Paying for BFR | BFR 資金鏈

Getting back to the question of "How do we pay for this system?" This was really quite a profound —— I would not call it a breakthrough but a realization —— that if we can build a system that cannibalizes our own products, makes our own products redundant then all of the resources, which are quite enormous, that are used for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon, can be applied to one system.

回到開(kāi)始的問(wèn)題：造BFR要花的錢從哪兒來(lái)？這會(huì)是個(gè)意義深遠(yuǎn)的 —— 我不會(huì)稱之為突破性進(jìn)展（breakthrough）而更喜歡形容為實(shí)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)小目標(biāo) （realization）—— 如果我們可以通過(guò)拆用（cannibalize）自己的產(chǎn)品來(lái)打造一個(gè)新系統(tǒng)，使我們的產(chǎn)品冗余化（redundant），那么所有用于制造獵鷹9、重型獵鷹和龍飛船的數(shù)量龐大的（enormous）材料將可以統(tǒng)一用于同一套體系中。

Some of our customers are conservative and they want to see BFR fly several times before they are comfortable launching on it, so what we plan to do is to build ahead and have a stock of Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles so that customers can be comfortable. If they want to use the old rocket or spacecraft, they can do that because we will have a bunch in stock but all of our resources will then turn towards building BFR; we believe that we can do this with the revenue we receive for launching satellites and for servicing the space station.

我們的一些客戶是很保守的，他們希望看到BFR有幾次成功發(fā)射的經(jīng)歷之后再考慮使用它（be comfortable launching on it）。所以我們的計(jì)劃是先行一步，囤積一批獵鷹9和龍飛船，這樣顧客們才會(huì)心滿意足。如果他們想要使用舊的火箭或飛船，我們馬上就可以交付因?yàn)槲覀冇幸欢褞?kù)存（have a bunch in stock）。但是很快我們的庫(kù)存資源都要用來(lái)（turn towards）造BFR了；我相信發(fā)射衛(wèi)星以及服務(wù)國(guó)際空間站所得利潤(rùn)足夠用作生產(chǎn)BFR的成本了。

Satellites | 放衛(wèi)星

The size of this being a nine meter diameter vehicle is a huge enabler for new satellites. We can actually send something that is almost nine meters in diameter to orbit. For example, if you want to do a new Hubble, you could send a mirror that has 10 times the surface area of the current Hubble, as a single unit that does not have to unfold. You could send a large number of small satellites. You can actually go around and, if you wanted to, collect old satellites or clean up space debris-that may be something we have to do in the future. The fairing would open up, retract and then come back down, enabling launching of Earth satellites that are significantly larger than anything we have done before or significantly more satellites at a time than anything that has been done before.

直徑9米的BFR完全足以容納新型衛(wèi)星。我們可以把即使直徑已經(jīng)達(dá)到9米的龐然大物送上軌道。例如，如果你想要布置一個(gè)新的哈勃太空望遠(yuǎn)鏡，可以發(fā)射一個(gè)是原來(lái)表面積10倍的新哈勃上去，不需要展開(kāi)（unfold），這樣就可以作為一個(gè)整體進(jìn)行發(fā)射。你也可以選擇發(fā)射一大堆小衛(wèi)星。甚至你可以嘗試收集舊衛(wèi)星或者清理太空垃圾（space debris）—— 這可能會(huì)是我們未來(lái)要做的事。這時(shí)整流罩會(huì)打開(kāi)，回收（retract）衛(wèi)星然后帶回到地球。BFR使得我們可以發(fā)射比以前任何時(shí)候都要大的地球衛(wèi)星，或者一次發(fā)射比以前任何時(shí)候都要多的衛(wèi)星。

International Space Station | 國(guó)際空間站

It is also intended to be able to service the space station. I know it looks a little big relative to the space station but the Shuttle also looked big —— so it will work. It will be capable of doing what Dragon does today in terms of transporting cargo and what Dragon 2 will do in terms of transporting crew and cargo. It can also go out to much further than that, like for example, the Moon.

BFR也將（be intended to）服務(wù)國(guó)際空間站。我知道，這個(gè)國(guó)際空間站看起來(lái)有點(diǎn)大了，但是飛船（Shuttle）也很大 —— 所以沒(méi)問(wèn)題的（it will work）。BFR如今已經(jīng)可以完成龍1做的事兒了，比如貨運(yùn)；也可以搞定龍2的活兒了，比如客運(yùn)和貨運(yùn)。其實(shí)它還可以去得更遠(yuǎn)，比如月球。

Moon Missions | 登月任務(wù)

Based on our calculations, we can actually do lunar surface missions with no propellant production on the surface of the moon If we do a high elliptic parking orbit for the ship and retank in high elliptic orbit, we can go all the way to the moon and back with no local propellant production on the Moon. I think that would enable the creation of Moon Base Alpha or some sort of lunar base. It is 2017. We should have a lunar base by now.

經(jīng)過(guò)精密計(jì)算，我們真的可以執(zhí)行登月任務(wù)，即使月面并沒(méi)有可以獲取推進(jìn)劑的物質(zhì)。我們只要讓BFR走一條高橢圓停泊軌道（high elliptic parking orbit）并做一次在軌補(bǔ)給，就能在月面沒(méi)有燃料補(bǔ)給（propellant production）的情況下完成登月任務(wù)并返航。這將使得建造月球阿爾法基地或者其他類型的月球基地成為可能?，F(xiàn)在是2017年，我們也該有個(gè)月球基地了。