起點, 充分了解我們在宇宙中的位置。

【92】But it's not just the size of the telescopes.

我們不僅可以調(diào)整望遠鏡的尺寸,

【93】We can also reduce the cost.

還可以降低成本。

【94】So the James Webb Space Telescope - JWST - fantastic instrument, amazing.

詹姆斯.韋布空間望遠鏡, 簡稱 JWST, 非常棒的儀器, 太厲害了。

【95】The telescope is relatively large, so it didn't fit on any existing launch vehicles.

這個望遠鏡很大, 現(xiàn)有的航天器都無法承載。

【96】So it had to be folded up, like a piece of origami, to fit on the rocket.

所以它需要像折紙一樣 被折起來, 塞進火箭里。

【97】So if we have larger vehicles that can launch larger telescopes, we can just launch them already fully assembled, right?

如果我們有了更大的、 可以裝載更大望遠鏡的航天器, 我們就可以 以完整形態(tài)發(fā)射它了,對吧？

【98】No deployment in space necessary.

不需要在太空中重新組裝了。

【99】So the science that can be enabled is amazing, but it's about more than the science.

這能帶來的科學(xué)能力太驚人了, 但是遠不止科學(xué)。

【100】It's also about the exploration.

這也關(guān)乎探索的能力。

【101】Because for the first time in the history of our entire planet - and that's about a little over four and a half billion years for anybody that's keeping track -

這是我們整個星球的歷史上 如果有人算一下, 那就是略大于 45 億年,

【102】we are on the cusp of having both the scientific and technical capability to send humans to build a future off of our home planet.

首次同時具備了科學(xué)和技術(shù)能力, 將人類送往地球外的地方創(chuàng)造未來。

【103】And here's how we're going to do it on Mars.

這就是我們要在火星上做的事。

【104】So first we need to send uncrewed starships to Mars.

第一步,我們要 向火星發(fā)射無人星艦。

【105】I mean, we have to prove that we can safely land those vehicles before we can send humans on them.

我的意思是, 我們在把人類送去之前, 得確保航天器可以安全著陸。

【106】But we will use that amazing payload capacity of the Starships to send elements that we need in order to enable a sustained human presence on Mars.

但是,我們會利用星艦的巨大裝載量 把用來維持人類生存的物資 先送上火星。

【107】And we're going to start with what we call ISRU: In-Situ Resource Utilization.

我們將采用一個方法, 叫做 ISRU 就地資源利用 （In-Situ Resource Utilization）。

【108】That basically means living off the land.

就是就地取材的意思。

【109】Because if we want to have a self-sustaining presence on Mars, we cannot be Earth-reliant, right?

因為如果我們想在火星上 過上自給自足的日子, 我們就不會依賴于地球了,對吧？

【110】We cannot ferry everything we need from Earth to Mars all the time.

我們不能一直把 需要的物資從地球運去火星。

【111】You know, living off of local resources - it's been critical to human survival since the beginning of our entire species.

依靠本地資源生存, 從我們?nèi)祟惔嬖谥掌?就對生存至關(guān)重要。

【112】Our ancestors for millennia have been learning how to use local resources to do things like, you know, build tools and grow food and generate energy.

我們的祖先從未停下 利用當?shù)刭Y源的腳步, 去做各種事,比如制造工具、 種莊稼、 生產(chǎn)能源。

【113】So, I mean, we're lucky.

要我說,我們很幸運。

【114】We live on a pretty cushy planet right now.

我們現(xiàn)在生活在 一個很安逸的星球。

【115】That's why we're all here today: we have everything that we need.

我們可以歡聚一堂的理由就是 我們應(yīng)有盡有了。

【116】But Mars is different.

但是火星不一樣。

【117】And Mars is unforgiving.

火星很無情。

【118】And if you run out of food or fuel or oxygen, you're done.

如果你的食物、 燃料、 氧氣不夠了, 你就玩完了。

【119】So we have to be very smart about how we do ISRU on Mars.

所以我們必須找出一個 機智的方式在火星上做 ISRU。

【120】And the way we're going to start is by using water ice as a resource.

我們可以從利用固態(tài)水資源開始。

【121】We know Mars has lots of water ice.

我們知道, 火星有大量固態(tài)水（冰）。

【122】There's ground ice, there's rock-covered glaciers, there's ice for us to use.

有地表冰, 有巖下冰川, 有我們可以使用的冰。

【123】Now, traditionally, when people talk about sending humans to Mars, we talk about sending like a few people and maybe a little rover so they can drive around and explore a little bit.

通常人們說到把人送上火星的時候, 我們只是在說就送幾個人, 送幾輛他們可以開的火星車, 稍微探索探索。

【124】But Starship is so transformational that now we can talk about sending the heavy-duty construction machinery to build the infrastructure that we need for a large-scale presence on Mars.

但是星艦太具革命性了, 讓我們可以考慮 把重工機械送上火星, 建設(shè)基建以供大規(guī)模人類生存。

【125】So I'm talking like dump trucks and backhoes and large drill rigs - all the things we're going to need for ISRU and beyond.

我指的是土方車、 挖土機、大型鉆機, ISRU 和之后 需要用到的所有東西。

【126】And another thing that we need to do before the humans arrive is serach for Indigenous Martian life.

在人類到達之前, 我們還要做一件事, 就是尋找火星土著生命。

【127】So this is a top-priority science question.

這是一個最重要的科學(xué)問題。

【128】Is there life on Mars?

火星上有生命嗎？

【129】But we also have to do due diligence to make sure that that landing site is safe for the humans to come and live and work.

我們還必須全面研究, 確保降落位置 對人類的到來、 生活和工作是安全的。

【130】So once we get all that robotic precursor work done, then the humans can arrive.

在機器先鋒的任務(wù)都完成了以后, 人類就可以來了。

【131】And this is when we start building up a base and moving towards a civilization on Mars.

這時候,我們就可以開始建立基地, 為火星文明做準備。

【132】Now just imagine that for a moment, right?

我們來想象一下吧。

【133】At this point, there will actually be Martians, except they will be people like you and me.

這個時候,真的會有火星人, 但是這些火星人就和你我一樣。

【134】And it's about more than just Mars, because as we develop this capability to send humans into the solar system, we can truly begin to address questions such as:

我們的終點不會是火星, 因為我們有了 把人類送進太陽系的能力, 我們可以開始解決這樣的問題:

【135】Are we alone in the universe, and can humans thrive off-planet?

我們是宇宙唯一的生命嗎？ 我們可以離開行星生活嗎？

【136】So the opportunities that are afforded us by these supersized spacecraft are truly unprecedented, and they're like nothing that we've ever had before.

這些超大型航天器 給我們帶來的機會 前所未有, 它們是史無前例的。

【137】And they're completely changing the paradigm for space exploration.

它們完全改變了太空探索的形式。

【138】It has taken the entire history of our planet to reach this point right now.

我們的星球走過了這么長的歷史 才到了這里。

【139】So I think it's an amazing time to be alive, because what we do next will forever change the course of human history.

我覺得活在現(xiàn)在真好, 因為我們接下來要做的 會徹底改變?nèi)祟悮v史的走向。

【140】So now is the time to seize the opportunity and expand humanity throughout the cosmos.

是時候抓住機會, 將人類的種子播撒至宇宙之中了。

【141】Thank you.

謝謝。