SpaceX is gearing up for Starship’s 13th test flight later this week

SpaceX 正在为本周晚些时候进行的星舰第 13 次试飞做准备

The next test flight of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster could take off as soon as Thursday, and much of the hour-long mission will look a lot like the last Starship flight in May. But there are a few key differences for this launch, set to occur during a launch window that opens at 5:45 pm CDT (22:45 UTC) on Thursday. SpaceX 星舰航天器和超重型助推器的下一次试飞最早可能于周四升空。这次时长一小时的任务，大部分流程将与 5 月份的上次星舰飞行非常相似。但此次发射有几个关键的不同之处，发射窗口将于周四中部夏令时间（CDT）下午 5:45（协调世界时 22:45）开启。

The most notable change is the inclusion of real, functioning Starlink satellites inside Starship’s cargo bay. SpaceX previously tested the ship’s payload deployment mechanism using simulators mimicking the mass and dimensions of the company’s next-generation Starlink Version 3 broadband satellites. This time—Starship’s 13th full-scale test flight and the second to use SpaceX’s newest version of Starship—technicians have installed 20 Starlink V3 satellites into the ship’s deployer, a system of pulleys and cables designed to eject a stack of satellites one at a time through an opening on the side of the spacecraft. 最显著的变化是在星舰的货舱内搭载了真实且功能完备的星链（Starlink）卫星。SpaceX 此前曾使用模拟器测试过该飞船的载荷部署机制，这些模拟器模仿了该公司下一代星链 V3 宽带卫星的质量和尺寸。这一次——作为星舰第 13 次全尺寸试飞，也是第二次使用 SpaceX 最新版本的星舰——技术人员在飞船的部署器中安装了 20 颗星链 V3 卫星。该部署器是一套由滑轮和缆绳组成的系统，旨在通过航天器侧面的开口将卫星堆叠逐一弹出。

The satellites will not be part of SpaceX’s operational network, but engineers will attempt to briefly establish laser communication links between the Starlink V3s and other spacecraft flying in low-Earth orbit. If successful, these links will validate Starlink V3’s interoperability with SpaceX’s previous generation of Starlink satellites. 这些卫星不会加入 SpaceX 的运营网络，但工程师将尝试在星链 V3 卫星与在近地轨道飞行的其他航天器之间建立短暂的激光通信链路。如果成功，这些链路将验证星链 V3 与 SpaceX 上一代星链卫星的互操作性。

As with all of SpaceX’s previous Starship test flights, the more than 400-foot-tall rocket will fly on a long suborbital trajectory arcing halfway around the world from the launch site at Starbase, Texas, to a predetermined location in the Indian Ocean. The flight of Starship and the 20 Starlink satellites will last a little more than an hour before they fall back into the atmosphere. The ship will target a controlled splashdown northwest of Australia, while the Starlink satellites will burn up during reentry. 与 SpaceX 此前所有的星舰试飞一样，这枚 400 多英尺高的火箭将沿着一条漫长的亚轨道轨迹飞行，从德克萨斯州星际基地的发射场出发，绕过半个地球，最终落入印度洋的预定地点。星舰和 20 颗星链卫星的飞行将持续一个多小时，随后坠回大气层。星舰将目标锁定在澳大利亚西北部进行受控溅落，而星链卫星则会在重返大气层时烧毁。

A new ingredient

新的要素

The flight plan for this week’s mission has just enough time in space for the Starlink satellites to extend their solar arrays and antennas. The satellites will also attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa as they soar more than 100 miles overhead. What’s more, some of the Starlink V3s will host cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit the imagery down to engineers on the ground, according to SpaceX. 本周任务的飞行计划在太空中预留了足够的时间，让星链卫星能够展开太阳能电池阵列和天线。当卫星在 100 多英里（约 160 公里）的高空飞行时，它们还将尝试与南非的地面站建立连接。此外，据 SpaceX 称，部分星链 V3 卫星将搭载摄像头，用于扫描星舰的隔热罩，并将图像传回给地面的工程师。

