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This is THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY. I'm Wailin Wong. Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, is capping off a busy 2024.
这里是THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY。我是Wailin Wong。埃隆·马斯克的航空航天公司SpaceX即将迎来繁忙的2024年。
It's launched more than 115 rockets into orbit so far, with plans for even more next year.
到目前为止，该公司已将115多枚火箭发射到轨道，并计划明年发射更多火箭。
The company's latest flight test of its Starship last month was attended by President-elect Donald Trump.
上个月，该公司对其星际飞船进行了最新一次飞行测试，候任总统唐纳德·特朗普出席了测试。
At the launch, the rocket booster was supposed to come back to the launchpad so it could be reused quickly.
在发射时，火箭助推器本应返回发射台，以便快速重复使用。
But there was damage to the launch tower, and it landed in the Gulf of Mexico instead. Geoff Brumfiel covers SpaceX for NPR's science desk.
但发射塔受损，它落入墨西哥湾。Geoff Brumfiel为NPR的科学部门报道 SpaceX。
It's a really strange way to do it because, you know, other rockets just drop their boosters.
这是一种非常奇怪的做法，因为其他火箭只是扔下助推器。
Or, in the case of the Space Shuttle, sometimes they would go out into the ocean and retrieve the boosters. The idea here is very, very rapid reusability.
或者，以航天飞机为例，有时他们会进入海洋并回收助推器。这里的想法是快速重复使用。
If you catch the booster, you just lower it back on the launchpad, fill it back up with gas, and then you can go.
如果你抓住了助推器，你只需把它放回发射台，重新加满气体，然后就可以发射了。
And, you know, Elon Musk says he wants this thing launching as often as three times a day.
埃隆·马斯克说他希望这个东西每天发射三次。
Geoff spoke to Regina Barber, the co-host of NPR's science podcast, Short Wave.
杰夫与NPR科学播客Short Wave的联合主持人Regina Barber进行了交谈。
It was a really interesting conversation about the environmental impact of the Starship program, which is currently taking place in a vulnerable Texas ecosystem.
这是一次非常有趣的对话，讨论了星际飞船计划对环境的影响，该计划目前正在德克萨斯州脆弱的生态系统中进行。
They also talked about what a second Trump administration could mean for the company. That's after the break.
他们还谈到了特朗普第二届政府对该公司意味着什么。休息之后继续。
NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel, hello. Hello, Regina. So - OK, Musk wants to launch these things, like, three times a day. What does that mean for, like, where they're launching these things?
NPR科学记者杰夫·布鲁姆菲尔（Geoff Brumfiel），你好。你好，Regina。马斯克希望每天发射这些东西三次。这对他们在哪里发射这些东西意味着什么？
So in the long term, Musk has said that he wants these launched from the middle of the ocean because, of course, launching a giant rocket is very disruptive. Right.
从长远来看，马斯克说他希望从海洋中央发射这些火箭，因为当然，发射一枚巨型火箭是非常具有破坏性的。对。
I don't know if floating platforms will ever be able to launch Starships. I mean, I think that might be a little unrealistic.
我不知道浮动平台是否能够发射星际飞船。我认为这可能有点不现实。
But in the near term, what they're planning to do is launch a lot more from this site in Texas. Now, this year, they are authorized to launch five times.
但在短期内，他们计划从德克萨斯州的这个地点发射更多飞船。今年，他们被授权发射五次。
Next year, they want to go up to as many as 25 times. And recently, SpaceX executive Gwynne Shotwell said that she would not be surprised if the company launched Starship 400 times in the next four years.
明年，他们希望发射次数增加到 25 次。最近，SpaceX 高管格温·肖特韦尔 (Gwynne Shotwell) 表示，如果该公司在未来四年内发射星际飞船400次，她不会感到惊讶。
What? And this has gotten environmentalists really worried because SpaceX's launch site in Texas is in the middle of a state and federal wildlife refuge. I mean, how is that even allowed?
什么？这让环保主义者非常担心，因为SpaceX在德克萨斯州的发射场位于州和联邦野生动物保护区的中间。这怎么可能被允许？
Yeah. Well, it's a really interesting situation. So basically, this site is near the city of Brownsville. Right next to it is this large area known kind of colloquially as Boca Chica.
这是一个非常有趣的情况。基本上，这个地点靠近布朗斯维尔市。紧挨着它的是一片被俗称为博卡奇卡的大片地区。
It's a mix of state land and federal land and little parcels of private land sort of tucked away in there.
这里是州土地和联邦土地的混合体，还有一些小块私人土地隐藏在那里。
So about 10 years ago, SpaceX bought these little patches of private land. And, you know, on one site, they have their production facility.
大约10年前，SpaceX购买了这些小块私人土地。在一个地方，他们有生产设施。
And on another site just up the road, they have their launch facility. Wow. And you actually went there, right? Like, what did you see?
