SpaceX首次執(zhí)行星際飛船任務的目標

SpaceX is scouting for prime real estate to populate Mars, according to a database of NASA spacecraft photography.

美國宇航局太空船攝影數(shù)據(jù)庫顯示，SpaceX正在尋找適宜居住火星的黃金地段。

The database entries suggest the rocket company, founded by the tech mogul Elon Musk, is looking for relatively flat, warm, and hazard-free places to set down its coming launch vehicle, called Starship.

數(shù)據(jù)庫條目顯示，這家由科技大亨埃隆·馬斯克(elon musk)創(chuàng)建的火箭公司正在尋找相對平坦、溫暖、無危險的地方，以安放即將發(fā)射的名為“星際飛船”的運載火箭。

A scientist at the University of Arizona later confirmed the existence of SpaceX's landing site-scouting project.

亞利桑那大學的一位科學家后來證實了SpaceX的著陸點偵察項目的存在。

SpaceX is developing Starship – a towering two-stage rocket ship – to land 150 tons and up to 100 people at a time on Mars, with the first missions starting in the mid-2020s.

SpaceX公司正在開發(fā)一艘兩級火箭飛船——一艘高聳的飛船，每次能在火星上著陸150噸，最多可搭載100人，首批任務將于本世紀20年代中期開始。

Each candidate landing site is a place where frozen water may be buried under just a bit of red dirt and thus accessible to robots and people. That ice could, in theory, be mined, melted, and turned into precious supplies such as water, air, and rocket fuel.

每一個候選著陸點都是一個在一點點紅土下掩埋了冰凍水的地方，因此機器和人都可以進入。理論上，這些冰可以被開采、融化，并轉(zhuǎn)化為寶貴的資源，如水、空氣和火箭燃料。

(NASA/USGS/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) via Google Earth Pro; Business Insider)

The space-history writer Robert Zimmerman first posted about the images on his site, Beyond the Black, after perusing a fresh batch of data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Zimmerman noticed several photos with titles that included the words "Candidate Landing Site for SpaceX Starship".

太空歷史作家羅伯特齊默爾曼(robert zimmerman)在閱讀了美國宇航局(nasa)火星勘測軌道器的一批最新數(shù)據(jù)后，第一次在他的網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布了這些照片。齊默曼注意到幾張照片的標題包括“SpaceX星際飛船的候選著陸地點”。

"To put it mildly, it is most intriguing to discover that SpaceX is beginning to research a place where it can land Starship on Mars," Zimmerman wrote, adding that each site was a probable location to find buried ice.

齊默爾曼寫道:“委婉地說，最令人感興趣的發(fā)現(xiàn)是，SpaceX開始研究一個能讓星際飛船在火星著陸的地方。”他補充說，每個地點都可能是發(fā)現(xiàn)埋藏冰的地點。

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. However, the images are authentic requests from the company made through a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

SpaceX沒有立即回復Business Insider的置評請求。然而，這些圖片是該公司通過美國宇航局噴氣推進實驗室的科學家提出的真實要求。