The imagery will allow ground teams to “continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions,” SpaceX said in a post on its website. Two of the Starlink mockups carried cameras for external imaging on the last Starship mission, returning views of the ship set against the ghostly darkness of space. This time, SpaceX has affixed cameras to six of the Starlink satellites. The imaging opportunity on this week’s mission will occur during nighttime, just as it did on the last flight. SpaceX 在其网站上的一篇文章中表示，这些图像将使地面团队能够“继续测试分析星舰隔热罩在未来任务中返回发射场准备情况的方法”。在上次星舰任务中，两个星链模拟器携带了用于外部成像的摄像头，传回了星舰在幽暗太空中飞行的画面。这一次，SpaceX 在 6 颗星链卫星上安装了摄像头。本周任务的成像机会将发生在夜间，与上次飞行时一样。

The presence of Starlink V3s on the next Starship test flight is a harbinger for what’s to come. Fully loaded Starships will be capable of launching up to 60 Starlink V3s on a single flight, unlocking a dramatic expansion of the network’s capacity. Each Falcon 9 launch with V2 satellites adds about 2.6 Tbps to the constellation. Pairing Starship with a full stack of V3 satellites will add 60 Tbps to the network. 在下一次星舰试飞中搭载星链 V3 卫星，预示着未来的发展方向。满载的星舰单次飞行最多可发射 60 颗星链 V3 卫星，这将极大地扩展网络容量。每次猎鹰 9 号发射 V2 卫星可为星座增加约 2.6 Tbps 的带宽。而星舰搭载全套 V3 卫星将为网络增加 60 Tbps 的带宽。

Lessons learned

经验教训

SpaceX must send Starship into low-Earth orbit before achieving any of these lofty objectives. A near-perfect test flight Thursday would put the company on the cusp of an orbital launch. That, in turn, would allow Starship to move toward several important milestones, such as bona fide satellite launches, in-orbit refueling demos, and the first return of Starship to Starbase, Texas, for future reuse. SpaceX 必须先将星舰送入近地轨道，才能实现这些宏伟目标。如果周四的试飞近乎完美，公司将离轨道发射仅一步之遥。反过来，这将使星舰能够迈向几个重要的里程碑，例如真正的卫星发射、在轨加油演示，以及星舰首次返回德克萨斯州星际基地以实现未来重复使用。

One reason SpaceX isn’t attempting an orbital flight this week is Starship’s failure to complete one of its test objectives on the last launch, when the spacecraft was supposed to ignite one of its six Raptor engines for a brief burn in space. The spacecraft skipped the burn after a Raptor engine shut down prematurely during the launch sequence. The rest of the ship’s flight went according to plan, culminating in a pinpoint splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX 本周没有尝试轨道飞行的原因之一是，星舰在上次发射时未能完成一项测试目标：当时航天器本应点燃其六台猛禽（Raptor）发动机中的一台，在太空中进行短暂燃烧。由于在发射序列中一台猛禽发动机提前关闭，航天器跳过了这次燃烧。飞船其余的飞行过程均按计划进行，最终在印度洋实现了精准溅落。

It was the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship V3 debuting new, more powerful Raptor engines. But officials need confidence in the Raptor engine’s ability to reignite in the airless vacuum of space before proceeding to an orbital flight. In a worst-case scenario, a failed Raptor engine relight would strand Starship in orbit, leaving the enormous stainless steel vehicle to an unguided reentry that could become a risk to public safety. 这是 SpaceX 星舰 V3 的首次飞行，首次亮相了动力更强劲的新型猛禽发动机。但在进行轨道飞行之前，官员们需要确信猛禽发动机能够在无空气的真空太空中重新点火。在最坏的情况下，猛禽发动机重新点火失败会将星舰困在轨道上，导致这个巨大的不锈钢航天器进行不受控的重返大气层，这可能会对公共安全构成风险。

The flight plan for this week’s mission includes the Raptor restart objective left unaccomplished in May. In an update posted to its website over the weekend, SpaceX did not address what caused the premature shutdown of the Raptor engine on Flight 12. “The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory,” the company wrote on its website. 本周的任务飞行计划包括了 5 月份未完成的猛禽发动机重启目标。在周末发布于其网站的更新中，SpaceX 并未说明导致第 12 次飞行中猛禽发动机提前关闭的原因。该公司在网站上写道：“该航天器成功展示了其单发失效后的飞行能力，并达到了预定的亚轨道轨迹。”