Can you talk us through this, because this caught so many people's attention?

克里斯 · 安德森（克）：兩個月前， 發生了一件很瘋狂的事。

Gwynne Shotwell: I'll stay quiet for the beginning,

你能否和我們談談這件事， 因為它引起了好多人的注意？

and then I'll start talking.

格威妮 · 紹特韋爾（格）： 我還是先保持安靜，

(Video) Voices: Five, four, three, two, one.

然後我再開始談。

(Cheering)

（影片）聲音： 五、四 、三、二、一。

Woman: Liftoff. Go Falcon Heavy.

（歡呼）

GS: So this was such an important moment for SpaceX.

女子：發射。衝啊， 獵鷹重型運載火箭。

With the Falcon 9 and now the Falcon Heavy,

格：對於 SpaceX， 這是個非常重要的時刻。

we can launch into orbit

原是獵鷹九號， 現在是獵鷹重型運載火箭，

any payload that has previously been conceived or is conceived right now.

有了它，我們能把任何以前

We've got a couple of launches of Falcon Heavy later this year,

曾構想過或現在正在構想的 裝載量給發射到軌道上，

so this had to go right.

今年下半年，我們要發射 獵鷹重型運載火箭好幾次，

It was the first time we flew it,

所以這不能失誤。

and the star of the show, of course,

這是我們第一次讓它升空，

brother and sister side boosters landing.

當然，還有這場秀的明星，

I was excited.

兩側推進器的著陸。

(Laughter)

我很興奮。

Thanking my team.

（笑聲）

By the way, there's maybe a thousand people

感謝我的團隊。

standing around me right there.

順道一提，在那裡，

And Starman.

我身邊可能站有一千人。

Starman did not steal the show, though --

還有星男（太空駕駛員模型）。

the boosters did.

不過，星男並未搶走目光──

CA: (Laughter)

是推進器搶走的。

CA: There had to be some payload -- why not put a Tesla into space?

克：（笑聲）

GS: Exactly. It was perfect.

克：肯定是很了不起的裝載量── 為什麼不把一台特斯拉車送上太空？

CA: Gwynne, let's wind the clock back.

格：沒錯。它很完美。

I mean, how did you end up an engineer and President of SpaceX?

克：格威妮，咱們回顧一下。

Were you supernerdy as a girl?

你是如何成為 SpaceX 的工程師和總裁？

GS: I don't think I was nerdy,

你小時候是超級書呆子嗎？

but I was definitely doing the things that the girls weren't doing.

格：我不覺得我是書呆子，

I asked my mom, who was an artist, when I was in third grade,

但我肯定做了其他女孩不做的事。

how a car worked,

我媽媽是位藝術家， 我三年級時請問她

so she had no idea so she gave me a book, and I read it,

汽車是怎麼運作的，

and sure enough, my first job out of my mechanical engineering degree

她不知道答案， 所以她給了我一本書，我讀了。

was with Chrysler Motors in the automotive industry.

當然，在我拿到 機械工程學位之後的第一份工作，

But I actually got into engineering not because of that book

就是在汽車業的克萊斯勒汽車公司。

but because my mom took me to a Society of Women Engineers event,

但我會投入工程並不是因為那本書，

and I fell in love with the mechanical engineer that spoke.

而是因為我媽媽帶我去了 美國女工程師協會的一個活動，

She was doing really critical work,

我愛上了在演說的那位機械工程師。

and I loved her suit.

她在做非常有關鍵性的工作，

(Laughter)

特別是我愛她的制服。

And that's what a 15-year-old girl connects with.

（笑聲）

And I used to shy away from telling that story,

那就是一個十五歲女孩所能想到的。

but if that's what caused me to be an engineer --

我以前會躲避，不願說那個故事，

hey, I think we should talk about that.

但如果那就是讓我 成為工程師的原因──

CA: Sixteen years ago, you became employee number seven at SpaceX,

嘿，我想我應該要談談它。

and then over the next years,

克：十六年前，你成為 SpaceX 的第七號員工，

you somehow built a multi-billion-dollar relationship with NASA,

在接下來幾年，

despite the fact that SpaceX's first three launches blew up.

你和美國太空總署（NASA） 建起了數十億美元的關係，

I mean, how on earth did you do that?

儘管 SpaceX 的 前三次發射都失敗了。

GS: So actually, selling rockets is all about relationships

你到底是怎麼辦到的？

and making a connection with these customers.

格：其實，要賣火箭， 重點就在於關係，

When you don't have a rocket to sell,

要和客戶建立連結。

what's really important is selling your team,

當你沒有火箭可以賣的時候，

selling the business savvy of your CEO --

很重要的就是，要賣你的團隊，

that's not really hard to sell these days --

賣你的執行長的商業頭腦，

and basically, making sure that any technical issue that they have

現今這並不難賣──

or any concern, you can address right away.

