評論
打印
What then of manned space exploration?
那載人的空間探索呢？
The government recently announced plans to return to the moon by 2024.
美國政府最近宣布了2024重返月球的計劃。
The successful conclusion of that mission will result in infrequent visitation of the moon by a small number of government scientists and pilots.
這項任務的成功將使少數的政府雇傭的科學家和飛行員的探訪月球活動。
It will leave us no further along in the general expansion of humanity into space than we were 50 years ago.
和五十年前相比，從人類探索宇宙的整體來看，并沒有什么起步。
Something fundamental has to change if we are to see common access to space in our lifetime.
如果我們想要在有生之年讓太空飛行變得習以為然必須有根本的改變，
What I'm going to show you next are a couple of controversial ideas.
我下面要展示的是一些有爭論的觀點。
And I hope you'll bear with me and have some faith that there's credibility behind what we're going to say here.
我希望大家耐心聽我講并且相信我們這里所說的是確實可信的。
There are three underpinnings of working in space privately.
私人探索太空工作有三大支柱。
One of them is the requirement for economical earth-to-space transport.
其一是經濟的地球到太空的交通運輸。
The Bert Rutans and Richard Bransons of this world have got this in their sights and I salute them.
創業家們象伯特魯坦斯和理查德布蘭特（維珍航空公司的創始人)已經開始在這方面努力,我向他們致敬。
Go, go, go.
加油，加油，加油。
The next thing we need are places to stay on orbit.
我們需要的另一件事是軌道上的停留處。
Orbital hotels to start with, but workshops for the rest of us later on.
先以做太空酒店（旅游業）開始，之后可以我們的工作站。
The final missing piece, the real paradigm-buster, is this:
最后一點，真正能扭轉乾坤的是：
a gas station on orbit.
太空軌道加油站。
It's not going to look like that.
它不會是圖上這樣的。
If it existed, it would change all future spacecraft design and space mission planning.
如果它存在，它會改變所有未來宇宙飛船和宇宙空間探索計劃的設計。
Now, to give you a chance to understand why there is power in that statement,I've got to give you the basics of Space 101.
現在，為了讓大家明白此斷言的分量，我要教大家一點兒太空基礎知識。
And the first thing is everything you do in space you pay by the kilogram.
首先，你要為在太空里所做的每一件事情按千克付費。
