分析Space X公司面对的最大挑战

2014-09-09 11:10:58来源：可可英语

　　Reusability. This year, SpaceX began experimenting with reusable first rocket stages that couldone day be recovered, refurbished, and used for multiple flights. Considering most of the sunkcosts in the space launch enterprise go into rocket stages that are used once and destroyed,this could significantly alter the economics of space launch.

　　重复使用能力。今年Space X开始试验可重复使用的一级火箭，将来它可以回收、翻新，多次发射。考虑到航空发射企业绝大多数沉没成本都是发射一次即告销毁的多级火箭带来的，这种新型火箭将极大改善航空发射的经济性。

　　That last point is particularly important, as it will once again impact SpaceX’s competitors abilityto keep pace. Three-tenths of one percent of the cost of a rocket launch is tied up in thepropellant, New Space Global’s David says. Most of the remaining cost comes from throwingaway the rest of the hardware. Of that, three quarters is tied up in the first rocket stage.Solving the reusability problem will not only drive down the cost of launch for the $200 billionsatellite market, but the first company to get there will open up space for a host of newcustomers as well. SpaceX still has a ways to go before its reusable first stage technology isanywhere near mature, but it’s the only company actually experimenting with anything of thesort.

　　最后这一点尤其重要，因为它将再次影响该公司竞争的跟进能力。New Space Global公司的戴维表示，每次火箭发射中推进剂的成本占十分之三。其他成本主要来自抛掉剩余硬件。其中又有四分之三和一级火箭有关。对总价值高达2000亿美元的卫星发射市场来说，解决重复使用的问题不仅能大幅降低发射成本，第一个能实现这一点的公司还将带来大量新客户。Space X的可重复使用一级火箭技术还有待成熟完善，但它确实是唯一一家开展这类试验的公司。

　　SpaceX’s true value has less to do with how much money it has raised and more more to doboth with its ability to reliably scale as its competitors retrench, regroup, and learn tocompete. The commercial space launch industry is in the midst of an adapt-or-die moment.For now, SpaceX is driving it.

　　在竞争对手纷纷缩减开支、重组并学会竞争之际，Space X的真正价值与其能募得多少资金关系不大，而是更多地与该公司能否可靠地扩大生产规模有关。商业航空发射业正处于“适者生存、优胜劣汰”的关键历史关头。就目前而言，是Space X正在推动整个行业的发展。

　　“If everyone is worried about the cost of the Falcon 9, they also should be looking down theroad because SpaceX is already doing what all good tech companies do: disrupting its owntechnology,” David says. “Looking at the Falcon 9 today and attempting to compete with itwhile ignoring the future is like being a competitor to Apple many years ago when they firstintroduced the iPod and neglecting to consider the possibility of the iPhone and the iPad.”

　　戴维表示：“如果大家担心鹰隼9号火箭的成本太高，他们也应该放眼展望未来，因为Space X公司正在开始做所有卓越科技公司都会做的事情：颠覆自己的技术。现在只是关注鹰隼9号并想和它一决雌雄，同时无视未来大势，就好比多年前当苹果公司(Apple)首次推出iPod时，竞争对手一心想击败这款产品，却不考虑苹果将来可能推出iPhone和iPad一样。”

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