To Mars and Beyond, Fast!: How Plasma Propulsion Will Revolutionize Space Exploration
暫譯: 前往火星及更遠的地方，快速！：等離子推進如何徹底改變太空探索

隨著先進的太空推進技術從科幻變為現實，可變比衝磁等離子體火箭（Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket，簡稱 VASIMR(R)）引擎成為實現「一個月到火星」的主要競爭者。這本書是一次太空運輸的範式轉變，深入且引人入勝的故事由其發明者共同撰寫。書中追溯了 VASIMR(R) 引擎發展的引人注目的歷史。這項具有里程碑意義的技術根植於先進的等離子體物理概念。它交叉融合了不同的想法和學科，為未來幾十年低地球軌道以外的太空運輸提供了一種新的、實用的和可持續的解決方案。VASIMR(R) 引擎由擁有世界太空飛行紀錄的共同持有人、宇航員 Franklin Chang-Díaz 發明，並由 Ad Astra Rocket Company 在其德克薩斯州的設施中開發，與 NASA 共同參與 NextSTEP VASIMR(R) 合作計畫。在充足的資金支持下，VASIMR(R) 引擎的首次太空飛行即將來臨。等離子體火箭的排氣速度遠超過傳統化學火箭所能達到的速度。VASIMR(R) 引擎是當今世界上最先進的高功率等離子體推進系統，並可能在不久的將來使長途快速的行星間旅行成為可能。

Franklin Chang Díaz was born April 5, 1950, in San José, Costa Rica, to the late Mr. Ramón A. Chang Morales and Mrs. María Eugenia Díaz Romero. At the age of 18, having completed his secondary education at Colegio de La Salle in Costa Rica, he left his family for the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a rocket scientist and an astronaut.

Arriving in Hartford Connecticut in the fall of 1968 with $50 dollars in his pocket and speaking no English, he stayed with relatives, enrolled at Hartford Public High School where he learned English and graduated again in the spring of 1969. That year he also earned a scholarship to the University of Connecticut.

While his formal college training led him to a BS in Mechanical Engineering, his four years as a student research assistant at the university's physics laboratories provided him with his early skills as an experimental physicist. Engineering and physics were his passion but also the correct skill mix for his chosen career in space. However, two important events affected his path after graduation: the early cancellation of the Apollo Moon program, which left thousands of space engineers out of work, eliminating opportunities in that field and, the global energy crisis, resulting from the I973 oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The latter provided a boost to new research in energy.

Confident that things would ultimately change at NASA, he entered graduate school at MIT in the field of plasma physics and controlled fusion. His research involved him heavily in the US Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion Program, managed then by the US Atomic Energy Commission. His doctoral thesis studied the conceptual design and operation of future reactors, capable of harnessing fusion power. He received his doctorate degree in 1977 and in that same year, he became a US citizen.

After MIT, Dr. Chang Díaz joined the technical staff of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, where he continued his research in fusion. In that year, the Space Shuttle Enterprise made its first successful atmospheric test flight and re-energized the moribund US Space Program. Following this success, in 1977, NASA issued a nationwide call for a new group of astronauts for the Space Shuttle Program. In addition to US citizenship and in contrast to earlier such announcements in the 1960s, the qualification requirements also included an advanced scientific degree. Dr. Chang Díaz was ready.

Rejected on his first application to the Astronaut Program in 1977, he tried again in a second call in 1979. This time, successfully, becoming, in May of 1980, one of 19 astronaut candidates selected by NASA from a pool of more than 3,000 applicants and the first naturalized citizen from Latin America to be so chosen.

While undergoing astronaut training, Dr. Chang Díaz supported functions at the Johnson and Kennedy space centers and served as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) in Houston's Mission Control. In 1985 he led the astronaut shuttle support team at the Kennedy Space Center. During his training, Dr. Chang Díaz logged over 1,800 hours of atmospheric flight time, including 1,500 hours in high performance jet aircraft.

Dr. Chang Díaz achieved his dream of space flight on January 12, 1986 on board the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS 61-C. The 6-day mission deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted multiple scientific experiments. After 96 orbits of the Earth, Columbia made a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mohave dessert.

