How long will it take to rebuild Blue Origin’s launch pad? We asked some SpaceX vets.

蓝色起源的发射台需要多久才能重建？我们咨询了几位 SpaceX 的老兵。

A former NASA engineer named John Muratore sat on console as launch director in early September 2016 as propellant flowed onto a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida. Ahead of a planned launch two days later, SpaceX was preparing for a static fire test of the vehicle. Then, all of a sudden, the rocket exploded. “It came out of nowhere, and it was really violent,” Muratore said. 2016 年 9 月初，前 NASA 工程师约翰·穆拉托雷（John Muratore）坐在佛罗里达州的控制台前担任发射总监，当时推进剂正被注入一枚猎鹰 9 号火箭。在两天后计划发射之前，SpaceX 正在为该火箭进行静态点火测试。突然间，火箭发生了爆炸。“它来得毫无征兆，而且非常剧烈，”穆拉托雷说。

This fireball resulted in the destruction of the rocket, much of its launch site, and the AMOS-6 satellite already attached to the vehicle. Nearly a decade later, on May 28, Blue Origin conducted a static fire test of a new rocket, with its larger New Glenn vehicle a few miles down the Florida coast. The company had gotten further into its test, reaching engine ignition, before its rocket also exploded. 这场火球导致火箭、大部分发射场设施以及已安装在火箭上的 AMOS-6 卫星被毁。近十年后的 5 月 28 日，蓝色起源公司在佛罗里达海岸几英里外对其更大的“新格伦”（New Glenn）火箭进行了静态点火测试。该公司在测试中进展更远，达到了发动机点火阶段，随后火箭也发生了爆炸。

For longtime space coast observers, some of the parallels between these two spectacular explosions were uncanny. Both the Falcon 9 and New Glenn programs were on the cusp of taking off toward a higher launch cadence. At the time, NASA was counting on the Falcon 9 to return its capability to launch humans, and today, NASA is counting on New Glenn as a key element of its lunar ambitions. And both explosions catastrophically damaged their launch sites. 对于长期关注太空海岸的观察家来说，这两次壮观爆炸之间的一些相似之处令人感到不可思议。猎鹰 9 号和新格伦项目都处于提高发射频率的临界点。当时，NASA 指望猎鹰 9 号恢复其载人发射能力；而今天，NASA 则将新格伦视为其登月雄心的关键一环。此外，两次爆炸都对各自的发射场造成了灾难性的破坏。

To better understand the challenges Blue Origin now faces, Ars spoke with several SpaceX veterans who experienced the AMOS-6 failure and worked the long days afterward to get the Falcon 9 rocket flying and rebuild the shattered facility at Space Launch Complex-40. 为了更好地了解蓝色起源目前面临的挑战，Ars 采访了几位经历过 AMOS-6 失败的 SpaceX 老兵，他们曾在事后经历了漫长的日夜，致力于让猎鹰 9 号恢复飞行并重建被毁的 40 号航天发射复合体（SLC-40）。

Difficult memories return

痛苦的记忆重现

“My AMOS-6 scar started itching when I saw the video of New Glenn,” said Hans Koenigsmann, the SpaceX engineer who led the failure investigation in the fall of 2016. “It’s really terrible.” Koenigsmann was SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability at the time, and his team faced the challenge of identifying the failure in the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that caused it to explode during a relatively benign part of the fueling process. “当我看到新格伦爆炸的视频时，我关于 AMOS-6 的伤疤开始隐隐作痛，”2016 年秋季领导故障调查的 SpaceX 工程师汉斯·柯尼格斯曼（Hans Koenigsmann）说。“这真的很糟糕。”柯尼格斯曼当时担任 SpaceX 制造与飞行可靠性副总裁，他的团队面临着查明猎鹰 9 号火箭二级故障的挑战，该故障导致火箭在相对平稳的加注过程中发生爆炸。

This involved a weekslong search of the wetlands surrounding the launch site at Cape Canaveral for pieces of the booster. The idea was that the components farthest from the pad were nearest the most energetic part of the explosion. Ultimately, the investigative team narrowed in on the complex failure of the lining of a pressure vessel in the upper stage. 这涉及在卡纳维拉尔角发射场周围的湿地进行了数周的搜索，以寻找助推器的碎片。其逻辑是，距离发射台最远的部件，最接近爆炸能量最集中的区域。最终，调查小组将原因锁定在二级压力容器内衬的复杂故障上。

For its investigation, Koenigsmann urges Blue Origin to be as transparent as possible with NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration and to study and take apart the physical evidence as soon as possible to identify the causes of failure. Every anomaly, he cautioned, is different. Blue Origin has not publicly discussed the cause of the New Glenn failure, but speculation has focused on a possible anomaly in one of the seven main BE-4 engines. The Falcon 9 investigation was the primary obstacle to SpaceX returning to flight, but launch pad availability will be the bigger hurdle for Blue Origin. 对于调查工作，柯尼格斯曼敦促蓝色起源尽可能对 NASA 和美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）保持透明，并尽快研究和拆解物理证据以确定故障原因。他提醒说，每一次异常情况都是不同的。蓝色起源尚未公开讨论新格伦故障的原因，但外界猜测集中在七台 BE-4 主发动机中可能存在的一处异常。猎鹰 9 号的调查是 SpaceX 恢复飞行的主要障碍，但对于蓝色起源而言，发射台的可用性将是更大的难题。

