Report: Kennedy Space Center not ready for era of super heavy rockets

报告：肯尼迪航天中心尚未为“超重型火箭时代”做好准备

NASA’s infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center, the crown jewel of US spaceports, is aging and approaching its limit due to increased demand from private companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, a new report finds.

一份最新报告显示，作为美国航天港“皇冠上的明珠”，肯尼迪航天中心（Kennedy Space Center）的基础设施正在老化，且由于 SpaceX 和蓝色起源（Blue Origin）等私营公司需求的增加，其承载能力已接近极限。

“NASA’s launch infrastructure is vital to providing the agency, other government agencies, and commercial partners access to space for their most complex and expensive missions,” states the report, published by the NASA Office of Inspector General. “Nevertheless, NASA’s launch infrastructure is dated and often does not provide the capacity to meet the growing demands of the agency and its partners.”

这份由 NASA 监察长办公室（Office of Inspector General）发布的报告指出：“NASA 的发射基础设施对于保障该机构、其他政府部门及商业合作伙伴执行最复杂、最昂贵的太空任务至关重要。然而，NASA 的发射基础设施已显陈旧，往往无法提供足够的容量来满足该机构及其合作伙伴日益增长的需求。”

The report covers NASA’s launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. However, the most noteworthy information in the report concerns the Florida spaceport, where demand from SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicles is expected to stress NASA.

该报告涵盖了位于佛罗里达州的肯尼迪航天中心和弗吉尼亚州的瓦勒普斯飞行设施（Wallops Flight Facility）。然而，报告中最值得关注的信息集中在佛罗里达航天港，SpaceX 的“星舰”（Starship）和蓝色起源的“新格伦”（New Glenn）运载火箭所带来的需求预计将给 NASA 造成巨大压力。

Roads and gas lines

道路与输气管道

NASA only has a handful of launch pads at Kennedy. Launch Complex 39A is currently leased by SpaceX for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, and also houses a new launch facility that will soon support Starship launches. Launch Complex 39B is home to NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, and Launch Complex 39C has not been used due to its proximity to this pad. Finally, NASA has built a 10-acre site, Launch Complex 48, that it may lease to small launch vehicle companies.

NASA 在肯尼迪航天中心仅有少数几个发射台。39A 发射复合体目前租给 SpaceX 用于“猎鹰 9 号”和“猎鹰重型”火箭的发射，并设有一处即将支持“星舰”发射的新设施。39B 发射复合体是 NASA“太空发射系统”（SLS）火箭的基地，而 39C 发射复合体因距离 39B 太近而一直未被使用。此外，NASA 还建造了一个占地 10 英亩的 48 号发射复合体，可能会租给小型运载火箭公司。

The space agency’s neighbor to the south, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, has many more pads. This includes the Launch Complex 36A and 36B leased to Blue Origin for the New Glenn rocket. Although the Space Force manages its own launch facilities, the military works closely with NASA and they share some responsibilities. Most critically, there are supply lines for helium and nitrogen, as well as 231 miles of paved roads and bridges that serve both Kennedy and Cape Canaveral. Additionally, the report cites serious concerns about a six-decade-old electricity distribution system for NASA’s launch pads.

位于南部的邻居——卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地（Cape Canaveral Space Force Station）拥有更多的发射台，其中包括租给蓝色起源用于“新格伦”火箭的 36A 和 36B 发射复合体。尽管太空军管理着自己的发射设施，但军方与 NASA 合作密切，并分担了部分职责。最关键的是，双方共享氦气和氮气的供应管线，以及全长 231 英里的铺设道路和桥梁，这些设施同时服务于肯尼迪航天中心和卡纳维拉尔角。此外，报告还对 NASA 发射台使用了六十年的电力分配系统表示了严重关切。

One example of overcapacity cited by the report concerns the availability of gaseous nitrogen used during the fueling, testing, and launching of rockets. During the Artemis I launch campaign in 2022, there were issues with the availability of enough nitrogen to support the rocket. But according to the report, the problem has not gone away.

报告中提到的一个超负荷案例涉及火箭在加注、测试和发射过程中所需的气态氮供应。在 2022 年“阿尔忒弥斯 1 号”（Artemis I）发射任务期间，就曾出现过氮气供应不足的问题。报告指出，这一问题至今仍未解决。

“The system cannot simultaneously support launches … of Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex 36 and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex 41,” the report states. “Blue Origin officials stated this issue created a major scheduling challenge during preparation for the New Glenn-1 mission that launched in January 2025, and further expressed concern that during future Space Launch System launches there could be 1- to 2-month blackout periods from the pipeline.”