After a nearly 3-year hiatus, following the Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986, Dr. Chang Díaz flew a (world) record 6 more space missions, which contributed to major US space accomplishments, including the successful deployment of the Galileo spacecraft to Jupiter, the operation of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a major international particle physics experiment, the first and last missions of the US-Russian Shuttle-MIR Program and, on three separate space walks, totaling more than 19 hours outside the spacecraft, Dr. Chang Díaz led the installation of major components of the International Space Station (ISS) and conducted critical repairs on the Canadian ISS Robotic Arm. In his seven space missions, Dr. Chang Díaz logged over 1,600 hours in space.

Alongside with his astronaut duties, Dr. Chang Díaz continued his research in applied plasma physics, investigating applications to rocket propulsion. His 1979 concept of a plasma rocket became the VASIMR(R) plasma engine, embodied in 3 NASA patents to his name. In 1994, he founded and directed the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory (ASPL) at the Johnson Space Center where he managed a multi-center research team to develop this propulsion technology.

On July 8, 2005, after 25 years of government service, Dr. Chang Díaz retired from NASA to continue his work on the VASIMR(R) through the private sector. He is founder and current Chairman and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company, www.adastrarocket.com, a US private firm based in Houston Texas where the VASIMR(R) engine is being brought to space flight readiness in partnership with NASA. The company is also developing clean energy applications and hydrogen technology at its subsidiary in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Dr. Chang Díaz serves on the Board of Directors of Cummins Inc., a global power leader headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, and EARTH University, an international sustainable development educational institution in Costa Rica. He also leads the "Strategy for the XXI Century" http: //www.estrategia.cr/, a master plan, aimed to transform Costa Rica into a fully developed nation by the year 2050.

In 1986, Dr. Chang Díaz received The Liberty Medal from President Ronald Reagan at the Statue of Liberty Centennial Celebration in New York City. He is a four-time recipient of NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, the agency's highest honor and was inducted in the US Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 4, 2012. He holds many honorary doctorates from universities in the United States and Latin America and has continued to serve in academia as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Rice University and the University of Houston. He is married to the former Peggy Marguerite Stafford of Alexandria, Louisiana and has four daughters: Jean Elizabeth (43) Sonia Rosa (39), Lidia Aurora (29) and Miranda Karina (21). He enjoys music, flying and scuba-diving. His mother, brothers and sisters still reside in Costa Rica.

法蘭克林·昌·迪亞茲（Franklin Chang Díaz）於1950年4月5日出生於哥斯大黎加的聖荷西，父親是已故的拉蒙·A·昌·莫拉萊斯（Ramón A. Chang Morales），母親是瑪麗亞·尤金尼亞·迪亞茲·羅梅羅（María Eugenia Díaz Romero）。18歲時，他在哥斯大黎加的拉薩爾學院（Colegio de La Salle）完成中學教育後，離開家人前往美國，追尋成為火箭科學家和宇航員的夢想。

1968年秋季，他帶著50美元來到康乃狄克州的哈特福德，當時不會說英語，住在親戚家，並在哈特福德公立高中（Hartford Public High School）註冊學習英語，並於1969年春季再次畢業。同年，他還獲得了康乃狄克大學的獎學金。

雖然他的正式大學訓練使他獲得了機械工程學士學位，但他在大學物理實驗室擔任學生研究助理的四年，為他提供了作為實驗物理學家的早期技能。工程學和物理學是他的熱情所在，也是他選擇的太空職業所需的正確技能組合。然而，兩個重要事件影響了他畢業後的道路：阿波羅登月計劃的提前取消，讓數千名太空工程師失業，消除了該領域的機會，以及1973年石油輸出國組織（OPEC）造成的全球能源危機，促進了能源新研究的發展。

他對NASA最終會改變的信心使他進入麻省理工學院（MIT）攻讀等離子體物理和受控核聚變的研究生學位。他的研究使他深度參與美國受控熱核聚變計劃，當時由美國原子能委員會管理。他的博士論文研究了未來反應堆的概念設計和運行，這些反應堆能夠利用聚變能量。他於1977年獲得博士學位，同年成為美國公民。

在麻省理工學院之後，昌·迪亞茲博士加入了位於麻薩諸塞州劍橋的查爾斯·斯塔克·德雷珀實驗室（Charles Stark Draper Laboratory）技術團隊，繼續他的聚變研究。當年，太空梭企業號（Space Shuttle Enterprise）成功進行了首次大氣測試飛行，重新激活了萎縮的美國太空計劃。隨著這一成功，1977年，NASA發出全國性徵召，尋找新的太空梭計劃宇航員。除了美國公民身份外，與1960年代早期的公告相比，資格要求還包括高級科學學位。昌·迪亞茲博士已經準備好了。

