谷歌爲火箭公司SpaceX投資10億美元

SAN FRANCISCO — Google likes its ambitions sky high. This time, it has gone a little further.

舊金山——谷歌(Google)向來不缺少凌雲壯志。而這一次，它又有了更高的目標。

The Internet giant, along with Fidelity, has invested $1 billion in SpaceX, the private rocketry company founded by Elon Musk. The move will help Google achieve its aim of bringing satellite Internet to remote corners of the world while giving SpaceX a round of fresh capital for its founder to pursue dreams of going to Mars.

這家互聯網巨頭與Fidelity一道，爲埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)創辦的私營火箭公司SpaceX投資了10億美元。此舉有助於谷歌實現讓世界上的偏遠角落享有衛星互聯網服務的目標，同時也讓SpaceX獲得了新一輪的注資，使它的創始人可以繼續追尋登上火星的夢想。

In a statement on its website, SpaceX said the money would be used “to support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability and satellite manufacturing.”

SpaceX在其網站上發表聲明稱，這筆資金將會用於“支持航天運輸、重複利用和衛星製造領域的持續創新”。

A Google spokesman said Don Harrison, Google’s vice president for corporate development, would join the board of SpaceX. In a statement, Mr. Harrison said: “Space-based applications, like imaging satellites, can help people more easily access important information, so we’re excited to support SpaceX’s growth as it develops new launch technologies.”

谷歌的一名發言人說，谷歌的企業發展副總裁唐·哈里森(Don Harrison)將加入SpaceX的董事會。哈里森在一份聲明中說：“太空技術的實際應用，比如成像衛星，可以幫助人們更加輕鬆地獲取重要信息，因此能在SpaceX開發新的發射技術時，爲它的成長提供支持，我們感到十分激動。”

In addition to an interest in a decent payoff on its investment, Google may be seeking to put itself into orbit. Last year, Google bought Skybox Imaging, a maker of small, high-resolution imaging satellites, for about $500 million. Google already offers satellite imagery in its Google Earth product, but must purchase these images from multiple sources, often receiving what company executives have said is uneven image quality.

除了可觀的投資回報，谷歌可能還在尋求把自己的衛星送入軌道。去年，谷歌以大約5億美元（約合30億元人民幣）的價格收購了Skybox Imaging，它是一家小型高分辨率成像衛星的製造商。谷歌已經在谷歌地球(Google Earth)產品中提供了衛星圖像，但必須從不同來源購買這些圖像，公司高管說，這些圖像質量常常參差不齊。

Google may also be interested in developing satellites with other kinds of sensors, like infrared detectors that show the health of crops, or lasers that can pierce forest canopies to show underlying terrain.

谷歌可能還想要開發帶有其他感應裝置的衛星，比如展示莊稼健康狀況的紅外探測器，或是能夠穿透森林覆蓋展示地形的激光設備。

The company has also shown interest in transforming the Internet connectivity business with high-altitude balloons that people can use to get online from remote locations. That same transmission technology could conceivably be put on satellites as well. Google is in competition with Facebook, which is also interested in advanced means of connectivity and which last year purchased a drone company potentially capable of carrying Internet devices.

谷歌還表現出了用高空氣球爲互聯網連接帶來變革的願望。這種高空氣球可以讓地處偏遠的人接入互聯網。可以想見，同樣的傳輸技術能夠用在衛星上。谷歌正在與Facebook展開競爭，後者也對先進的網絡連接手段萌生了興趣，並於去年收購了一家無人機公司，這種無人機有望搭載互聯網設備。

Google and Fidelity will collectively own 10 percent of SpaceX because of the investment.

做出這筆投資後，谷歌和Fidelity將共同擁有SpaceX公司10%的股份。

The Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have also expressed personal interest in space exploration. Early in the company’s history it offered employee lectures on building so-called space elevators that could theoretically launch objects off Earth more cheaply than rockets could.

谷歌創始人拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)和謝爾蓋·布林(Sergey Brin)也曾表達過對於太空探索的個人興趣。谷歌公司在創辦初期，曾對員工做過關於製造所謂的“太空電梯”的講座。理論上，這種裝置能以低於火箭的成本，把物體從地球發射出去。