Name: SpaceX 用 "筷子 "夾住了火箭。馬斯克下一步會怎麼做？| 華爾街日報 (SpaceX Caught a Rocket With ‘Chopsticks.’ What Will Musk Try Next? | WSJ)
Uploaded: 2024-11-22T03:21:49.000Z
Duration: 7 min 58 s

It was one of the most remarkable displays of engineering prowess and recent memory.

這是近年來最令人讚嘆的工程技術展現之一。

基礎被動語態

On October 13th, SpaceX made history when the booster from its massive Starship rocket was caught by two mechanical arms dubbed Chopsticks as it descended back to the launch pad.

10 月 13 日，太空探索技術公司（SpaceX）創造了歷史，其大型 "星際飛船 "火箭的助推器在返回發射臺的過程中被兩隻被稱為 "筷子 "的機械臂抓住。

My first impression of Flight Test 5 was holy and maybe I'll end it there.

我對《飛行測試 5》的第一印象是神聖的，也許我會就此結束。

China hasn't done it, Russia hasn't done it.

中國沒有做到，俄羅斯也沒有做到。

Even President-elect Donald Trump weighed in.

就連當選總統唐納德-特朗普也發表了自己的看法。

And it wrapped those arms around it and it held it.

那機械臂就這樣把它抱住了，穩穩地接住了。

And just like you hold your baby at night.

Now, with Starship's next flight test just days away and SpaceX increasingly dominating the competition, here's why Starship is so important for the company and what the next flight could mean for the rocket's future.

現在，距離 "星際飛船 "的下一次飛行測試只有幾天時間了，SpaceX 在競爭中的優勢也越來越大，下面我們來看看為什麼 "星際飛船 "對公司如此重要，以及下一次飛行對火箭的未來意味著什麼。

Starship is a mammoth two-stage vehicle that stands at a height of almost 400 feet, making it the tallest rocket ever made.

星際飛船是一個巨大的兩級火箭，高度接近 400 英尺，是有史以來最高的火箭。

The Starship spacecraft is the uppermost part that's designed to carry a crew of astronauts or satellites.

星際飛船是最上面的部分，設計用於搭載太空人或衛星。

It sits atop a booster rocket called Super Heavy that is responsible for Starship's launch and initial ascent.

它位於一個名為 "超級重型 "的助推火箭之上，該火箭負責星際飛船的發射和初始升空。

You know, SpaceX wants to use Starship for a lot of different types of missions.

要知道，SpaceX 希望利用星際飛船執行多種不同類型的任務。

For Starlink satellite launches, but also for moon missions, for sending people to Mars.

用於發射 "星鏈 "衛星，也用於登月任務和將人類送上火星。

The latter, of course, being Musk's longtime dream.

當然，後者是馬斯克長久以來的夢想。

CEO Elon Musk wants Starship to revolutionize spaceflight.

首席執行官埃隆-馬斯克（Elon Musk）希望 "星際飛船 "能徹底改變太空飛行。

Core to that vision is the idea of reusability.

這一願景的核心是可重用性理念。

Reusability is the key to a great future in space.

可重用性是未來太空發展的關鍵。

We need reusability for rockets just like we have reusability for cars, for airplanes, for bicycles, for horses.

我們需要火箭的可重複使用性，就像我們需要汽車、飛機、自行車和馬的可重複使用性一樣。

Reusability has been baked into Starship from the very beginning because you need reusability to both quickly and cost-effectively launch a ton of stuff, of mass, of cargo, future humans into space for all kinds of different missions.

從一開始，"星際飛船 "就融入了可重複使用性，因為你需要可重複使用性來快速、低成本地將大量物品、貨物和未來的人類送入太空，執行各種不同的任務。

To accomplish this, SpaceX plans to eventually capture the Starship spacecraft, the top part of the vehicle, and reuse it as well.

為了實現這一目標，SpaceX 公司計劃最終捕獲 "星際飛船"（即飛行器的頂部部分），並將其重新利用。

The idea is to narrow, is to make rocket transportation, rocket launching, more like that, and less this super unique event that requires hardware that you use once and don't use again.