而在路上的另一个地方，他们有发射设施。哇。你真的去过那里，对吧？你看到了什么？
It's really a fascinating place to visit because it sits about a half hour outside of Brownsville along this two-lane highway.
这真是一个迷人的地方，因为它位于布朗斯维尔郊外大约半小时车程的双车道高速公路上。
It's sort of cutting through these native grasslands near the Gulf of Mexico that's home to hundreds of bird species, including many that stop over during migrations to Central and South America.
它穿过墨西哥湾附近的原生草原，那里是数百种鸟类的家园，包括许多在迁徙到中美洲和南美洲期间停留的鸟类。
So this is the weird thing about the setup is, you know, because there's public land right next to all of SpaceX's facilities, you can pull right up next to the launch complex and park there. And that's exactly what I did.
这个设置的奇怪之处在于，因为SpaceX所有设施旁边都有公共土地，你可以把车停在发射场旁边。我就是这么做的。
And, you know, it was so weird because you, like, get out of your car. You're just parked on the side of the road next to a sand dune. And there's this - ah, it's just so big - this huge rocket right there.
这很奇怪，因为你就像从车里出来一样。你只是把车停在沙丘旁边的路边。那里有——啊，它太大了——一枚巨大的火箭。
It was just there, like... Just the rocket. You could just see it. Just standing right there on the pad.
它就在那里，就像……只有火箭。你可以看到它。就站在发射台上。
And, you know, I met Justin LeClaire there. He's a biologist with the nonprofit Coastal Bays, Bends (ph) & Estuaries, which monitors wildlife in Boca Chica. We nailed it today. Look at this. The whole rocket's here. Indeed.
你知道，我在那里遇到了贾斯汀·勒克莱尔。他是非营利性沿海海湾、弯道和河口组织的生物学家，该组织负责监测博卡奇卡的野生动物。我们今天成功了。看看这个。整个火箭都在这里。确实如此。
It's always different out here. The biggest building back at production, with all the glass and stuff in the front, that was not anywhere near that close to being done last time I was here, like, a month and a half ago. So they just fly through everything.
这里总是与众不同。最大的建筑恢复了生产，前面都是玻璃和其他东西，上次我来这里的时候，大约一个半月前，还没有完成。他们飞速完工。
So Justin and I started climbing back into the dunes next to the launchpad. So this is all coastal prairie. We're getting kind of into this - the dune habitat here as well.
于是贾斯汀和我开始爬回发射台旁边的沙丘。这都是沿海草原。我们有点进入了这里——这里的沙丘栖息地也是如此。
And as soon as we get back there, we start seeing these enormous chunks of concrete.
我们一回到那里，就开始看到这些巨大的混凝土块。
It was basically a - you know, a minefield of debris out here after the April 2023 - that first flight test.
在2023年4月的第一次飞行测试之后，这里基本上是一片碎片雷区。
So the first flight of Starship was particularly damaging to the local environment because the rocket was so powerful, it actually blew a hole in its launchpad.
星际飞船的第一次飞行对当地环境造成了特别大的破坏，因为火箭的威力太大，它实际上在发射台上炸出了一个洞。
Wow. I mean, when you say there's just debris everywhere, I just imagine, like, animals walking through there, like, just chunks of debris flying everywhere.
当你说到处都是碎片时，我想象着，就像动物在那里行走，就像到处都是碎片一样。
Yeah, I mean, it was a lot. And part of the reason this happened was SpaceX, in their rush to get Starship flying, did not install a standard piece of equipment known as a water deluge system.
是的，有很多。而发生这种情况的部分原因是SpaceX在急于让星际飞船飞行时，没有安装一种称为水喷淋系统的标准设备。
Now, this is designed to suppress the power of the rocket engines. And basically, it's a giant, upside-down shower that sprays hundreds of thousands of gallons of water under the rocket as it launches.
现在，这是为了抑制火箭发动机的功率而设计的。基本上，这是一个巨大的倒置淋浴器，在火箭发射时向火箭下方喷洒数十万加仑的水。
So they put one of these things in, and that solved that problem, but it also created a new problem because the launchpad is completely flat. And so every launch, the water goes everywhere.
他们把其中一种东西放进去，解决了这个问题，但也带来了一个新问题，因为发射台是完全平坦的。所以每次发射，水都会流到各处。
Now, SpaceX says, look, this is drinking water used in the system. It's not dangerous. But the fact of the matter is, it does contain some harmful chemicals after it comes in contact with the rocket exhaust.
现在，SpaceX说，看，这是系统中使用的饮用水。它并不危险。但事实上，它在与火箭尾气接触后确实含有一些有害化学物质。
And the EPA classifies this water as industrial wastewater. So just letting it spill out into wetlands violates the Clean Water Act.
