Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test
蓝色起源（Blue Origin）的新格伦（New Glenn）火箭在静态点火测试中爆炸
On Thursday evening, Blue Origin attempted to test fire its massive New Glenn rocket at its Florida launch site, but something went very wrong after engine ignition. The super heavy lift rocket exploded in spectacular and disastrous fashion. 周四晚上，蓝色起源公司在其佛罗里达州的发射场尝试对其巨大的“新格伦”火箭进行点火测试，但在发动机点火后出现了严重故障。这枚超重型运载火箭以一种壮观且灾难性的方式发生了爆炸。
The static fire test was being filmed by NASASpaceflight.com on its Space Coast Live feed, which captured video of the conflagration that followed the destruction of the booster. The first stage of New Glenn, fueled with methane, produced a massive fireball above the launch site along the Florida coast, LC-36A. It is possibly the most dramatic and powerful rocket explosion since the Soviet Union’s N1 rocket was destroyed during a launch attempt in 1969. 此次静态点火测试由 NASASpaceflight.com 通过其“太空海岸直播”（Space Coast Live）频道进行拍摄，视频记录了助推器损毁后引发的熊熊大火。新格伦火箭的第一级使用甲烷燃料，在佛罗里达海岸的 LC-36A 发射场上方形成了一个巨大的火球。这可能是自 1969 年苏联 N1 火箭在发射尝试中损毁以来，最剧烈、威力最强的火箭爆炸事故。
There was no immediate indication as to what caused the rocket to fail during the initial stages of the static fire test. The failure originated with the first stage of the rocket, which is powered by seven BE-4 engines. Sources said the problem appeared to start in the engine section of the vehicle. 目前尚无迹象表明是什么原因导致火箭在静态点火测试的初期阶段发生故障。故障源于火箭的第一级，该级由七台 BE-4 发动机提供动力。消息人士称，问题似乎始于火箭的发动机舱。
“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said on X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” “现在断定根本原因还为时过早，但我们已经在努力寻找答案，”蓝色起源创始人杰夫·贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）在 X 上表示。“这是非常艰难的一天，但我们会重建所有需要重建的部分，并重返飞行。这一切都是值得的。”
No one was injured during the failure, which sources said caused extensive damage to the company’s large and complex launch site. During a pad failure in 2016, with the smaller Falcon 9 rocket, it took SpaceX more than a year to rebuild its seriously damaged Space Launch Complex-40 pad. 此次事故中无人受伤，但据消息人士透露，事故对该公司庞大且复杂的发射场造成了严重破坏。在 2016 年 SpaceX 较小的“猎鹰 9 号”火箭发生发射台事故时，SpaceX 花了一年多的时间才重建了受损严重的 40 号航天发射复合体（SLC-40）。
A true catastrophe
一场真正的灾难
This is the worst disaster in the history of Blue Origin, founded in 2000. The company has launched New Glenn three times, during each of which the first stage performed well. The company had already demonstrated the ability to land the New Glenn first stage and impressively reused it in April for the first time. During that third flight, carrying the Blue Bird 7 satellite, an upper stage issue caused the mission to fail. However, the company responded rapidly to the in-flight failure and returned to the launch pad in less than two months this week. 这是自 2000 年成立以来，蓝色起源历史上最严重的灾难。该公司此前已三次发射“新格伦”火箭，每次第一级的表现都很出色。该公司此前已证明了回收“新格伦”第一级的能力，并于今年 4 月首次实现了令人印象深刻的重复使用。在第三次飞行中，由于携带“蓝鸟 7 号”（Blue Bird 7）卫星时上级出现问题，导致任务失败。然而，该公司对飞行中的故障反应迅速，并在不到两个月后的本周重返发射台。
The first stage for this mission, nicknamed No, It’s Necessary, was making its debut launch. Prior to this launch attempt, Blue Origin had in its inventory two first stages and about six New Glenn upper stages completed, and it was poised to break into a monthly launch cadence. By all accounts, the rocket was viewed as a major success for a company that, for so long, had seemed to plod along. New Glenn’s success catapulted the company to the upper echelon of spaceflight enterprises in the world. That Blue Origin was on the precipice of accelerating further makes this setback all the more painful. 本次任务的第一级火箭绰号为“No, It’s Necessary”，这是它的首次亮相。在此次发射尝试之前，蓝色起源库存中有两枚第一级火箭和约六枚已完成的“新格伦”上级火箭，并准备进入每月一次的发射节奏。从各方面来看，这枚火箭被视为该公司的一项重大成功，因为该公司长期以来一直显得进展缓慢。“新格伦”的成功将该公司推向了全球航天企业的第一梯队。而蓝色起源正处于进一步加速发展的边缘，这使得此次挫折显得格外令人痛苦。
