【TED演讲稿】SpaceX 的超大型星舰火箭与银河探索的未来
TED演讲者：Jennifer Heldmann / 詹妮弗·海德曼
演讲标题：SpaceX's supersized Starship rocket -- and the future of galactic exploration / SpaceX 的超大型星舰火箭与银河探索的未来
内容概要：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 发射的星舰航天器让我们可以以一种全新的方式在太阳系探索上“大”展拳脚。行星科学家詹妮弗·海德曼（Jennifer Heldmann）介绍了像星舰这样的可反复使用的大型航天器如何帮助人类迈出新的星际一步，步入太空探索的新纪元，展示了研究太阳系中有海洋的星球和发射拥有更宽广深邃视野的更大型望远镜。
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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.
非常感谢各位今天来到这里, 因为我很兴奋地想要告诉大家, 我们要在太空探索上 “大”显身手了。
【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.
太空探索的未来与我们之前 所见的任何事物都不一样, 它的未来是我们无法想象的。
【3】Well, why is that?
为什么呢？
【4】We've been exploring space since the 1950s, so what's different now?
我们从上世纪 50 年代 就开始探索太空, 现在有什么不同呢？
【5】Well, for the first time ever, we are going to be using supersized spacecraft for our journey into the solar system.
这是我们首次 使用超大型火箭 迈上前往太阳系的征程。
【6】This is the Starship vehicle that's being developed by the company SpaceX.
这就是 SpaceX 公司 开发的星舰（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.
这个航天器将承载更大质量, 或者说装载量, 拥有更大马力, 可以反复发射, 次数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.
星舰和它的超重型助推器 是一个完全可反复利用的运输系统。
【9】So that means that you don't have to build a new vehicle every time you want to fly.
这就意味着每次想飞行的时候, 不需要重新造一个航天器。
【10】And so what that does is that reduces the cost of each flight and it lets you have more flights.
这个系统降低了每次飞行的成本, 让你可以多次飞行。
【11】Now historically, rockets have been used once, and then that's it.
纵观历史,火箭都是一次性的, 用完即抛。
【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, 你会造一架飞机, 飞了一次 就把它扔了吗？
【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, 因为这样每次飞行的成本就太高了, 你就不会飞行很多次了,对吧？
【14】So let's put this in perspective a little bit.
那我们再好好看看。
【15】So think about the last rover that we just sent to Mars.
想一想我们上次发射的火星探测车。
【16】It is an amazing mission; it's still on Mars collecting great data.
这是个伟大的航天任务, 它现在还在火星上收集数据。
【17】So the launch cost for that mission was 243 million dollars.
这个航天任务的发射成本 为 2.43 亿美元。
【18】So that works out to be about 100,000 dollars per pound to launch that rover to Mars.
动手算一下就能得出 向火星发射一辆探测车
【19】And that's where we are today.
我们现在就能做到这个程度。
【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 几百万美元的成本
【21】And so that means that you could launch that same Mars rover for about 900 dollars per pound.
这就意味着发射同一辆火星车 每磅大约只需要 900 美元。
【22】So that's 100,000 dollars versus 900 dollars.
10 万美元对比 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.
实际上有可能会 比 900 美元还便宜, 因为既然星舰如此庞大, 一架星舰或许可以搭载 100 辆火星车。
【25】It's really incredible.
太厉害了。
【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.
还有多家商业公司正在建造 不同尺寸的 新型火箭, 满足不同需求。
【28】And this is great because this is really helping to open up space to more people.
这太棒了,因为这样能够帮助 更多人接触到太空。
【29】So here's an image of some of the current rockets compared to NASA's mighty Saturn V rocket.
这是一张近期研发的火箭 与美国宇航局的 超级火箭土星 5 号的对比图。
【30】So the Saturn V is the rocket that launched astronauts to the Moon in the '60s and '70s.
土星 5 号是 在上世纪 60 及 70 年代 将宇航员送上月球的火箭。
【31】The last Saturn V launched in 1973.
上一次发射升空在 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.
坦白地告诉你, 那时候我还没有出生, 所以我觉得太不公平了, 因为在那之后 就没有过这么厉害的火箭。
【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.