报告称：“该系统无法同时支持蓝色起源在 36 号发射复合体进行的‘新格伦’火箭发射，以及联合发射联盟（ULA）在 41 号发射复合体进行的‘火神半人马座’（Vulcan Centaur）火箭发射。蓝色起源官员表示，这一问题在 2025 年 1 月‘新格伦-1’任务准备期间造成了重大的排期挑战，并进一步担忧在未来‘太空发射系统’发射期间，管道可能会出现 1 到 2 个月的供应中断期。”

The solution for this is to construct a new gaseous nitrogen system to supplement the existing capacity, but the $25 million project is currently unfunded.

解决这一问题的方案是建造一套新的气态氮系统以补充现有容量，但这个耗资 2500 万美元的项目目前尚未获得资金支持。

Demand expected to surge

需求预计将激增

Officials are also concerned that the number of annual launches, in addition to major test firings, will reach or exceed the number of days in a year by late 2028 or 2029, placing “significant strain” on Kennedy’s spaceport systems. And increasingly, these will come from rockets, putting the most stress on roads and requiring the most commodities for launch.

官员们还担心，到 2028 年底或 2029 年，年度发射次数加上大型测试点火次数，将达到或超过一年的天数，这将给肯尼迪航天中心的系统带来“巨大压力”。而且，这些需求将越来越多地来自重型火箭，它们对道路造成的压力最大，且发射所需的物资也最多。

SpaceX has told NASA it plans to launch Starship every eight days from Launch Complex 39A for the purposes of propellant depots in orbit. (The report states, in a footnote, that “at least” 15 Starships will be required to deliver propellant for a Starship lunar lander.) From all of its Florida pads, SpaceX estimates 120 annual Starship launches, and Blue Origin projects 120 annual launches of its super heavy-lift New Glenn rocket as well by 2035.

SpaceX 已告知 NASA，计划每八天从 39A 发射复合体发射一次“星舰”，以支持轨道推进剂库的建设。（报告在脚注中指出，至少需要 15 次“星舰”发射才能为一艘“星舰”月球着陆器运送推进剂。）SpaceX 预计其在佛罗里达的所有发射台每年将进行 120 次“星舰”发射，而蓝色起源也预计到 2035 年，其超重型“新格伦”火箭每年将进行 120 次发射。

In addition, Blue Origin has expressed interest in a third New Glenn pad located north of NASA’s existing pads. “Space for additional launch pads at Kennedy is also limited and may require extensive time and resources to develop a launch pad that can support super heavy-lift launch vehicles,” the report states. “While Kennedy officials identified a potential location north of LC 39A and LC 39B for a new super heavy-lift launch pad, the area is a protected wetland and would have to undergo lengthy and extensive federal and local review and approval processes.”

此外，蓝色起源还表示有兴趣在 NASA 现有发射台以北建设第三个“新格伦”发射台。报告指出：“肯尼迪航天中心用于建设额外发射台的空间也很有限，开发能够支持超重型运载火箭的发射台可能需要大量的时间和资源。虽然肯尼迪的官员在 39A 和 39B 发射复合体以北确定了一个潜在的新超重型发射台选址，但该区域属于受保护的湿地，必须经过漫长且复杂的联邦及地方审查与审批程序。”

Despite aging infrastructure, since 2021, the budgets NASA uses to pay for construction projects and perform maintenance on launch-related infrastructure have decreased between 11 and 47 percent when adjusting for inflation, the inspector general found. Moreover, based on existing laws, it is difficult for NASA to accept contributions from commercial companies for large-scale, shared infrastructure projects.

监察长发现，尽管基础设施正在老化，但自 2021 年以来，在扣除通货膨胀因素后，NASA 用于支付建设项目和维护发射相关基础设施的预算减少了 11% 到 47%。此外，根据现行法律，NASA 很难接受商业公司为大型共享基础设施项目提供的捐助。

The bottom line is that NASA’s launch facilities are aging and increasingly under high stress due to commercial activity. Those commercial launch activities, in terms of the largest and most impactful rockets, are only at the beginning of what is likely to be an exponential growth curve. And as the space agency faces tight deadlines in its space race with China, the budget for substantial repairs and upgrades is decreasing.

总之，NASA 的发射设施正在老化，且由于商业活动的增加，正承受着越来越大的压力。就最大型、最具影响力的火箭而言，这些商业发射活动才刚刚处于指数级增长曲线的起点。而在 NASA 面临与中国太空竞赛的紧迫期限之际，用于大规模维修和升级的预算却在不断缩减。