Rocket Report: Rebuild begins at Blue Origin launch pad; Relativity targets Mars

火箭报告：蓝色起源发射台重建工作启动；相对论空间公司瞄准火星

Welcome to Edition 8.46 of the Rocket Report! We don’t mention Starship in the body of this week’s report, so I’ll give a brief update here. The next test flight of SpaceX’s mega-rocket—Flight 13—could happen as soon as next month, according to Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s president and chief operating officer, in a recent interview with CNBC. There’s still a fair bit of work to go before Flight 13, so don’t count on a launch next month just yet. What we do know, based on Shotwell’s comments to CNBC, is the next Starship test flight will look a like like the previous one last month, with a suborbital flight path and a splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX is holding off on an orbital flight until at least the following launch, Flight 14, after the ship was unable to complete a critical engine restart in space on the last flight. 欢迎阅读第 8.46 期《火箭报告》！本周报告正文中未提及星舰（Starship），因此我在此简要更新一下。据 SpaceX 总裁兼首席运营官格温·肖特维尔（Gwynne Shotwell）在最近接受 CNBC 采访时透露，SpaceX 超级火箭的下一次试飞——第 13 次飞行（Flight 13）——最早可能在下个月进行。不过，在第 13 次飞行之前仍有大量工作要做，所以不要指望下个月就能立即发射。根据肖特维尔对 CNBC 的评论，我们已知的是，下一次星舰试飞将与上个月的飞行类似，采用亚轨道飞行路径，并在印度洋溅落。由于星舰在上一次飞行中未能完成太空中的关键引擎重启，SpaceX 至少要等到下一次发射（第 14 次飞行）才会尝试轨道飞行。

Isar test flight scrubbed again. Isar Aerospace still commands top position among a new generation of European rocket startups, but the company’s efforts to launch a critical test flight of its Spectrum rocket continue to encounter roadblocks, Ars reports. The latest delay came Monday, when Isar scrubbed a launch attempt after “detecting off nominal behavior in the vehicle’s fluid systems,” according to a social media post. “The teams are analyzing the new data to isolate the root cause.” Isar is flush with cash, having raised nearly $1 billion to date, but is still lacking in the critical currency of flight experience. The Spectrum rocket has flown just once to date, on a failed launch last year that lasted less than 30 seconds. Isar 试飞再次取消。据 Ars 报道，Isar Aerospace 在欧洲新一代火箭初创公司中仍处于领先地位，但该公司为其 Spectrum 火箭进行关键试飞的努力不断遇到阻碍。最近的一次延误发生在周一，当时 Isar 在社交媒体上发文称，在“检测到运载火箭流体系统出现异常行为”后，取消了发射尝试。“团队正在分析新数据以确定根本原因。”Isar 资金充裕，迄今已筹集近 10 亿美元，但仍缺乏至关重要的飞行经验。Spectrum 火箭迄今仅飞行过一次，即去年那次持续不到 30 秒的失败发射。

Swift reboost mission ready for launch. Just 10 months ago, NASA asked three companies if they could do something nobody had done before. Could they build and launch a satellite to save a $500 million astronomy mission at risk of crashing back to Earth? What’s more, could they do it in less than a year on a tight budget? The company that came back to NASA with the most compelling solution was a startup named Katalyst Space Technologies, and they have already given the agency a satisfying answer, Ars reports. Katalyst’s reboost satellite, named Link, was built in less than a year and is now integrated with an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket for a ride to space slated for no earlier than June 27. Swift 卫星轨道提升任务准备就绪。就在 10 个月前，NASA 询问三家公司是否能完成前所未有的任务：能否建造并发射一颗卫星，以拯救一项面临坠回地球风险、价值 5 亿美元的天文任务？更重要的是，能否在预算紧张的情况下在一年内完成？据 Ars 报道，向 NASA 提供最令人信服方案的公司是一家名为 Katalyst Space Technologies 的初创公司，他们已经给了该机构一个满意的答复。Katalyst 的轨道提升卫星名为“Link”，在不到一年的时间内建造完成，目前已与诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的“飞马座 XL”（Pegasus XL）空射火箭集成，计划于不早于 6 月 27 日发射升空。

New launch pad in the works at Cape Canaveral. Space Launch Delta 45, the military unit that runs Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, is exploring the potential creation of a new rocket launch complex for Naval Ordnance Test Unit and US Army missions, Florida Today reports. The new location, known as Launch Complex 51, would be located about 2 miles north of Port Canaveral, making it the spaceport’s closest pad to public areas. LC-51 would encompass about a 50-acre area. 卡纳维拉尔角正在筹建新发射台。据《佛罗里达今日报》报道，负责运营卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地的军事单位“第 45 太空发射三角洲”（Space Launch Delta 45）正在探索为海军军械测试部门和美国陆军任务建立一个新的火箭发射综合体的可能性。这个被称为“51 号发射综合体”（Launch Complex 51）的新地点将位于卡纳维拉尔港以北约 2 英里处，使其成为该航天港距离公共区域最近的发射台。LC-51 的占地面积约为 50 英亩。

Changes in attitude at Latitude. French launch startup Latitude has removed all mentions of the Zephyr name from its website, now referring to its rocket simply as “Our Launcher,” European Spaceflight reports. The rocket, previously known as Zephyr, is a two-stage launch vehicle that will stand 19 meters (62 feet) tall and is designed to deliver up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) to low-Earth orbit. The company is currently targeting the second half of 2027 for the rocket’s inaugural flight. Latitude 公司态度转变。据 European Spaceflight 报道，法国发射初创公司 Latitude 已从其网站上删除了所有关于“Zephyr”名称的提及，现在仅将其火箭称为“我们的运载火箭”（Our Launcher）。该火箭此前被称为 Zephyr，是一款两级运载火箭，高 19 米（62 英尺），旨在将高达 200 公斤（440 磅）的载荷送入近地轨道。该公司目前计划在 2027 年下半年进行该火箭的首次飞行。