這個構想的重點在於縮小差距——讓火箭運輸與發射變得更像日常操作，而不是那種一次性使用昂貴硬體的特殊事件。

Catching the booster was the primary goal of October's flight test, and SpaceX succeeded on its first attempt.

抓住助推器是 10 月份飛行測試的首要目標，SpaceX 首次嘗試就取得了成功。

Propelled by 33 massive Raptor engines, Starship took off from its launch pad in South Texas.

在 33 個巨大的 "猛禽 "發動機的推動下，"星際飛船 "從位於南德克薩斯州的發射臺起飛。

After ascending to an altitude of about 43 miles above Earth, Starship's super-heavy booster separated from the Starship rocket.

在上升到離地球約 43 英里的高度後，Starship 的超重型助推器與 Starship 火箭分離。

The booster then flipped around and fired its Raptor engines to return to the launch site.

然後，助推器翻轉過來，點燃猛禽發動機返回發射場。

助推器火速接近，準備進行接觸。

As the booster approached the launch pad, it slowed to a near hover and did a horizontal slide maneuver before being caught by two massive chopstick arms on the launch tower, dubbed Mechazilla.

當助推器接近發射臺時，它減速到近乎懸停，做了一個水準滑行動作，然後被髮射塔上的兩個巨大的筷子臂抓住。

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft continued flying on its own, using its six onboard engines to travel 132 miles above Earth before descending back down through the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

與此同時，"星際飛船 "繼續自行飛行，利用六個機載引擎在地球上空飛行了 132 英里，然後穿過大氣層下降，落在印度洋上。

SpaceX's successful catch of its Starship booster was a major achievement for the company and an engineering feat that showed how SpaceX is pushing the envelope on rocket technology.

SpaceX 成功捕獲其 "星際飛船 "助推器是該公司的一項重大成就，也是一項工程壯舉，顯示了 SpaceX 是如何推動火箭技術發展的。

When you think of a rocket, most of the rocket is the booster.

說起火箭，大部分都是助推器。

You need a lot of power to defeat gravity and get off of Earth and send something into space.

你需要很大的能量才能戰勝重力，離開地球，把東西送入太空。

For decades, the most efficient way and safest way to do that, companies, governments found, was to build boosters that were used a single time.

幾十年來，公司和政府發現，最有效和最安全的方法就是製造一次性使用的助推器。

Boosters would fly back into Earth and crash down in the ocean, and that would be the end of them.

助推器將飛回地球，墜落在海洋中，這將是它們的終結。

SpaceX has already demonstrated the power of reusable boosters with its Falcon vehicles.

SpaceX 公司的獵鷹運載火箭已經展示了可重複使用助推器的威力。

Rivals are pushing to add reusable systems to their rockets, too, and closely watching the company's work on Starship.

競爭對手也在努力為自己的火箭增加可重複使用的系統，並密切關注著該公司在星際飛船上的工作。

Flight Test 5, featuring this catch, was kind of a shot over the bow because it showed that making Starship real, making it operational, bringing it to the market, changing, potentially, assuming it all goes forward, the ability to get to space and how you get to space and what it costs to do that.

第五次飛行測試（Flight Test 5），尤其是這次成功的回收，就像是一記警告炮，因為它展示了讓 Starship 成為現實、讓它投入運作、推向市場的可能性——這一切如果順利推進，將可能改變人類進入太空的方式、進入太空的途徑，以及進入太空的成本。

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is developing a reusable booster for its new Glenn rocket that is slated to launch for the first time this month.

傑夫-貝索斯（Jeff Bezos）的藍色起源公司（Blue Origin）正在為其新型格倫火箭開發一種可重複使用的助推器，該火箭將於本月首次發射。

United Launch Alliance, the rocket operator owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is looking to recover the two engines that help power the first part of its new rocket, Vulcan Centaur.