基本上，要確保他們 若有任何技術問題

So I think it was helpful for me to be an engineer.

或任何擔心的事，你都能立即處理。

I think it was helpful to my role of running sales for Elon.

所以我想，我的工程師身份 是有幫助的。

CA: And currently, a big focus of the company

我想，為伊隆（特斯拉汽車執行長） 做銷售的角色也有幫助。

is, I guess, kind of a race with Boeing

克：目前，公司的一個主要焦點，

to be the first to provide the service to NASA

據我猜測，是和波音競爭，

of actually putting humans into orbit.

要搶先為美國太空總署提供

Safety considerations obviously come to the fore, here.

真的將人類送入太空軌道中的服務。

How are you sleeping?

在這裡，很顯然 安全考量是很重要的。

GS: I actually sleep really well. I'm a good sleeper, that's my best thing.

你還能睡得好嗎？

But I think the days leading up to our flying crew

格：我其實睡得非常好。 我很貪睡，那是我最擅長的。

will probably be a little sleepless.

但我想，接下來的日子 對我們的飛行組員來說，

But really, fundamentally, safety comes in the design

將會是有點難入睡的。

of the system that you're going to fly people on,

但其實基本上，安全來自於設計，

and so we've been working for years,

讓人飛行時所使用之系統的設計，

actually, almost a decade, on this technology.

我們已經投入數年的努力，

We're taking the Dragon cargo spaceship

事實上，已投入這項技術將近十年。

and we're upgrading it to be able to carry crew.

我們用天龍號太空船（貨船），

And as I said, we've been engineering in these safety systems

我們將它升級，變成可以載人。

for quite some time.

如我先前所言，我們 一直在打造這些安全系統，

CA: So isn't it that there's one system that actually allows instant escape

已經花了不少時間。

if there's a problem.

克：是不是有個系統，

GS: That's right. It's called the launch escape system.

在發生問題的時候能幫助快速逃脫？

CA: I think we have that. Let's show that.

格：是的。它叫做發射逃脫系統。

GS: We've got a video of a test that we ran in 2015.

克：我想我們有資料。 咱們來展示一下。

So this simulated having a really bad day on the pad.

格：我們有段 2015 年 做測試的影片。

Basically, you want the capsule to get out of Dodge.

這是模擬在發射臺上 出問題的狀況。

You want it to get away from the rocket

基本上，你要讓太空艙閃躲。

that had a bad day right below it.

你想要讓它遠離火箭，

This is if there was an issue on the pad.

遠離在它下頭出了問題的火箭。

We also will be doing another demonstration later this year

這是假設發射台出了問題。

on if we have an issue with the rocket during flight.

今年晚些時候我們 還會做另一項展示，

CA: And those rockets have another potential function as well, eventually.

展示當火箭在飛行時 出問題要怎麼辦。

GS: Yeah, so the launch escape system for Dragon is pretty unique.

克：最終，那些火箭 也有另一個潛在功能。

It's an integrated launch escape system.

格：是的，天龍號太空船的 發射逃脫系統相當獨特。

It's basically a pusher,

它是個整合式發射逃脫系統。

so the propellant system and the thrusters are integrated into the capsule,

基本上，它是推進器，

and so if it detects a rocket problem, it pushes the capsule away.

推進燃料系統和火箭推進器 都被整合到太空艙上，

Capsule safety systems in the past have been like tractor pullers,

如果它偵測到火箭發生問題， 它就會把太空艙推射出去。

and the reason we didn't want to do that

過去，太空艙安全系統一直 都像是拖拉牽引機一樣，

is that puller needs to come off before you can safely reenter that capsule,

我們不想要這麼做的原因，

so we wanted to eliminate, in design, that possibility of failure.

是因為要等拉具脫離之後， 你才能夠安全地重返太空艙，

CA: I mean, SpaceX has made the regular reusability of rockets

我們想要在設計上 就除去那種失敗的可能性。

seem almost routine,

克：我的意思是，SpaceX 已經讓火箭能夠重複利用，

which means you've done something

這似乎成了一種慣例，

that no national space program, for example,

也就是說，你做了什麼，

has been able to achieve.

是沒有其他，比如國家太空計畫，

How was that possible?

能夠達成的。

GS: I think there's a couple of things --

那怎麼有可能？

there's a million things, actually --

格：我認為有幾件事──

that have allowed SpaceX to be successful.

其實有一百萬件事──

The first is that we're kind of standing on the shoulders of giants. Right?

才能讓 SpaceX 成功。

We got to look at the rocket industry and the developments to date,

第一件事是，我們算是 站在巨人的肩膀上，對吧？

and we got to pick the best ideas,

我們能夠看到火箭產業 以及到目前為止的發展，

leverage them.