所以我必须强调 我们今天讨论的改变 不是逐步递增的,不是火箭 和航天器史上微小的进步。
【34】These are truly transformational technologies that are giving us completely new capabilities and changing the paradigm for space exploration.
这些都是革命性技术, 给予我们全新的能力, 改变了太空探索的局面。
【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.
眼下马上要发生的是 我们要从现状出发, 将现在常见的 过于局限的、一次性的、 高端的航天任务, 改变为更量产化、大规模的 太空行动。
【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.
原因就是我们已经在很大程度上 不再受到过往 质量和成本的严格限制, 而航天行业在过去的几十年里 都受到这样的约束。
【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.
现在有了这样一个航天器, 强迫我们改变对太空探索 和太空结构的看法, 它就是星舰。
【38】That entire system is designed to be even more powerful than the Saturn V.
整个系统设计得 比土星 5 号还要强劲得多。
【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.
星舰这个航天器本身 可以承载 超过 100 公吨的装载量, 发射至地球轨道、 月球表面、 火星表面, 甚至更远。
【40】Like, 100 metric tons of payload.
100 公吨的装载量。
【41】Like, that's crazy.
太惊人了。
【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?
这是我们未曾想过的 天文数字, 因为在太空飞行途中, 我们通常想方设法要减重,对吧？
【43】Miniaturize your components, have your instruments be as lightweight as possible because of the mass and cost constraints.
缩小零部件的尺寸, 由于质量和成本限制, 尽量减轻工具的重量。
【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?
所以我们现在遇到了一个 截然相反的问题, 我们必须搞明白 如何填满 这 100 公吨的装载量？
【45】Like, seriously, like, what are we going to fly?
你想想,我们到底要发射什么？
【46】So this is a great place to be, and it's a great problem to have.
这是个好节点, 这是个好问题。
【47】How can you actually fly such a ridiculous amount of payload into the solar system?
怎样可以把如此巨大的装载量 发射进太阳系？
【48】Well, Starship will conveniently refill its propellant tanks in space with methane and oxygen.
星舰可以轻松地 在太空中给推进储存槽 加满甲烷和氧气。
【49】So the way that this works is you launch your first Starship, right?
前提是你得发射了 这第一艘星舰,对吧？
【50】You've got your payload you want to send wherever into the solar system.
你把你想发射的货物 发射进了太阳系。
【51】You launch that into orbit.
你把它送上了轨道。
【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.
然后你又发射了一艘星舰, 我们就把它称为“加油机”, 因为它其实就是另一艘星舰, 但是满载推进剂。
【53】And then those two vehicles meet and they dock in Earth orbit.
这两艘飞船相遇了, 然后停靠在地球轨道上。
【54】And the tanker refills the propellant tanks of your starship.
加油机给星舰的推进槽加满推进剂。
【55】So essentially what you're doing is you're refilling your gas tanks before you go out on a big, long trip.
所以这本质上就像 在长途旅行启程前加满油箱。
【56】And that's how you can send so much payload capacity out into the solar system.
这正是把这么大量的货物 送进太阳系的方式。
【57】Now this is so important because Earth is such a large gravity well.
值得注意的是, 地球的重力场很强。
【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, 也就意味着大量的燃料, 离开地球表面。
【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,在太空中加推进剂, 等于我们在轨道上 重置了火箭的状态, 然后就可以把这些货物 想运去哪里就运去哪里。
【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:
我们有了新的能力, 就是如此, 但是我现在要讲 最激动人心的部分:
【62】What are we going to do with this capability?
有了这个能力, 我们要做些什么呢？
【63】So consider this.
这样想一想。
【64】Scientists, myself included, have long been interested in the possibility of life on Europa.
科学家们,包括我自己, 一直对木卫二（Europa）上 是否可能存在生命充满兴趣。
【65】Europa has a subsurface - salty, liquid-water ocean - and we wonder if life might be able to exist there.
木卫二有地下层 含有盐分、液态水的海洋, 我们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.
鉴于我们目前的探索策略, 现在正在进行一个 研究木卫二的航天任务, 航天器环绕木星轨道, 飞越木卫二, 远距离测量 这颗卫星和它的海洋。
【67】But how about this?
