tip of Texas, Starship Serial Number 10 has finally stuck the landing! And then it exploded.

德州的尖端，10號星艦終於降落了！然後它就爆炸了

Still, this proved a major part of the Starship concept, but there is still much more to come.

不過，這還是證明了星際飛船概念的一個重要部分，但還有更多的內容。

So what can we expect from SN11 and beyond?

那麼，在SN11及以後的日子裡，我們可以期待什麼呢？

SpaceX was founded with the goal of eventually

SpaceX公司成立的目標是最終

taking humans to Mars, and their Starship spacecraft—along with its planned enormous

將人類帶到火星，他們的星際飛船及其計劃中的巨大的星際飛船

first stage booster called the Super Heavy— is the ship company founder and CEO Elon Musk

第一級助推器被稱為超級重型--是船公司創始人兼首席執行官埃隆-馬斯克的。

believes will take us there. Before we get into what's next for the program,

相信會把我們帶到那裡。在我們進入計劃的下一步之前。

let's first give SN10's flight its due. In the past few years, SpaceX has been racking

先給SN10的飛行一個應有的評價吧。在過去的幾年裡，SpaceX公司一直在架設

up so many successful Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy booster landings that it's almost

獵鷹9號和獵鷹重型助推器成功著陸的次數多到讓人不忍直視

become expected. But when SN8 and SN9 failed to land and experienced what SpaceX euphemistically

成為預期。但是，當SN8和SN9未能著陸，並經歷了SpaceX委婉地表示的

call Rapid Unplanned Disassembly, it was a reminder that space flight is never

稱為 "快速非計劃拆卸"，它提醒人們，太空飛行永遠不會被稱為 "快速非計劃拆卸"。

easy and certainly never routine. Landing SN10 was a huge milestone for the project,

容易，當然也絕不是例行公事。登陸SN10是項目的一個巨大里程碑。

even if it disassembled itself a few minutes later.

即使幾分鐘後自己拆開了。

Complicating matters is the fact that the Starship prototypes are using a new engine

更為複雜的是，星際飛船的原型機使用了新的引擎。

that's truly revolutionary. Falcon 9 boosters use SpaceX's Merlin engines, which burn

那才是真正的革命。獵鷹9號助推器使用SpaceX公司的梅林發動機，該發動機燃燒的是

liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosine to produce thrust. By contrast, Starship's

液氧和火箭級煤油來產生推力。相比之下，星艦號的

Raptor engines use liquid oxygen and liquid methane. Methane offers higher performance

猛禽發動機使用液氧和液態甲烷。甲烷具有更高的性能

at lower cost than kerosene. Methane can allow the engines to run at higher pressures and

比煤油成本低。甲烷可以使發動機在更高的壓力下運行，並且可以在更高的壓力下運行。

it eliminates the need for some special equipment because it can actually pressurize itself.

它不需要一些特殊的設備，因為它實際上可以自己加壓。

It also doesn't build up deposits within the engine, making it possible to reuse the

它也不會在發動機內形成沉積物，使其可以重複使用。

same engines over and over with less refurbishing. It might even be possible to create methane

同樣的發動機反覆使用，而翻新的次數較少。甚至有可能產生甲烷

on the surface of Mars, which means a Starship mission to the red planet won't need to

這意味著前往紅色星球的星際飛船任務不需

bring along fuel for the return trip home. Despite all these benefits, SpaceX's Raptor

帶上燃料，以便回程回家。儘管有這些好處，SpaceX公司的Raptor

engines are some of the first methane-powered rockets. They're also the first flying examples

發動機是一些最早的甲烷動力火箭。它們也是第一批飛行的例子

to use what's known as a full-flow staged combustion system, which uses all its fuel

使用所謂的全流式分階段燃燒系統，該系統使用所有的燃料。

for propulsion and doesn't waste any getting the process started unlike Merlin's more common

推進器，而且不像梅林更常見的 "大炮 "那樣，不浪費任何啟動過程的時間。

open cycle system. Put all these design choices together and the Raptor engines can

開式循環系統。將所有這些設計選擇放在一起，猛禽發動機可以做到

produce double the thrust of a Merlin and squeeze propulsion from as much fuel as possible.

