Amazon turns to Jeff Bezos’ other company to do some heavy lifting

亚马逊转向杰夫·贝索斯的另一家公司承担重任

It was less than two months ago that the third flight of Blue Origin’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket left a customer’s payload in an unusable orbit. Investigators have now identified the cause of the failure, and Blue Origin is preparing to launch the next New Glenn mission as soon as next week. 就在不到两个月前，蓝色起源（Blue Origin）的“新格伦”（New Glenn）重型运载火箭在第三次飞行中，将客户的有效载荷送入了一个无法使用的轨道。调查人员现已查明故障原因，蓝色起源正准备最早于下周发射下一次“新格伦”任务。

The Federal Aviation Administration and Blue Origin announced the closure of the failure investigation May 22. Yesterday, officials confirmed Blue Origin’s next launch will loft a payload of 48 commercial satellites for Amazon’s broadband network in low-Earth orbit. This will be the most satellites Amazon has launched on a single rocket, surpassing previous flights on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V, SpaceX’s Falcon 9, and Europe’s Ariane 6. 美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）和蓝色起源于5月22日宣布结束故障调查。昨日，官方确认蓝色起源的下一次发射将搭载48颗商业卫星，用于亚马逊的近地轨道宽带网络。这将是亚马逊单次火箭发射中卫星数量最多的一次，超过了此前使用联合发射联盟（ULA）的“宇宙神5号”（Atlas V）、SpaceX的“猎鹰9号”（Falcon 9）以及欧洲“阿丽亚娜6号”（Ariane 6）的发射记录。

Blue Origin and Amazon, each founded by Jeff Bezos, have not officially revealed a target launch date, but public notices of airspace and maritime closures suggest the mission is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, as soon as next Thursday, June 4. Blue Origin is expected to roll the New Glenn rocket to its launch pad in the coming days for a test-firing of its seven main engines, fueled by liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. 蓝色起源和亚马逊均由杰夫·贝索斯创立，双方尚未正式公布目标发射日期，但公开的空域和海域关闭通知显示，该任务最早将于下周四（6月4日）从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地升空。预计蓝色起源将在未来几天内将“新格伦”火箭运至发射台，对其七台以液化天然气和液氧为燃料的主发动机进行点火测试。

When it does fly, the New Glenn rocket will aim to release the 48 Amazon Leo satellites into an orbit a few hundred miles above Earth. A turnaround of less than two months, especially after a launch failure, would be a good sign that Blue Origin is ramping up the launch cadence for New Glenn. 一旦升空，“新格伦”火箭的目标是将48颗亚马逊低轨（LEO）卫星送入距离地球数百英里的轨道。不到两个月的周转时间，尤其是在经历了一次发射失败之后，是一个良好的信号，表明蓝色起源正在加快“新格伦”的发射节奏。

More rockets, please

需要更多火箭

It would be timely. Another heavy orbital-class rocket developed at the same time as New Glenn, ULA’s Vulcan, has struggled to sustain even a meager launch cadence since debuting in 2024. Two of the four Vulcan launches to date have suffered anomalies with solid rocket boosters, and although the missions succeeded in placing their payloads into orbit, the launcher is grounded as ULA and its subcontractors probe the recurring problem. 这非常及时。与“新格伦”同期开发的另一款重型轨道级火箭——ULA的“火神”（Vulcan）火箭，自2024年首飞以来，一直难以维持哪怕是微薄的发射频率。迄今为止，“火神”火箭的四次发射中有两次出现了固体火箭助推器异常，尽管任务最终成功将载荷送入轨道，但由于ULA及其分包商正在调查这一反复出现的问题，该发射器目前处于停飞状态。

Amazon has tapped ULA’s Vulcan as the primary launch vehicle for the Amazon Leo constellation, the first generation of which will number more than 3,200 satellites. The first of 38 Vulcan launches for Amazon Leo could fly later this year, but a firm schedule remains elusive as the solid rocket booster problem remains under investigation. Each Vulcan launch for Amazon Leo will use six of the strap-on rocket motors. 亚马逊已将ULA的“火神”选为亚马逊低轨卫星星座的主要运载工具，该星座第一代卫星数量将超过3200颗。为亚马逊低轨星座进行的38次“火神”发射中的第一次可能会在今年晚些时候进行，但由于固体火箭助推器问题仍在调查中，确切的时间表尚不明确。每次为亚马逊低轨星座进行的“火神”发射都将使用六个捆绑式火箭助推器。

Of course, the New Glenn rocket must work as intended before Blue Origin can claim it is on a path to a higher launch rate. The last New Glenn flight carried a large satellite for AST SpaceMobile’s direct-to-cell broadband network. The rocket’s upper stage was supposed to fire its engines two times to inject AST’s satellite into the proper orbit, but the stage misfired on the second burn, stranding the payload in a lower-than-planned orbit. The satellite was unable to recover from the rocket’s shortfall, and it burned up upon reentry into the atmosphere. 当然，蓝色起源必须证明“新格伦”火箭能按预期工作，才能声称其走上了提高发射率的道路。上一次“新格伦”飞行搭载了AST SpaceMobile直接连接手机宽带网络的一颗大型卫星。火箭上面级本应点火两次，将AST的卫星送入预定轨道，但第二次点火时出现故障，导致载荷滞留在比计划更低的轨道上。该卫星无法从火箭的失误中恢复，最终在重返大气层时烧毁。