但是这样如何？
【68】So I envision a future where to study Europa's ocean, we send submarines down into the ocean itself.
我正在畅想这样的未来 我们可以把潜水艇送进海里, 直接研究木卫二的海洋。
【69】And we study the ocean from within the ocean, and we directly search for signs of life.
我们在海里学习海洋, 直接监测生命迹象。
【70】And while we're at it, we should also send submersibles to Enceladus.
等能做到这个程度的时候, 我们也可以把潜水器 送去土卫二（Enceladus）。
【71】Enceladus is a moon of Saturn.
土卫二是土星的卫星。
【72】It's amazing.
太厉害了。
【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.
它也有地下层 含有盐分、液态水的海洋, 因为我们发现 有冰自其南极区域间歇性喷射而出。
【74】And it's not just Europa and Enceladus.
不仅仅是木卫二和土卫二。
【75】The outer solar system is full of ocean worlds.
外太阳系有许多 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.
如果要说我们从地球生命身上 学到了什么, 顺带一提, 地球也是有海洋的星球, 那就是所有生命的生存 都需要液态水。
【77】So we wonder: Could there be life in these other oceans as well?
所以我们才会这么想: 这些星球的海洋里 会不会也有生命呢？
【78】There's other possibilities, too.
还有别的可能。
【79】Let's consider astronomy and astrophysics.
我们来看看天文和天体物理。
【80】This is a beautiful image from the Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation of Orion.
这是哈勃太空望远镜传来的 一张美丽的猎户座图像。
【81】It is a nebula: a star-forming region where new stars are being born.
这是一团星云 新的恒星在这个区域诞生。
【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.
为了了解宇宙中的这些过程, 我们需要在太空中架设巨型望远镜, 将这类数据传输回来。
【83】Now you could fit a telescope three times the diameter of Hubble in a Starship.
现在,你可以在星舰里装下 三倍哈勃望远镜直径的望远镜。
【84】You could actually fit several of those very large telescopes in a Starship.
星舰可以装下 好几个这么大的望远镜。
【85】And that's important because telescopes - size matters, right?
这非常重要,因为望远镜的 尺寸很重要,对吧？
【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.
望远镜就像一个聚光的桶, 为了看清楚光线微弱的物体 和遥远的物体, 必须要尽量收集更多的光子。
【87】Because the telescope - a telescope is a time machine.
因为望远镜 是一个时光机。
【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?
物体的距离越远, 距今的时间就越久远, 因为光从物体传到你的眼球 需要一定量的时间,对吧？
【89】That's why it's called the speed of light.
这就是为什么被称为“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 ...
有了更大型的望远镜, 我们就可以解决一些科学问题, 比如搜索系外行星、 环绕其他恒星转动的行星, 了解恒星和 行星系统的形成,
【91】and looking back to the cosmic dawn - the literal beginning of time - and fundamentally understanding our own place in the universe.
回顾宇宙黎明 时间的起点, 充分了解我们在宇宙中的位置。
【92】But it's not just the size of the telescopes.
我们不仅可以调整望远镜的尺寸,
【93】We can also reduce the cost.
还可以降低成本。
【94】So the James Webb Space Telescope - JWST - fantastic instrument, amazing.
詹姆斯.韦布空间望远镜, 简称 JWST, 非常棒的仪器, 太厉害了。
【95】The telescope is relatively large, so it didn't fit on any existing launch vehicles.
这个望远镜很大, 现有的航天器都无法承载。
【96】So it had to be folded up, like a piece of origami, to fit on the rocket.
所以它需要像折纸一样 被折起来, 塞进火箭里。
【97】So if we have larger vehicles that can launch larger telescopes, we can just launch them already fully assembled, right?
如果我们有了更大的、 可以装载更大望远镜的航天器, 我们就可以 以完整形态发射它了,对吧？
【98】No deployment in space necessary.
不需要在太空中重新组装了。
【99】So the science that can be enabled is amazing, but it's about more than the science.
这能带来的科学能力太惊人了, 但是远不止科学。
【100】It's also about the exploration.
这也关乎探索的能力。
【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 -
这是我们整个星球的历史上 如果有人算一下, 那就是略大于 45 亿年,
【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.
