Rocket Report: A dark day for Blue Origin; Pentagon eyes new launch site

火箭报告：蓝色起源的至暗时刻；五角大楼关注新发射场

Welcome to Edition 8.43 of the Rocket Report! A disclaimer: No one yet fully appreciates the ramifications of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion Thursday night on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. What we know as of this writing is that much of Blue’s sole orbital-class launch pad has been destroyed, and the New Glenn rocket will be grounded for an extended period of time. It is too soon for any hot takes, at least until the Sun rises at the Cape on Friday morning. One thing I am sure of is that we will be writing about this event for weeks, months, and years to come.

欢迎阅读第 8.43 期《火箭报告》！免责声明：目前还没有人能完全预估蓝色起源（Blue Origin）的“新格伦”（New Glenn）火箭周四晚在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角发射台上爆炸所带来的后果。截至本文撰写时，我们已知的是，蓝色起源唯一的轨道级发射台大部分已被摧毁，“新格伦”火箭将在很长一段时间内停飞。现在下定论还为时过早，至少要等到周五早晨卡纳维拉尔角的太阳升起之后。但我可以肯定的一点是，在未来的几周、几个月甚至几年里，我们将持续报道这一事件。

Charting China’s contribution to space junk.

追踪中国对太空垃圾的“贡献”

There’s a problem with the drastic uptick in Chinese space launches over the last decade. China appears to be ignoring long-established norms about disposing of the upper stages of rockets, Ars reports. These are the parts of the vehicle that separate from the first stage of a rocket and push a satellite or spacecraft into orbit. In the early decades of spaceflight, launch operators routinely left upper stages in orbit after they released their payloads. But most launch companies today reserve enough propellant in their rockets to remove them from orbit to avoid the risk of spent upper stages becoming a source of space debris.

过去十年中，中国航天发射次数的急剧增加带来了一个问题。据《Ars Technica》报道，中国似乎忽视了关于处理火箭末级（upper stages）的长期既定规范。这些部件在与火箭第一级分离后，负责将卫星或航天器推入轨道。在航天飞行的早期几十年里，发射运营商通常在释放载荷后将末级留在轨道上。但如今，大多数发射公司都会在火箭中预留足够的推进剂，以便将其移出轨道，从而避免废弃的末级成为太空碎片来源的风险。

But China is not following this trend. There has been striking growth in China’s rocket body mass. In the past five years, the mass of Chinese rocket bodies in long-lived orbits has risen from less than 100 metric tons to 252, according to a new analysis by Space Domain Awareness expert Jim Shell.

然而，中国并没有遵循这一趋势。中国火箭残骸的质量出现了惊人的增长。根据太空领域感知专家吉姆·谢尔（Jim Shell）的一项最新分析，在过去五年中，处于长寿命轨道上的中国火箭残骸质量已从不到 100 公吨增加到 252 公吨。

Worst practices…

最差实践……

The recent growth of Chinese upper stages has been driven by the country’s increased launch rate as it begins to deploy satellite megaconstellations, Shell said. China’s space industry is just at the beginning of launching megaconstellations to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service, suggesting that if the country does not curb this practice, it will deteriorate an already congested space environment. Chinese constellations such as Guowang and Spacesail are typically at higher altitudes, above 800 km, and China may launch 1,000 or more rockets over the next decade to support these constellations. That’s a lot of new junk if the trend continues.

谢尔表示，近期中国火箭末级数量的增长，是由该国在开始部署卫星巨型星座时发射频率增加所驱动的。中国的航天工业才刚刚开始发射巨型星座以与 SpaceX 的“星链”（Starlink）卫星服务竞争，这意味着如果中国不遏制这种做法，将会使本已拥挤的太空环境进一步恶化。中国的“国网”（Guowang）和“千帆”（Spacesail）等星座通常位于 800 公里以上的高轨道，未来十年中国可能会发射 1000 枚甚至更多的火箭来支持这些星座。如果这种趋势持续下去，那将产生大量新的太空垃圾。

DARPA, Voyager team up on solid rocket motors.

DARPA 与 Voyager 合作研发固体火箭发动机

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Voyager Technologies a $16.5 million contract to continue development of a solid rocket motor thrust-control technology designed to make missile propulsion systems more adaptable across different missions and weapons programs, Space News reports. The contract is part of DARPA’s “Burn n’ Go” program. Solid rocket motors are used for a wide range of applications, from tactical missiles to space launch vehicles. The upside for solid rocket motors is their reliability and manufacturability. Solid rocket motors can vary their thrust, but these thrust profiles are predetermined by propellant grain patterns and the dimensions of the motor. In other words, the thrust profiles are locked in once the motor is manufactured. Unlike liquid-fueled rocket engines, solid-fueled rockets typically can’t be throttled up or down on the fly.