在1977年第一次申請宇航員計劃時被拒絕後，他在1979年第二次徵召中再次嘗試。這次成功了，於1980年5月成為NASA從超過3,000名申請者中選出的19名宇航員候選人之一，也是第一位被選中的拉丁美洲歸化公民。

在接受宇航員訓練期間，昌·迪亞茲博士支持約翰遜和甘迺迪太空中心的職能，並在休斯頓的任務控制中心擔任艙內通訊員（CAPCOM）。1985年，他在甘迺迪太空中心領導宇航員太空梭支援團隊。在訓練期間，昌·迪亞茲博士累計超過1,800小時的大氣飛行時間，其中包括1,500小時的高性能噴射機飛行時間。

昌·迪亞茲博士於1986年1月12日在太空梭哥倫比亞號（Space Shuttle Columbia）上實現了他的太空飛行夢想，執行STS 61-C任務。這次為期6天的任務部署了SATCOM KU衛星並進行了多項科學實驗。在繞地球96圈後，哥倫比亞號成功在加州莫哈維沙漠的愛德華空軍基地夜間著陸。

在1986年1月28日挑戰者號災難後，經過近3年的暫停，昌·迪亞茲博士又執行了6次（世界）紀錄的太空任務，為美國太空成就做出了重大貢獻，包括成功部署伽利略號太空船前往木星、運行阿爾法磁譜儀（Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer）這一重大國際粒子物理實驗、美國-俄羅斯太空梭-和平號計劃的首次和最後任務，以及在三次不同的太空行走中，總計超過19小時在太空艙外，昌·迪亞茲博士領導了國際空間站（ISS）主要組件的安裝，並對加拿大ISS機器手臂進行了關鍵維修。在他的七次太空任務中，昌·迪亞茲博士在太空中累計超過1,600小時。

除了宇航員的職責外，昌·迪亞茲博士繼續在應用等離子體物理方面進行研究，調查火箭推進的應用。他在1979年提出的等離子體火箭概念成為了VASIMR(R)等離子體引擎，並擁有3項NASA專利。1994年，他創立並指導了約翰遜太空中心的先進太空推進實驗室（ASPL），管理一個多中心研究團隊以開發這項推進技術。

2005年7月8日，經過25年的政府服務，昌·迪亞茲博士從NASA退休，繼續在私營部門推進VASIMR(R)的工作。他是Ad Astra Rocket Company的創始人及現任董事長兼首席執行官，該公司位於德克薩斯州休斯頓，正與NASA合作將VASIMR(R)引擎推向太空飛行準備。該公司還在其位於哥斯大黎加瓜納卡斯特的子公司開發清潔能源應用和氫技術。

昌·迪亞茲博士擔任庫明斯公司（Cummins Inc.）的董事會成員，該公司是一家總部位於印第安納州哥倫布的全球動力領導者，以及EARTH大學，這是一所位於哥斯大黎加的國際可持續發展教育機構。他還領導“21世紀戰略”（Strategy for the XXI Century），這是一項旨在到2050年將哥斯大黎加轉變為完全發展國家的總體規劃。

1986年，昌·迪亞茲博士在紐約市自由女神像百年慶典上獲得了羅納德·里根總統頒發的自由獎章（The Liberty Medal）。他四次獲得NASA的傑出服務獎章，這是該機構的最高榮譽，並於2012年5月4日入選美國宇航員名人堂。他擁有來自美國和拉丁美洲多所大學的多個榮譽博士學位，並繼續在學術界擔任萊斯大學和休斯頓大學的物理學兼任教授。他與來自路易斯安那州亞歷山德里亞的佩吉·瑪格麗特·史塔福德（Peggy Marguerite Stafford）結婚，育有四個女兒：珍·伊莉莎白（Jean Elizabeth，43歲）、索尼亞·羅莎（Sonia Rosa，39歲）、莉迪亞·奧羅拉（Lidia Aurora，29歲）和米蘭達·卡莉娜（Miranda Karina，21歲）。他喜愛音樂、飛行和潛水。他的母親、兄弟和姐妹仍居住在哥斯大黎加。