A giant experimental rocket built by Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully soared eight miles above the company's testing facilities in South Texas on Wednesday and came back down as planned, before crashing into the ground in an enormous plume of flames and smoke.
周三，埃隆·马斯克旗下的深空探测公司制造的一枚巨型实验火箭在该公司位于德克萨斯州南部的测试设施上空成功升空8英里，并按计划降落，随后坠落地面，地面上冒出一股巨大的火焰和烟雾。
The hulking rocket didn't have anyone onboard.
这枚巨大的火箭并未载人。
It was an early developmental model of Starship, a 160-foot-tall spaceship proposed by Musk that he hopes will be used for hauling massive satellites into Earth's orbit, shuttling people between cities at breakneck speeds and — eventually — establishing a human settlement on Mars.
这是处于早期开发阶段的“星际飞船”模型，这艘160英尺高的宇宙飞船，由马斯克提出，他希望能用于将大型卫星送入地球轨道，以惊人的速度在城市间穿梭，并最终在火星上建立人类定居点。
The test flight marked the highest test flight yet of the technology Musk hopes will one day ferry the first humans to go to Mars, and a fiery ending was not totally unexpected.
这次试飞是迄今为止最高的一次试飞，马斯克希望这项技术有一天能将第一批人类送上火星，而最终的结局并不完全出乎意料。
Musk attempted to dampen expectations before the flight, saying in one tweet that he predicted the "SN8" vehicle, the name for the Starship prototype used Wednesday, had a one-in-three chance of landing safely back on Earth.
马斯克在飞行前试图降低期望值，他在一条推特上说，他预测“SN8”飞船(周三使用的飞船原型的名字)有三分之一的机会能安全返回地球。
The SN8 did manage to maneuver back to its landing target, but Musk said via Twitter that an issue with the rocket's fuel system caused it to make a crash landing.
SN8确实成功地回到了着陆目标，但马斯克在推特上表示，火箭燃料系统的问题导致了它的坠毁。
Green and yellow flames engulfed the landing site, which lies just outsides the small coastal town of Boca Chica, Texas.
绿色和黄色的火焰吞没了降落地点，它就在德克萨斯州海滨小镇博卡奇卡的外面。
SpaceX and Musk are known to embrace mishaps during the early stages of new spacefaring technology development.
众所周知，深空探测和马斯克在新航天技术发展的早期阶段遭遇了很多挫折。
The company's ethos is to move quickly and learn from errors, rather than taking the more NASA-esque approach of slowly conducting thorough research and ground tests before putting a rocket on a launch pad.
该公司的精神是迅速行动，从错误中吸取教训，而不是像美国宇航局那样，在将火箭送入发射台之前，缓慢地进行彻底的研究和地面测试。
Several previous Starship prototypes were destroyed during pressure tests, which are designed to check whether a vehicle can withstand the enormous pressure it undergoes during fueling and in flight.
之前的几艘星舰原型也曾在压力测试中被毁，压力测试是为了检查飞船能否承受在加油和飞行过程中所承受的巨大压力。
SpaceX did not reveal before flight exactly how the test was supposed to look, but shortly aftter liftoff, one of the Starship SN8's three engines shut off.
深空探测在飞行前没有透露测试的具体情况，但在升空后不久，星际飞船SN8的三个引擎中的一个意外失灵了。
SpaceX's plans for a Mars settlement bring up numerous technological, political and ethical questions.
深空探测公司的火星移民方案引发了众多技术、政治和伦理问题。
It's not clear for example, if Musk envisions working with Earthly governments to establish a space colony or if he intends to create a sovereign nation, which could violate existing international treaties that govern human behavior in outer space.
例如，尚不清楚马斯克是否打算与地球上的政府合作建立一个太空殖民地，或者他是否打算建立一个主权国家，这可能会违反现有的管理人类在外太空的行为的国际条约。
One of the most challenging hurdles may also be financial: Not even Musk has ventured to guess an all-in cost estimate.
最具挑战性的障碍之一可能也是财务方面的:就连马斯克也不敢大胆地把所有
But Starship could have plenty of other practical purposes closer to home.
但是星际飞船可能还有很多其他的实际用途。
The spacecraft could be capable of hauling massive satellites or research telescopes into Earth's orbit, resupplying the International Space Station, or, perhaps, shuttling people between cities at unprecedented speeds.
宇宙飞船可以将巨大的卫星或研究望远镜拖进地球轨道，为国际空间站提供补给，或者以前所未有的速度在城市间穿梭。
In a September 2017 presentation, SpaceX said Starship could be "capable of taking people from any city to any other city on Earth in under one hour."
在2017年9月的一次演示中，深空探测公司表示，Starship可能“能够在一小时内将人们从任何城市带到地球上的任何其他城市。”
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