我們能夠挑選最好的點子，

We also didn't have technology that we had to include

發揮它們。

in our vehicle systems.

我們也沒有需要將什麼技術納入

So we didn't have to design around legacy components

我們的飛行器系統。

that maybe weren't the most reliable or were particularly expensive,

我們不需要用到殘留的元件

so we really were able to let physics drive the design of these systems.

或特別貴的元件來做設計，

CA: I mean, there are other programs started from scratch.

所以我們其實能讓物理 來引領這些系統的設計。

That last phrase you said there, you let physics drive the design,

克：我的意思是， 有些其他計畫是從零開始。

what's an example of that?

你剛剛說的最後一句話， 讓物理引領設計，

GS: There's hundreds of examples, actually, of that,

可以舉個例子嗎？

but basically, we got to construct the vehicle design

格：其實有幾百個例子可以舉，

from, really, a clean sheet of paper,

但基本上，我們的飛行器設計

and we got to make decisions that we wanted to make.

是從一張白紙開始，

The tank architecture -- it's a common dome design.

我們得要做出我們想要做的決定。

Basically it's like two beer cans stacked together,

燃料箱的結構── 它是常見的半球形設計。

one full of liquid oxygen,

基本上，它像是 兩個啤酒灌疊在一起，

one full of RP,

一個裝滿了液態氧，

and that basically saved weight.

另一個裝滿了 RP（燃料），

It allowed us to basically take more payload for the same design.

基本上那就能減輕重量。

One of the other elements of the vehicle that we're flying right now

讓我們在設計不變的情況下 有更高的裝載量。

is we do use densified liquid oxygen and densified RP,

我們正在飛的太空船， 所用到的其他元素之一，

so it's ultracold,

就是用更高濃度的液態氧和 RP，

and it allows you to pack more propellent into the vehicle.

所以是超冷的，

It is done elsewhere,

讓你能在載具上放更多推進燃料。

probably not to the degree that we do it,

其他地方也做，

but it adds a lot of margin to the vehicle,

可能沒有我們做得好，

which obviously adds reliability.

但它讓載具多了很多空間，

CA: Gwynne, you became President of SpaceX 10 years ago, I think.

顯然這就會增加可靠度。

What's it been like to work so closely with Elon Musk?

克：格威妮，我想，你是在 十年前當上 SpaceX 的總裁。

GS: So I love working for Elon.

和伊隆 · 馬斯克（Elon Musk）合作 是什麼樣的感覺？

I've been doing it for 16 years this year, actually.

格：我很愛為伊隆工作。

I don't think I'm dumb enough to do something for 16 years

到今年，我其實已經做了 16 年了。

that I don't like doing.

我想我應該沒有蠢到做不喜歡做的事

He's funny

還能一直做 16 年。

and fundamentally without him saying anything

他很有趣，

he drives you to do your best work.

基本上，他不需要說任何話，

He doesn't have to say a word.

他就能驅使你去在工作上做到最好。

You just want to do great work.

他不用說任何話。

CA: You might be the person best placed to answer this question,

你就會想把工作做好。

which has puzzled me,

克：有個問題一直困擾我，

which is to shed light on this strange unit of time

你可能是最適合回答的人，

called "Elon time."

能不能解釋一下這個 很奇特的時間單位，

For example, last year, I asked Elon, you know,

叫做「伊隆時間」。

when Tesla would auto-drive across America,

比如，去年我問伊隆，你知道的，

and he said by last December,

問他何時特斯拉能在全美自動駕駛，

which is definitely true, if you take Elon time into account.

他說，去年 12 月，

So what's the conversion ratio between Elon time and real time?

若把伊隆時間納入考量的話， 這答案絕對是真的。

(Laughter)

所以，伊隆時間和真實時間 之間的轉換率是什麼？

GS: You put me in a unique position, Chris.

（笑聲）

Thanks for that.

格：你讓我處在一個 很獨特的立場，克里斯。

There's no question that Elon is very aggressive on his timelines,

謝謝你這麼做。

but frankly, that drives us to do things better and faster.

毫無疑問伊隆的時間表非常急進，

I think all the time and all the money in the world

但坦白說，那促使我們 把事情做得更好、更快。

does not yield the best solution,

我想世界上所有的時間 和所有的金錢

and so putting that pressure on the team to move quickly is really important.

也無法換來最好的解決方案，

CA: It feels like you play kind of a key intermediary role here.

把那樣的壓力加在團隊身上， 讓步調加速，是相當重要的。

I mean, he sets these crazy goals that have their impact,

克：感覺好像你在這裡是 扮演一種關鍵的中間角色。

but, in other circumstances, might blow up a team

我的意思是，他設下瘋狂的目標， 這些目標都有它們的影響，

or set impossible expectations.