New Glenn an essential part of a Moon base
“新格伦”是月球基地的核心部分
The failure of New Glenn also has major implications for NASA and its surging efforts to return humans to the Moon before the end of this decade, and to establish a lunar base on the surface. On Tuesday NASA announced that it had selected the New Glenn rocket to deliver the first two rovers, built by Lunar Outpost and Astrolab, to the lunar surface in 2028. “新格伦”的失败对美国国家航空航天局（NASA）及其在本十年末前将人类送回月球并在月球表面建立基地的宏伟计划也产生了重大影响。周二，NASA 宣布已选择“新格伦”火箭在 2028 年将由 Lunar Outpost 和 Astrolab 制造的首批两辆月球车送往月球表面。
Blue Origin has developed its own cargo lunar lander, Blue Moon Mark 1, designed to fly on top of New Glenn. It was due to launch this fall to the Moon for the first time, and again next year carrying the VIPER rover to the Moon for NASA. Then there is the larger Blue Moon Mark 2 lander, which is due to fly on a larger and more powerful version of the New Glenn rocket with nine first stage engines, known as 9×4. NASA is counting on the Mark 2 lander, alongside SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, to carry humans to the Moon on a regular basis—and soon. 蓝色起源开发了自己的货运月球着陆器“蓝月 Mark 1”（Blue Moon Mark 1），旨在搭载于“新格伦”火箭顶部。它原定于今年秋季首次发射前往月球，并计划明年再次发射，为 NASA 将 VIPER 月球车送往月球。此外，还有更大的“蓝月 Mark 2”着陆器，它计划搭载在“新格伦”火箭的一个更大、动力更强的版本上，该版本拥有九台第一级发动机，被称为 9×4。NASA 指望“Mark 2”着陆器与 SpaceX 的“星舰”（Starship）一起，尽快实现定期载人登月。
Pad infrastructure severely damaged
发射台基础设施严重受损
It is too early to determine the impacts from this failure, but they will be considerable. Early reports from sources suggest that the launch infrastructure at LC-36A is severely damaged. A source indicated that one of the lightning towers may not be salvageable, and that the transporter-erector may also be damaged beyond repair. 现在确定此次失败的影响还为时过早，但影响将是巨大的。来自消息人士的早期报告显示，LC-36A 的发射基础设施严重受损。一位消息人士指出，其中一座避雷塔可能无法修复，运输起竖车（transporter-erector）也可能损毁严重，无法修复。
The company recently began construction on a second New Glenn launch site nearby, LC-36B. However, the work there is in its early stages. It is possible, however, that completing this new launch tower may be faster than rebuilding LC-36A. New Glenn almost certainly will not launch again in 2026, and frankly a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given the launch site concerns. 该公司最近在附近开始了第二个“新格伦”发射场 LC-36B 的建设。然而，那里的工作还处于早期阶段。不过，完成这座新的发射塔可能比重建 LC-36A 更快。“新格伦”几乎肯定不会在 2026 年再次发射，坦率地说，考虑到发射场的问题，能在 2027 年上半年实现发射已属壮举。
Blue Origin has been doing a lot of developmental work on the larger 9×4 rocket, which is expected to become the workhorse of the fleet over the smaller 7×2 rocket variant that exploded on Thursday evening in Florida. It is possible that the company now throws all of its efforts into completing work on this larger rocket. 蓝色起源一直在对更大的 9×4 火箭进行大量的开发工作，预计该型号将取代周四晚上在佛罗里达州爆炸的较小 7×2 火箭变体，成为其主力机型。该公司现在可能会将所有精力投入到完成这款更大的火箭上。
Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, has largely funded Blue Origin since its founding a quarter of a century ago. He has put tens of billions of dollars into the company. Fortunately for Blue Origin, he has the financial wherewithal to sustain the company through this failure and to accelerate its recovery efforts. NASA, too, will be very keen to see Blue Origin get back on its feet as expeditiously as possible. 靠亚马逊发家的贝索斯在过去四分之一个世纪里，几乎独自资助了蓝色起源。他向该公司投入了数百亿美元。对蓝色起源来说幸运的是，他有足够的财力支持公司度过这次失败，并加速其恢复工作。NASA 也非常希望看到蓝色起源能尽快恢复元气。
If there’s a small silver lining, it’s that the rocket that exploded Thursday night did not carry its payload of Amazon Leo Internet satellites. They were safe, in a nearby integration facility, awaiting launch. 如果说还有一线希望的话，那就是周四晚上爆炸的火箭并没有搭载亚马逊的低地球轨道（LEO）互联网卫星。它们很安全，正存放在附近的集成设施中等待发射。