而 EPA 将这些水归类为工业废水。因此，让其泄漏到湿地中违反了《清洁水法案》。
SpaceX knew this before two other launches earlier this year, but they launched anyway, and they later got fined by the EPA and local regulators.
SpaceX在今年早些时候的另外两次发射之前就知道了这一点，但他们还是发射了，后来被环保局和当地监管机构罚款。
So what does SpaceX say about all this, like, how they're affecting the environment?
那么SpaceX对这一切有何看法，比如，他们如何影响环境？
Yeah, I mean, SpaceX didn't talk to me directly, but they did put out a lengthy statement on this issue in September.
SpaceX没有直接和我交谈，但他们在9月就这个问题发表了一份长篇声明。
And they said, quote, "the narrative that we operate free or in defiance of environmental regulation is demonstrably false."
他们说，“我们自由运营或无视环境法规的说法显然是错误的。”
"SpaceX is committed to minimizing impact and enhancing the surrounding environment where possible."
“ SpaceX致力于尽可能减少影响并改善周围环境。”
OK, Geoff, SpaceX is, like, racing ahead here, right? But Donald Trump has been reelected, and he and Elon are buddies. So, like, what's the impact likely to be?
好的，杰夫， SpaceX在这方面领先，但唐纳德·特朗普已经连任，他和埃隆是好朋友。那么，可能会产生什么影响？
I think there's likely to be sort of two areas where we're going to see some changes in SpaceX's relationship to the government. The first is regulation.
我认为我们可能会在两个方面看到SpaceX与政府的关系发生一些变化。首先是监管。
So Starship is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration in consultation with other agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.
星际飞船由联邦航空管理局与环境保护局等其他机构协商监管。
And those regulators have been perceived as slowing down Starship's launches due in part to these environmental concerns.
人们认为这些监管机构放慢了星际飞船的发射速度，部分原因是出于对环境问题的担忧。
I spoke to Lori Garver, a former deputy administrator of NASA under Barack Obama, and she thinks all that's about to change.
我采访了奥巴马政府时期美国宇航局前副局长Lori Garver，她认为这一切都将改变。
The FAA and the EPA will not be raising flags as they have been these last couple of years.
美国联邦航空管理局和环境保护局不会像过去几年那样发出警告。
Now, there may still be barriers. Environmental groups are already suing the FAA for failing to conduct an adequate environmental review of Starship's impact on Boca Chica, and those suits are still going to go forward.
现在，可能仍然存在障碍。环保组织已经起诉美国联邦航空管理局未能对星际飞船对博卡奇卡的影响进行充分的环境评估，这些诉讼仍将继续进行。
But in terms of the regulators, that may ease up quite a bit. OK, so less regulatory oversight. What else might change?
但就监管机构而言，这可能会放松很多。监管监督减少。还有什么可能改变？
Well, the other thing is money. SpaceX gets billions in government contracts, including money for Starship, but it's not the only player.
另一件事是钱。SpaceX获得了数十亿美元的政府合同，包括星际飞船的资金，但它并不是唯一的参与者。
So, for example, NASA has spent nearly $100 billion trying to get astronauts back to the moon. A sliver of that money has gone to Starship, which is theoretically going to work as a lunar lander.
例如，NASA已花费近1000亿美元试图让宇航员重返月球。其中一小部分资金用于星际飞船，理论上它将作为月球着陆器使用。
Tim Farrar is president of a consulting firm called TMF Associates, which tracks SpaceX's business. He says it's quite possible Musk is going to try and push more money from other parts of the moon program into Starship.
蒂姆·法勒（Tim Farrar）是咨询公司TMF Associates的总裁，该公司跟踪SpaceX的业务。他说，马斯克很可能会尝试将更多资金从月球计划的其他部分投入到星际飞船。
There are many different companies involved in building things. And Musk would say, well, do we need all of those? You know, why don't you give us the money, and we'll do all of this with Starship instead?
有许多不同的公司参与建造。马斯克会说，好吧，我们需要所有这些吗？你为什么不给我们钱，我们用星际飞船来做这一切呢？
And, you know, SpaceX has already surged ahead in the launch market in recent years with its other rockets.
而且SpaceX近年来已经凭借其他火箭在发射市场上遥遥领先。
And Farrar says its power is going to grow almost inevitably. The most visible sign of all this change is going to be Starship.
法勒说，它的实力几乎不可避免地会增强。所有这些变化最明显的标志就是星际飞船。
We'll see if they actually get up to 25 launches next year. But even if they only do a fraction of those, the program will make huge strides with its goal of rapid reusability for space exploration.
我们看看他们明年是否真的能发射25次。但即使他们只做了其中的一小部分，该计划也将在实现太空探索快速重复使用目标方面取得巨大进步。
And it's also going to have big environmental consequences for the grasslands that surround the launch site.
这也将对发射场周围的草原产生重大的环境影响。
