馬斯克計劃最早于2025年將人類送上火星
身家億萬的SpaceX創(chuàng)始人埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)向世人勾勒出了一個大膽的行星際旅行計劃，或最早于2025年將人類送上火星。該計劃是在這個紅色行星上建立人類殖民地的更宏大努力的組成部分。
In a presentation on Tuesday, Mr Musk outlined for the first time the technical details of how SpaceX planned to operate missions to Mars, and said the company would need more funding to get there.
在周二做的一個報告中，馬斯克首次羅列出了SpaceX計劃如何運作火星之旅的技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)，并表示公司需要更多資金以實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)。
The billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX also emphasised his personal commitment to helping humans pursue life on other planets.
特斯拉(Tesla)和SpaceX的這位掌門人還強調(diào)稱，他個人致力于幫助人類在其他行星上生活。
“The main reason I personally am accumulating assets is in order to fund this,” Mr Musk said. He wants to use his money “to make the biggest contribution I can to making life multi-planetary”, he added.
馬斯克說道：“我個人積累財富的主要原因，就是為了給這一努力籌措資金。”他還表示，希望用自己的錢“為多行星生活做出我能做的最大貢獻”。
SpaceX’s plan for Mars travel includes building a reusable spaceship that could travel between Earth and Mars and would take roughly three months to get there. The craft would be launched into orbit with empty fuel tanks, then be fuelled up with methane by a refuelling ship before it took off for Mars.
SpaceX火星旅行計劃包括建造一艘可重復(fù)使用的飛船。該飛船可在地球和火星之間旅行，路上花費的時間大約為三個月。該飛船會帶著空燃料箱發(fā)射入軌，再由一艘加油飛船加注甲烷后出發(fā)前往火星。
These ships would both be launched with a reusable booster rocket that is similar to SpaceX’s current Falcon 9 rocket, but bigger.
這兩艘飛船都會用一枚可重復(fù)使用的助推火箭發(fā)射，該火箭與SpaceX現(xiàn)有的獵鷹9號(Falcon 9)火箭類似，但要更大一些。
However, the timing of the Mars announcement is unusual, coming less than a month after a SpaceX rocket exploded during a routine refuelling and just three months after a separate SpaceX rocket blew up in flight.
不過，馬斯克選擇在此刻公布這一火星旅行計劃可謂不同尋常。就在不到一個月前，SpaceX一枚火箭在一次例行的燃料加注過程中爆炸。而就在三個月前，另一枚SpaceX火箭在飛行中爆炸。
SpaceX plans to send its small Dragon 2 spacecraft on test missions to Mars during the 2018 and 2020 pairing windows, when Earth and Mars are close.
SpaceX計劃在2018年和2020年這兩個配對窗口期發(fā)射其小型的“龍二”(Dragon 2)飛船，執(zhí)行登陸火星的測試任務(wù)。在這兩個配對窗口期，地球與火星之間的距離比較近。
A new spaceship that can carry between 100 and 200 passengers would be developed within four years, Mr Musk said. The spaceship, tentatively named “Heart of Gold”, could make its first test run to Mars in 2022 and then take passengers there during the 2024-25 pairing window.
馬斯克表示，會在四年的時間里開發(fā)一種能搭載100到200名乘客的新型飛船。這種飛船暫時被命名為“黃金之心”(Heart of Gold)，可能會在2022年啟動首次赴火星的試運行，接下來會在2024-25年的配對窗口期攜帶乘客前往火星。
Developing this interplanetary travel system could cost about $10bn, Mr Musk said, and SpaceX planned to invest more in this area.
馬斯克表示，開發(fā)該行星際旅行系統(tǒng)的成本可能會在100億美元左右，而且SpaceX計劃在這一領(lǐng)域投入更多資金。
Despite the high cost, Mr Musk said he hoped to make travel to Mars as affordable as possible, estimating that tickets could one day cost as little as $200,000.
他說，盡管火星之旅成本高昂，但他希望能令這一旅程變得盡可能的廉價，估計有朝一日票價可低至20萬美元一張。
He declined to answer questions about whether he himself would be on the first trip to Mars, however, pointing out that the chances of death were very high and that he wanted to see his children grow up.
不過，他拒絕回答關(guān)于他自己是否會參加首次火星之旅的問題，指出在這一旅程中喪命的可能性非常高、而他希望看著自己的子女長大成人。
