Science City, in Japan.

日本的科學城。

Two completely different companies are on a mission to see if they can separate moon water into hydrogen and oxygen on the lunar surface.

兩家完全不同的公司正在執行一項任務，看看能否在月球表面將月球水分離成氫和氧。

Not just a dream, the countdown is on.

這不僅僅是一場夢，倒計時已經開始。

It's taken Takasago Thermal Engineering four years to dream up this device, a mini-electrolyzer strong enough to survive a trip to the moon.

高砂熱能工程公司花了四年時間才夢想出這種設備，它是一種足以在月球旅行中生存的微型電解器。

Adapting the knowledge for extreme conditions in space has been a labor of love, once spearheaded by Takasago engineer Atsushi Kato.

在高砂工程師加藤篤（Atsushi Kato）的率先努力下，這些知識得以適應太空的極端條件。

He gave me exclusive access to the lab where the company does fundamental hydrogen research.

他讓我獨家參觀了公司進行氫氣基礎研究的實驗室。

Electrolyzer uses a very basic electrochemical reaction.

電解槽使用非常基本的電化學反應。

When we supply electricity and water to a reactor called a cell, the water splits into hydrogen and oxygen.

當我們把電和水提供給一個叫做電池的反應器時，水就會分裂成氫和氧。

But you're doing this in space, on the moon.

但你是在太空中，在月球上做這個。

That's where it makes it difficult, right?

這就是困難所在，對嗎？

The most difficult point is adaptation for the low gravity.

最困難的一點是適應低重力。

Because for water electrolyzer, gravity is a very important factor.

因為對於水電解槽來說，重力是一個非常重要的因素。

But on the moon, gravity is one-sixth compared to that of Earth.

但在月球上，重力只有地球的六分之一。

Another challenge, the intense vibrations during liftoff to space.

另一個挑戰是升入太空時的強烈振動。

If the electrolyzer stays intact after the lunar landing, it'll run on energy from the sun that's available for about 10 moon hours a day.

如果登月後電解槽保持完好，它將依靠每天約 10 個月小時的太陽能量運行。

That's about two weeks in Earth time.

地球時間大約是兩週。

Operated remotely, the device will first attempt to make hydrogen from Earth water.

通過遠程操作，該裝置將首先嚐試從地球水中製取氫氣。

How much water are you bringing?

你要帶多少水？

A few hundred milliliters.

幾百毫升

And how much hydrogen are you planning to make if everything goes perfectly?

如果一切順利，你打算賺多少氫氣？

It's a small amount compared to Earth use.

與地球的使用量相比，這只是個小數目。

For the past 100 years, Takasago's ducts and ventilation systems have snaked through the walls of Japan's most iconic buildings.

過去 100 年來，高砂的管道和通風系統一直蜿蜒穿過日本最具標誌性建築的牆壁。

More than 700 patents later, it now bets green hydrogen will propel the company forward.

在獲得 700 多項專利之後，該公司現在打賭綠色氫能將推動公司向前發展。

Hiroyuki Muraoka is Takasago's executive officer.

村岡博之（Hiroyuki Muraoka）是高砂的執行官。

We started to study hydrogen almost 20 years ago.

我們差不多 20 年前就開始研究氫。

And now we are developing large-scale electrolysis riser.

現在，我們正在開發大型電解立管。

And what we do in space would give us definite technology and skills to bring more efficient and easy to operate the machine that would differentiate from the competitors.

我們在太空所做的一切將為我們提供明確的技術和技能，使我們的機器更加高效、易於操作，從而與競爭對手脫穎而出。

I need to be realistic.

我需要現實一點。

The electrolyzer is tiny.

電解槽很小。

Yes.

是的。

And to be able to do what you're talking about requires scale.

要做到你所說的這一點，需要一定的規模。

This is an experimental mission.

這是一次實驗性任務。

Once we've obtained the data, then we start thinking not only by ourselves, with the companies who have interest to doing the business with us.

一旦我們獲得了數據，我們就會開始思考，不僅是我們自己，還有那些有興趣與我們做生意的公司。

To get to the moon, Takasago is hitching a ride with a company called iSpace, which joined the world's dash to the moon 11 years ago.

為了登月，高砂搭上了一家名為 iSpace 的公司的順風車，這家公司 11 年前就加入了世界登月的行列。

As an early investor, Takasago has secured a seat on iSpace's upcoming second attempt to put a lunar lander on the moon.

作為早期投資者，高砂公司在 iSpace 即將進行的第二次月球著陸器嘗試中獲得了一席之地。

The lander is due to launch in a SpaceX rocket in the fourth quarter of 2024.