In a statement last week, Blue Origin said engineers completed their investigation into the upper stage failure and implemented corrective measures ahead of the next New Glenn launch. “Prior to our second GS2 burn, we experienced an off-nominal thermal condition, and, as a result, one of the BE-3U engines didn’t achieve full thrust to reach our target orbit,” Blue Origin posted on X. 在上周的一份声明中，蓝色起源表示工程师已完成对上面级故障的调查，并在下一次“新格伦”发射前实施了纠正措施。蓝色起源在X（原Twitter）上发文称：“在第二次GS2点火前，我们遇到了非正常的温度状况，导致其中一台BE-3U发动机未能达到全推力，从而无法进入目标轨道。”

The Federal Aviation Administration accepted the findings of the investigation and added a few details on the cause of the failure. The FAA said a cryogenic leak froze a hydraulic line and led to a thrust anomaly during the second burn of the upper stage. Blue Origin identified nine correction actions, according to the FAA. 美国联邦航空管理局接受了调查结果，并补充了关于故障原因的一些细节。FAA表示，低温泄漏冻结了液压管路，导致上面级第二次点火期间出现推力异常。据FAA称，蓝色起源确定了九项纠正措施。

The 7-meter-diameter payload fairing offers twice the payload volume of the smaller 5-meter fairings used on Falcon 9, Vulcan, and Ariane 6. Credit: Blue Origin 直径7米的有效载荷整流罩提供的载荷空间是“猎鹰9号”、“火神”和“阿丽亚娜6号”所使用的5米整流罩的两倍。图片来源：蓝色起源

Getting New Glenn into service for Amazon should help accelerate deployment of the Amazon Leo satellite constellation, a would-be competitor with SpaceX’s Starlink network. ULA boasts a large backlog for the Vulcan rocket, which can loft 45 Amazon Leo satellites in one go. But the US Space Force has reserved numerous Vulcan missions of its own. ULA says it is equipped to support two Vulcan launches per month once the rocket is flying routinely. 让“新格伦”投入亚马逊的服务，应有助于加速亚马逊低轨卫星星座的部署，该星座旨在与SpaceX的“星链”（Starlink）网络竞争。ULA拥有大量“火神”火箭的订单储备，该火箭一次可发射45颗亚马逊低轨卫星。但美国太空军也预留了许多“火神”的发射任务。ULA表示，一旦火箭进入常态化飞行，他们有能力支持每月两次的“火神”发射。

Blue Origin has the advantage of reusability. The New Glenn rocket’s first-stage booster is reusable, a capability first demonstrated on the company’s last flight April 19, despite the upper-stage failure that occurred later in the mission. 蓝色起源拥有可重复使用的优势。“新格伦”火箭的第一级助推器是可重复使用的，这一能力在公司4月19日的上一次飞行中首次得到验证，尽管任务后期出现了上面级故障。

The bulk of Amazon’s satellites have so far been launched on ULA’s Atlas V rocket, a reliable workhorse that is nearing retirement. Amazon has just two more launches on the Atlas V, each carrying 29 satellites. The next one is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on Friday evening. 到目前为止，亚马逊的大部分卫星都是通过ULA的“宇宙神5号”火箭发射的，这是一款可靠的“工作马”，但已接近退役。亚马逊在“宇宙神5号”上仅剩两次发射任务，每次搭载29颗卫星。下一次发射定于周五晚上从卡纳维拉尔角进行。

Amazon currently has 302 satellites in orbit, and Friday’s launch should push the network past the 10 percent mark for the total number of 3,232 spacecraft. That is far below the requirement from the Federal Communications Commission for Amazon to deploy half of the constellation by the end of July, a deadline in place since the FCC’s approval of the Amazon Leo network in 2020. 亚马逊目前在轨卫星数量为302颗，周五的发射将使该网络总数超过3232颗卫星的10%。这远低于美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）要求亚马逊在7月底前部署一半星座的要求，该截止日期自2020年FCC批准亚马逊低轨网络以来一直有效。

In January, Amazon requested an extension to the deadline. At the same time, the company announced it purchased 12 additional flights on New Glenn, bringing the total number of Amazon launches with Blue Origin to 24. Amazon also added 10 more launches on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on top of three Falcon 9 launches for Amazon Leo last year. Meanwhile, in French Guiana, Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket has launched two dedicated missions for Amazon Leo, each with 32 satellites. Amazon has shipped the next batch of satellites to French… 今年1月，亚马逊请求延长截止日期。与此同时，该公司宣布额外购买了12次“新格伦”的发射服务，使亚马逊与蓝色起源的发射总数达到24次。除了去年为亚马逊低轨星座进行的3次“猎鹰9号”发射外，亚马逊还增加了10次“猎鹰9号”发射。与此同时，在法属圭亚那，欧洲的“阿丽亚娜6号”火箭已为亚马逊低轨星座执行了两次专用任务，每次搭载32颗卫星。亚马逊已将下一批卫星运往法属……