但在其他情況下， 這可能會搞死一個團隊，

It feels like you've found a way of saying, "Yes, Elon,"

或是訂下不可能的期望。

and then making it happen in a way that is acceptable

感覺起來，你好像找到一種 方式來說：「好的，伊隆。」

both to him and to your company, to your employees.

接著，用能被接受的方式來實現它，

GS: There is two really important realizations for that.

他能接受，你的公司、 你的員工也能接受的方式。

First of all, when Elon says something, you have to pause

格：有兩項非常重要的領悟。

and not immediately blurt out, "Well, that's impossible,"

首先，當伊隆說了某些話時， 你得要停頓一下，

or, "There's no way we're going to do that. I don't know how."

不能馬上衝口說出：「那不可能。」

So you zip it, and you think about it,

或「我們不可能做到。 我不知道怎麼做。」

and you find ways to get that done.

你閉上嘴巴，你開始思考它，

And the other thing I realized,

然後你想辦法把它做到。

and it made my job satisfaction substantially harder.

我還領悟到另一件事，

So I always felt like my job was to take these ideas

它讓我對得到成就感變更困難。

and kind of turn them into company goals, make them achievable,

我總是覺得我的工作是要把這些點子

and kind of roll the company over from this steep slope, get it comfortable.

轉換成公司的目標， 讓它們變成是可達成的，

And I noticed every time I felt like we were there,

有點像是把在陡坡上的公司 翻個身，讓它舒服一點。

we were rolling over, people were getting comfortable,

我注意到，每次 當我覺得我們做到了，

Elon would throw something out there,

我們在翻身，大家正要得到舒緩時，

and all of a sudden, we're not comfortable

伊隆就會丟出些什麼來，

and we're climbing that steep slope again.

突然間，我們就不舒服了，

But then once I realized that that's his job,

我們又在爬那陡坡了。

and my job is to get the company close to comfortable

但一旦我意識到，那就是他的工作，

so he can push again and put us back on that slope,

而我的工作就是 讓公司盡量接近舒服，

then I started liking my job a lot more,

這樣他就能再次施壓， 把我們推回坡上，

instead of always being frustrated.

我就開始更喜歡我的工作了，

CA: So if I estimated that the conversation ratio

而不是總覺得很挫折。

for Elon time to your time is about 2x,

克：所以……如果我估計那轉換率，

am I a long way out there?

從伊隆時間轉換到 你的時間，約是 2x，

GS: That's not terrible, and you said it, I didn't.

我有差得太遠嗎？

(Laughter)

格：那不算糟， 而且是你說的，不是我。

CA: You know, looking ahead,

（笑聲）

one huge initiative

克：你知道的，向前看，

SpaceX is believed to be, rumored to be working on,

一個很大的計畫，

is a massive network of literally thousands of low earth orbit satellites

謠言相信 SpaceX 正在進行

to provide high-bandwidth, low-cost internet connection

一個大型網路，連結 數以千計的低地面軌道衛星，

to every square foot of planet earth.

來提供高頻寬低成本的網路連線，

Is there anything you can tell us about this?

提供到地球上的每一個角落。

GS: We actually don't chat very much about this particular project,

你能跟我們談談它嗎？

not because we're hiding anything,

格：我們其實不太聊這個計畫，

but this is probably one of the most challenging

不是因為我們要隱藏什麼，

if not the most challenging project we've undertaken.

也許這不是最有挑戰性的計畫，

No one has been successful

但至少是我們做過 最有挑戰性的計畫之一。

deploying a huge constellation for internet broadband,

還沒有人成功過，

or basically for satellite internet,

部署一個系統來做網路寬頻用，

and I don't think physics is the difficulty here.

或基本上做衛星網路用，

I think we can come up with the right technology solution,

我認為這裡的困難之處不在物理。

but we need to make a business out of it,

我認為我們能想出 正確的技術解決方案，

and it'll cost the company about 10 billion dollars or more

但我們得要先把它變成生意，

to deploy this system.

公司要花上一百億美元以上

And so we're marching steadily along

來部署這個系統。

but we're certainly not claiming victory yet.

所以，我們穩穩地向前走，

CA: I mean, the impact of that, obviously, if that happened to the world,

但我們肯定還沒有宣佈勝利。

of connectivity everywhere, would be pretty radical,

克：我是指，如果它真的 在這個世界上實現了，

and perhaps mainly for good --

無所不在的連結所帶來的 衝擊會是相當根本的，

I mean, it changes a lot if suddenly everyone can connect cheaply.

也許主要都是好的──

GS: Yeah, there's no question it'll change the world.

我是指，如果突然大家都有 便宜的連線，會帶來很大的改變。