据《太空新闻》（Space News）报道，美国国防高级研究计划局（DARPA）已授予 Voyager Technologies 一份价值 1650 万美元的合同，用于继续开发一种固体火箭发动机推力控制技术，旨在使导弹推进系统在不同的任务和武器项目中更具适应性。该合同是 DARPA“Burn n’ Go”计划的一部分。固体火箭发动机用途广泛，从战术导弹到航天运载火箭均有应用。固体火箭发动机的优势在于其可靠性和可制造性。固体火箭发动机可以改变推力，但这些推力曲线是由推进剂药柱形状和发动机尺寸预先决定的。换句话说，一旦发动机制造完成，推力曲线就被锁定了。与液体燃料火箭发动机不同，固体燃料火箭通常无法在飞行中实时调节推力大小。

It’s in the propellant…

关键在于推进剂……

Voyager is working with DARPA on a new “propellant-embedded” method of controlling the thrust of solid rocket motors after they are manufactured. The recent contract is for Phase 2 of the Burn n’ Go program. During Phase 1, Voyager worked on architecture concepts and preliminary designs. Voyager’s Phase 2 contract will culminate in “tailorable SRM hot-fire demonstrations,” the company said in a press release. “This award reflects confidence in our ability to translate advanced propulsion technologies into field-ready capabilities that support US national readiness and deterrence,” said Matt Magaña, president of space, defense, and national security programs at Voyager. “Our approach is designed not only to demonstrate performance gains at the system level, but to establish a credible path to industrialization that can reshape how solid rocket motors are produced, mission tailored and controlled.”

Voyager 正在与 DARPA 合作研究一种新的“推进剂嵌入式”方法，旨在实现固体火箭发动机制造后的推力控制。此次合同属于“Burn n’ Go”计划的第二阶段。在第一阶段，Voyager 致力于架构概念和初步设计。该公司在新闻稿中表示，Voyager 的第二阶段合同最终将实现“可定制的固体火箭发动机（SRM）热试车演示”。Voyager 空间、国防和国家安全项目总裁马特·马加尼亚（Matt Magaña）表示：“这份合同反映了对我们能力的信任，即能够将先进的推进技术转化为支持美国国家战备和威慑的实战能力。我们的方法不仅旨在展示系统级的性能提升，还要建立一条可靠的工业化路径，从而重塑固体火箭发动机的生产、任务定制和控制方式。”

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity vehicle returns to flight, kinda.

维珍银河的 VSS Unity 飞船“回归”飞行

With its first Delta-class suborbital spaceship expected to debut this summer, Virgin Galactic has returned its first-generation SpaceShipTwo vehicle Unity to flight for pilot and ground team training, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. Grounded since its seventh and final operational mission on June 8, 2024, VSS Unity and its quad-jet carrier aircraft took to the skies over New Mexico on Wednesday. The jet released the unpowered spaceplane, and its two pilots steered Unity to a runway landing at Spaceport America. This was the first of several anticipated glide flights with Unity to help prepare Virgin Galactic’s pilots for the first glide test flights of the Delta-class ship.

据《航空周刊与空间技术》（Aviation Week & Space Technology）报道，随着其首艘 Delta 级亚轨道飞船预计将于今年夏天首次亮相，维珍银河（Virgin Galactic）已将其第一代 SpaceShipTwo 飞船 Unity 重新投入飞行，用于飞行员和地面团队的训练。自 2024 年 6 月 8 日执行第七次也是最后一次任务后，VSS Unity 一直处于停飞状态。周三，VSS Unity 及其四引擎母机在墨西哥上空升空。母机释放了这架无动力航天飞机，两名飞行员驾驶 Unity 在美国太空港（Spaceport America）的跑道上着陆。这是 Unity 预计进行的多次滑翔飞行中的第一次，旨在帮助维珍银河的飞行员为 Delta 级飞船的首次滑翔测试飞行做好准备。

Managing energy…

能量管理……

“Unity‘s glide characteristics and energy-management profile provide an outstanding real-world proxy for our new spaceship,” said Mike Moses, president of Virgin Galactic Spaceline. “Using a proven vehicle in this way prepares our pilots and operations teams to move through flight testing for our new spaceship more efficiently and with greater confidence than simulator training.”

“Unity 的滑翔特性和能量管理曲线为我们的新飞船提供了一个出色的现实世界模拟参考，”维珍银河航线总裁迈克·摩西（Mike Moses）表示。“以这种方式使用经过验证的飞行器，能让我们的飞行员和运营团队比单纯依靠模拟器训练更高效、更自信地进行新飞船的飞行测试。”