从竞争对手看SpaceX的真正价值

2014-09-09 11:07:38来源：可可英语

　　Last week, rumors concerning the value of ElonMusk’s SpaceX rippled across the Web after techstartup-watcher TechCrunch reported that privateinvestment in the company valued it at “somewheresouth of $10 billion.” SpaceX quickly quashed therumor. “SpaceX is not currently raising any fundingnor has any external valuation of that magnitudeor higher been done,” a company spokesman said ina statement. And so SpaceX ended the week just asit began it, despite having briefly enjoyed the statusof a $10 billion industry behemoth.

　　私营航天业非常不透明，SpaceX又口风甚严，再加上风投领域的小道消息看起来很不可靠，这让人们很难对它进行解读。同样的，该公司的自我描述也不一定能成为对它进行评价的依据(埃隆o穆斯克说SpaceX将在未来10年里登陆火星。该公司总裁格温o肖特韦尔则放言，到2100年SpaceX将成为太阳系运输领域的主导者。在这两个时点之间，SpaceX还打算把火箭有效载荷提高到58.5吨)。评估该公司当前价值和升值潜力的最佳途径也许不是金钱或者豪言壮语，而是观察这一业界新贵对商业航天领域的竞争对手产生了怎样的影响。

　　The private spaceflight industry is so opaque and SpaceX’s cards are so closely held that it isdifficult to get a read on the company, especially using the venture capital rumor mill. Nor canone necessarily judge SpaceX based on what the company says about itself. (Elon Musk saysthat the company is headed to Mars in the next decade. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwellboasts that by 2100 the company will dominate transportation across the solar system.Between them is a 58.5-ton payload of ambition.) Perhaps the best way to evaluate SpaceXand its potential value isn’t in dollar figures or in audacious claims, but by observing what theupstart space firm is already doing to its competition in the commercial space industry.

　　20世纪80年代初，美国退出了商业航天市场。从那时起，商业航天器发射领域基本上就处于被欧洲公司垄断的状态，比如法国的Arianespace[法国航空业巨头空中客车(Airbus)持有部分股份]和International LaunchServices[美俄合资，采用俄罗斯质子号(Proton)运载火箭的技术发射卫星]。尽管SpaceX通过为国际空间站(International Space Station)运送补给从美国国家航空航天局(NASA)获得了很大一部分收入，但在该公司截至2018年的40多次发射任务中，价值2000亿美元的卫星发射市场也占了很大的比重，而且这个比例还在不断上升。

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