聯合發射聯盟（United Launch Alliance）是波音公司和洛克希德-馬丁公司旗下的火箭運營商，該公司正在尋求回收兩臺發動機，這兩臺發動機為其新型火箭 "火神半人馬座 "的第一部分提供動力。

Last year, Rocket Lab USA used an engine that had flown before on a flight of its Electron rocket and is working on a new vehicle called Neutron with a booster that it could use again.

去年，美國火箭實驗室在其 "電子 "火箭的一次飛行中使用了一個曾經飛過的發動機，目前正在研製一種名為 "中子 "的新火箭，其助推器可能會再次使用。

SpaceX's progress has prompted interest in reusable boosters overseas as well.

SpaceX 的進步也引起了國外對可重複使用助推器的興趣。

A Chinese company said it is planning test flights for new reusable rockets in the next to develop its own reusable rocket.

一家中國公司表示，它正計劃進行新型可重複使用火箭的試飛，以開發自己的可重複使用火箭。

But when it comes to reusability, SpaceX remains far ahead of the competition.

但在可重複使用性方面，SpaceX 仍然遙遙領先於競爭對手。

It's not that it's free to reuse a booster.

並不是說重複使用助推器是免費的。

You have to make sure it's safe to fly again.

你必須確保再次飛行是安全的。

But they've demonstrated that these boosters can be used time and time again.

但他們已經證明，這些助推器可以反覆使用。

And that really helps SpaceX keep costs low.

這確實有助於 SpaceX 降低成本。

And that's money they can use elsewhere in their business, namely for Starship right now.

而這些錢他們可以用在其他業務上，也就是現在的 Starship。

While Musk is busy wielding his influence in the incoming Trump administration, his rocket company is forging ahead.

在馬斯克忙於在即將上任的特朗普政府中發揮影響力的同時，他的火箭公司也在銳意進取。

SpaceX plans to conduct a sixth Starship test flight in mid-November.

SpaceX 計劃在 11 月中旬進行第六次星際飛船試飛。

The November 18th flight test is, according to how the company has described it, going to be fairly similar to the most recent one.

根據該公司的描述，11 月 18 日的飛行測試將與最近的測試相當相似。

So the company will try to catch the booster again.

是以，公司將再次嘗試抓住助推器。

It's going to be examining, you know, heat shield performance.

它將檢查，你知道，隔熱罩的性能。

Again, working on relighting a Raptor engine while in space.

再次，在太空中重新點燃猛禽引擎。

I don't think we're going to see a major new first time sort of engineering kind of moment the way, you know, we saw with the fifth flight test.

我不認為我們會看到像第五次飛行試驗那樣的首次重大工程時刻。

Although, you know, we also probably shouldn't take for granted just like catching the booster.

不過，你知道，我們也不應該像抓住助推器那樣想當然。

They're going to want to show that they can do it again and again and again.

他們想證明自己能一而再、再而三地做到這一點。

Recently, SpaceX shared a picture of the Starship that will be used in flight test six.

最近，SpaceX 分享了一張將用於第六次飛行測試的星際飛船的照片。

Attached to its side is a piece of artwork, a smiling cartoon banana holding a banana, an apparent reference to the banana for scale joke that engineers often make.

它的側面附有一件藝術品，是一個微笑著的卡通香蕉，手裡拿著一根香蕉，這顯然是指工程師們經常開的 "香蕉比例 "玩笑。

In the near term, SpaceX says it wants Starship to deploy satellites.

SpaceX 表示，近期希望 Starship 能夠部署衛星。

NASA also wants to use a Starship variant as part of its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon in 2026.

美國國家航空航天局（NASA）也希望使用星際飛船變體作為其阿耳特彌斯計劃的一部分，該計劃的目標是在 2026 年讓人類重返月球。

Ultimately, Musk says he wants Starship to make humanity multi-planetary by making long haul trips to Mars and back.

馬斯克說，他希望 "星際飛船 "最終能通過往返火星的長途旅行，讓人類實現多行星化。

Eventually, history suggests there will be some some Tuesday event.

歷史表明，最終會有某個週二事件發生。

The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilization and a multi-planet species, which I hope you would agree that is the right way to go.

另一種選擇是成為太空文明和多星球物種，我希望你們會同意這是一條正確的道路。