產生雙倍於梅林的推力，並從儘可能多的燃料中榨取推進力。

So it's no surprise figuring out how to land a 50 meter tall prototype rocket powered

所以想出如何讓一個50米高的火箭原型著陸也就不足為奇了。

by three of these new engines has taken some fine-tuning. Indeed the issue with SN9's

由這三款新引擎進行了一些微調。事實上，SN9的問題

landing seemed to be failure for one engine to relight and control the landing. Now that

降落似乎是一個發動機重新點火和控制降落的故障。現在

SN10 has proven the concept, there's still a lot of work ahead of the SpaceX team in

SN10已經證明了這一概念，SpaceX團隊還有很多工作要做，在

Boca Chica, Texas. The next launch we're looking forward to

博卡奇卡，德州。我們期待的下一場發佈會

is Serial Number 11. SN11 is almost identical to the previous three Starships, which have

是序列號11。SN11與之前的三艘星際飛船幾乎完全相同，它們的編號為

been improving in small ways from one iteration to the next, with things like more robust wiring,

一直在小幅度的改進，從一個迭代到下一個迭代，比如更強大的佈線。

a better nose cone seal, and more mature Raptor engines. Because SN8 and 9 reached their high

更好的鼻錐密封性，以及更成熟的猛禽發動機。因為SN8和9達到了他們的高

altitude goals, managed to switch fuel tanks, and steer themselves on the way back down,

高度目標，成功地切換了油箱，並在回落的途中引導自己。

it seems SpaceX thought a soft landing was within reach and decided that Serial Numbers

看來SpaceX認為軟著陸是可以實現的，並決定序列號的問題。

12 through 14 wouldn't be necessary. With SN10's post-landing detonation, that means

12到14就沒有必要了。由於SN10在著陸後引爆，這意味著：

they've only got one more ship from this batch to figure out the landing completely.

他們只需要再從這批船中找出一艘船就可以完全降落了。

The next major upgrades to the design will come with SN15, so we'll keep our eyes locked

下一步設計的重大升級將在SN15中出現，我們將繼續關注。

on Texas to see what exactly they're cooking up.

看看他們到底在做什麼。

Aside from perfecting the soft touchdowns, SN11 can provide other valuable data, like

除了完善的軟性觸控，SN11還能提供其他有價值的數據，如

how the planned heat shielding handles the stress of liftoff and landing. A recovered

計劃中的熱屏蔽如何處理升空和降落的壓力。回收的

Starship will also let SpaceX engineers examine how their raptor engines hold up after repeated

星際飛船還將讓SpaceX的工程師們檢查他們的迅猛龍發動機在反覆使用後的穩定性。

use, and if Elon Musk's ultimate ambition of engines that can be flown 1000 times is

用，而如果埃隆-馬斯克的終極野心是可以飛行1000次的發動機

within reach. It's possible we'll see the same prototypes lift off multiple times

觸手可及。我們有可能會看到同樣的原型機多次升空。

as the engineers push the envelope. The next Starship launch should look remarkably

因為工程師們在不斷地挑戰極限下一次星際飛船的發射應該是

like the previous three. Ideally this time around the landing legs will deploy, the structure

像前三者一樣。理想的情況是，這次的著陸腿會展開，結構

won't be damaged on touchdown, there won't be a fuel leak or fire, and SN11 stays in

不會在著陸時損壞，不會漏油或起火，而SN11也不會被損壞。

one piece. SpaceX has made historic progress already

一塊。SpaceX已經取得了歷史性的進展

with Starship. Considering that there's still a lot of work to be done on both Starship

與《星際飛船》。考慮到《星際飛船》和《星際飛船》都還有很多工作要做。

and the Super Heavy rocket, there should be many exciting rocket launches from the southern

和超級重型火箭，應該會有很多激動人心的火箭發射，從南。

tip of Texas in the future. Hopefully they're groundbreaking in the way SN10 was, and not

尖端的德州在未來。希望他們能像SN10那樣有突破性的發展，而不是。

in the way SN8 and 9 were. For more Countdown to Launch, check out our

以SN8和9的方式。更多發佈會倒計時的資訊，請查看我們的

playlist here and if there's another launch you'd like to see us cover, let us know

如果你想看到我們報道其他的發佈會，請告訴我們。

in the comments below. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time on Seeker.

在下面的評論中。感謝您的觀看，我們下期《求是》再見。