首次同时具备了科学和技术能力, 将人类送往地球外的地方创造未来。
【103】And here's how we're going to do it on Mars.
这就是我们要在火星上做的事。
【104】So first we need to send uncrewed starships to Mars.
第一步,我们要 向火星发射无人星舰。
【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, 我们在把人类送去之前, 得确保航天器可以安全着陆。
【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,我们会利用星舰的巨大装载量 把用来维持人类生存的物资 先送上火星。
【107】And we're going to start with what we call ISRU: In-Situ Resource Utilization.
我们将采用一个方法, 叫做 ISRU 就地资源利用 （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?
因为如果我们想在火星上 过上自给自足的日子, 我们就不会依赖于地球了,对吧？
【110】We cannot ferry everything we need from Earth to Mars all the time.
我们不能一直把 需要的物资从地球运去火星。
【111】You know, living off of local resources - it's been critical to human survival since the beginning of our entire species.
依靠本地资源生存, 从我们人类存在之日起 就对生存至关重要。
【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.
我们的祖先从未停下 利用当地资源的脚步, 去做各种事,比如制造工具、 种庄稼、 生产能源。
【113】So, I mean, we're lucky.
要我说,我们很幸运。
【114】We live on a pretty cushy planet right now.
我们现在生活在 一个很安逸的星球。
【115】That's why we're all here today: we have everything that we need.
我们可以欢聚一堂的理由就是 我们应有尽有了。
【116】But Mars is different.
但是火星不一样。
【117】And Mars is unforgiving.
火星很无情。
【118】And if you run out of food or fuel or oxygen, you're done.
如果你的食物、 燃料、 氧气不够了, 你就玩完了。
【119】So we have to be very smart about how we do ISRU on Mars.
所以我们必须找出一个 机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.
我们可以从利用固态水资源开始。
【121】We know Mars has lots of water ice.
我们知道, 火星有大量固态水（冰）。
【122】There's ground ice, there's rock-covered glaciers, there's ice for us to use.
有地表冰, 有岩下冰川, 有我们可以使用的冰。
【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.
通常人们说到把人送上火星的时候, 我们只是在说就送几个人, 送几辆他们可以开的火星车, 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.
但是星舰太具革命性了, 让我们可以考虑 把重工机械送上火星, 建设基建以供大规模人类生存。
【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.
我指的是土方车、 挖土机、大型钻机, ISRU 和之后 需要用到的所有东西。
【126】And another thing that we need to do before the humans arrive is serach for Indigenous Martian life.
在人类到达之前, 我们还要做一件事, 就是寻找火星土着生命。
【127】So this is a top-priority science question.
这是一个最重要的科学问题。
【128】Is there life on Mars?
火星上有生命吗？
【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.
我们还必须全面研究, 确保降落位置 对人类的到来、 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.
在机器先锋的任务都完成了以后, 人类就可以来了。
【131】And this is when we start building up a base and moving towards a civilization on Mars.
这时候,我们就可以开始建立基地, 为火星文明做准备。
【132】Now just imagine that for a moment, right?
我们来想象一下吧。
【133】At this point, there will actually be Martians, except they will be people like you and me.
这个时候,真的会有火星人, 但是这些火星人就和你我一样。
【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:
我们的终点不会是火星, 因为我们有了 把人类送进太阳系的能力, 我们可以开始解决这样的问题:
【135】Are we alone in the universe, and can humans thrive off-planet?
我们是宇宙唯一的生命吗？ 我们可以离开行星生活吗？
【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.
这些超大型航天器 给我们带来的机会 前所未有, 它们是史无前例的。
【137】And they're completely changing the paradigm for space exploration.
它们完全改变了太空探索的形式。
【138】It has taken the entire history of our planet to reach this point right now.
我们的星球走过了这么长的历史 才到了这里。
【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.
我觉得活在现在真好, 因为我们接下来要做的 会彻底改变人类历史的走向。
【140】So now is the time to seize the opportunity and expand humanity throughout the cosmos.
是时候抓住机会, 将人类的种子播撒至宇宙之中了。
【141】Thank you.
谢谢。