著陸器將於 2024 年第四季度由 SpaceX 火箭發射。

For more on the company's vision, I caught up with Chief Technology Officer Ryo Uchiie.

關於公司的願景，我採訪了首席技術官 Ryo Uchiie。

We just completed final system environmental test.

我們剛剛完成了最後的系統環境測試。

Our payloads are also ready for launch.

我們的有效載荷也已做好發射準備。

We carefully selected our landing site to avoid a similar issue in the mission, too.

我們精心選擇了著陸點，以避免任務中出現類似問題。

And, of course, we also improved our software, too.

當然，我們也改進了我們的軟件。

Can you just tell me a little bit about the physical features of the lander?

你能告訴我一些著陸器的物理特徵嗎？

The size of the lander is more than two meters.

著陸器的大小超過兩米。

At the bottom of the lander, we have in total seven propulsion thrusters.

在著陸器底部，我們總共有七個推進器。

The mass is around one ton.

品質約為一噸。

But surprisingly, almost 70% of the mass is occupied by propellant because in order to make a soft landing, we need to spend a lot of energy to cancel lunar gravity effect and so on.

但令人驚訝的是，幾乎 70% 的品質都被推進劑佔據，因為為了實現軟著陸，我們需要花費大量的能量來抵消月球引力效應等等。

I'm interested when you say 70% of the mass is propellant because here we are talking about potentially electrolysis on the moon.

當你說 70% 的品質是推進劑時，我很感興趣，因為在這裡我們談論的可能是月球上的電解。

And if you can do that, you can make enough hydrogen eventually to maybe fuel these missions so that you don't have to carry so much propellant.

如果你能做到這一點，你最終就能製造出足夠的氫，為這些任務提供燃料，這樣你就不必攜帶那麼多推進劑了。

Is that the goal or the dream that we're talking about?

這就是我們所說的目標或夢想嗎？

Yeah, yeah, of course.

是啊，是啊，當然。

Not only us, but also the other players interested in lunar water resources.

不僅是我們，還有對月球水資源感興趣的其他參與者。

That hydrogen, oxygen can be like a propellant for spacecraft.

氫氣和氧氣可以作為航天器的推進劑。

If we make a moon gas station, we can fly far away like Mars and so on.

如果我們建立了月球加油站，我們就能飛到火星等更遠的地方。

When it comes to space exploration, Japan touts a public-slash-private sector approach, unlike in other countries that rely heavily on the wealthy.

在太空探索方面，與其他嚴重依賴富裕階層的國家不同，日本採用的是公私合營的方式。

Earlier this year, the Japanese government launched a $6 billion-plus fund to boost private space ventures.

今年早些時候，日本政府啟動了一個 60 多億美元的基金，以促進私人太空企業的發展。

Rounds of similar initiatives have given newcomers like iSpace the capital to grow.

一輪又一輪的類似舉措為 iSpace 這樣的新公司提供了發展資金。

I spoke with the physicist Hitoshi Murayama about the experiment's viability.

我與物理學家村山仁就該實驗的可行性進行了交談。

The biggest question is how easy it is to get water on a lunar surface so that people believe that it's actually hidden in the soil.

最大的問題是，在月球表面獲得水有多容易，從而讓人們相信水其實就藏在土壤中。

But you need to actually take that out and separate that for the rest of the junk you don't need.

但你需要真正把它們拿出來，與其他你不需要的垃圾分開。

And so that's the hard part.

這就是困難的地方。

But once that's done, then the spreading water into hydrogen and oxygen is a well-understood technique.

但一旦完成，將水分散成氫氣和氧氣的技術就廣為人知了。

How realistic do you think doing something like this is on the moon?

你認為在月球上做這樣的事情有多現實？

It's possible in principle because you can do it yourself.

原則上是可行的，因為你可以自己動手。

So the only question is how efficient the process is.

是以，唯一的問題是這個過程的效率如何。

And right now, relying on the power alone, you do need to actually put a lot of power to actually do that.

而現在，僅僅依靠電力，你確實需要投入大量的電力才能真正做到這一點。

A lot of buts and ifs getting there, digging, scaling up on another body to make enough hydrogen for fuel.

要達到這個目標，還需要很多 "但是 "和 "如果"，需要挖掘、擴大另一個機構來製造足夠的氫燃料。

But for now, the pursuit is and will keep us all dreaming big.

但現在，追求是我們所有人的夢想，也將讓我們所有人繼續做大夢想。

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

美國國家航空航天局噴氣推進實驗室、加州理工學院