Searching for wreckage

搜寻残骸

After the AMOS-6 failure, SpaceX was also without an active launch pad for the Falcon 9 rocket. Nearest to readiness was an existing pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which was undergoing upgrades to support the “Full Thrust” variant of the Falcon 9 rocket, which used densified propellant. This is where the Falcon 9 returned to flight, less than five months later, in January 2017. SpaceX then focused on completing modifications to Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, which it had leased from NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket launched from here in February 2017. 在 AMOS-6 失败后，SpaceX 也没有可用的猎鹰 9 号发射台。最接近就绪状态的是位于加利福尼亚州范登堡空军基地的一个现有发射台，该发射台当时正在进行升级，以支持使用高密度推进剂的“全推力”（Full Thrust）版猎鹰 9 号火箭。不到五个月后，即 2017 年 1 月，猎鹰 9 号就在那里恢复了飞行。随后，SpaceX 专注于完成从 NASA 租用的肯尼迪航天中心 39A 发射台的改造工作。2017 年 2 月，猎鹰 9 号从那里发射升空。

The closest analog to what Blue Origin is attempting to do, therefore, concerns the rebuild of Space Launch Complex-40, which was largely destroyed by the AMOS-6 failure. According to Muratore, SpaceX was not allowed to begin reconstruction work at the launch pad until January 2017. The delay stemmed from the ongoing investigation, which included a grid-by-grid examination of debris, cataloging recovered materials, and launch site remediation. Muratore and other SpaceX engineers spent these four months redesigning the launch pad. 因此，蓝色起源目前所做工作的最接近参照物，是 40 号航天发射复合体（SLC-40）的重建，该设施在 AMOS-6 事故中几乎被完全摧毁。据穆拉托雷称，SpaceX 直到 2017 年 1 月才被允许开始发射台的重建工作。延误源于持续进行的调查，其中包括对残骸进行网格化检查、对回收材料进行编目以及发射场修复。穆拉托雷和其他 SpaceX 工程师利用这四个月的时间重新设计了发射台。

Trip Harriss, who managed the Falcon 9 fleet operations in 2016, said everyone at the company pitched in to support the investigation and then the reconstruction of the SLC-40 pad. The search for debris lasted from shortly after the explosion until early October, when efforts had to be abandoned due to the approach of the powerful Hurricane Matthew. During this time, SpaceX pulled out all of the stops, deploying drones and aircraft with sensitive equipment. “At one point, I got a submersible to take into the flame trench, where there was an accumulation of water, to see if we could find any rocket debris,” Harriss said. “But it was just large chunks of concrete.” 2016 年负责猎鹰 9 号机队运营的特里普·哈里斯（Trip Harriss）表示，公司里的每个人都参与进来，支持调查，随后又支持了 SLC-40 发射台的重建。搜寻残骸的工作从爆炸后不久一直持续到 10 月初，当时由于强大的飓风“马修”逼近，搜寻工作不得不被迫中止。在此期间，SpaceX 竭尽全力，部署了无人机和配备敏感设备的飞机。“有一次，我弄了一台潜水器进入火焰槽，那里积满了水，想看看能不能找到火箭残骸，”哈里斯说。“但里面只有大块的混凝土。”

Going fast

快速推进

Launch pads are among the most complex pieces of infrastructure involved in sending a rocket into space. They require a lot of brawn, as evidenced by the need for tall and strong steel launch towers. Then there’s the large amount of concrete used for the foundation, flame trench, and surrounding areas. Last Thursday, during the test failure, one of Blue Origin’s massive launch towers toppled, and the other appears to be seriously damaged. The concrete underneath the rocket also appears to have collapsed in some places. From a structural standpoint, there is likely a significant amount of work ahead. But launch sites are about much more than concrete and steel. There is an incredible amount of electrical wiring that almost certainly got fried by the fireball. And then there is the intricate tubing that provides gas and liquid. 发射台是将火箭送入太空所涉及的最复杂的基建设施之一。它们需要强大的硬件支撑，正如高大坚固的钢制发射塔所证明的那样。此外，地基、火焰槽和周边区域还需要使用大量的混凝土。上周四，在测试失败期间，蓝色起源的一座大型发射塔倒塌，另一座似乎也严重受损。火箭下方的混凝土在某些地方似乎也发生了坍塌。从结构角度来看，未来可能还有大量工作要做。但发射场不仅仅是混凝土和钢材。那里还有难以计数的电线，几乎可以肯定已经在火球中烧毁。此外，还有提供气体和液体的复杂管道系统。