Why build a space elevator?

为什么要建造太空电梯？

The space elevator will reduce the cost of getting from Earth to space. It will also allow us to take very large payloads into space very easily, very safely. Because of that, we can build cities on the moon. We can build space stations. We can build large solar arrays in space to collect energy from the sun and beam it down to Earth.

太空电梯将降低从地球到太空的费用。太空电梯能够让我们运送巨大载荷进入太空，既轻松又安全。这样，我们就可以在月球上建城市，可以建空间站，可以在太空修建大型太阳能帆板来收集太阳能量，然后将它发射回地球。

Why not just use rockets instead?

为什么不使用火箭？

Rockets are very expensive. The shuttle costs $10,000 a pound to put a payload into low-Earth orbit, and if you want to go to the moon or Mars, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars per pound or more. Rockets are also very limited in the amount of payload they can carry, and they're risky. With a space elevator, the cost is a fraction of that — it may go down to 100th or 1,000th of current costs — and there are no rocket engines that might explode.

火箭费用太昂贵了。将载荷送往低地球轨道，每磅得花1万美元；若要运往月球或火星，每磅的花费更高。在运送数量上，火箭也受到限制，且充满风险。但太空电梯就不一样了，费用仅为火箭运输的一小部分，只有其百分之一或千分之一，且不会像火箭引擎那样面临爆炸的风险。

What would it be like to ride the elevator?

登上太空电梯是什么感觉？

You'd go to an ocean platform, you'd climb into a module, and you'd feel it start moving. You'd see the Earth fall away. In just a half hour or so, you'd pass up through the clouds, and you'd start to see the curve of the horizon. Another half an hour to an hour later, you'd basically be in space. You'd see stars, even in the middle of the day. Eventually you'd be weightless. It'd be a very smooth ride;there wouldn't be any shaking.

你得登上海洋发射台，爬进舱体，你会感觉它开始移动。你可以看到，地球离你越来越远。大约半小时之后，你会穿越云层，渐渐能够看到地平线了。再过半小时或一小时，你基本就进入太空了。你会看到星星，即使是在大白天。最终你会处于失重的状态。那将是一次非常平稳的旅行，感觉不到任何摇晃。

Are there potential drawbacks to opening space this way?

通过太空电梯开发太空有什么潜在弊端吗？

Everything we do has the potential for creating some bad. If we mine an asteroid, the asteroid's going to look ugly, just like a mine here. But I think the benefits of opening up space far outweigh the damage that we can see — benefits in terms of gaining energy from space to replace oil,additional capabilities in telecommunications, manufacturing in space, additional real estate and exploration.

我们做的任何事情都可能产生潜在的负面影响。若我们开采小行星，它可能会变得破败不堪，就像地球上的矿井一样。但我认为，开发太空的益处远远大于我们能预见的弊端，这些益处可能涉及：从太空获取替代石油的能源，在电信、太空制造、额外地产以及探索方面的附加能力。