SpaceX launches new V3 Starlink satellites but suffers another booster failure
SpaceX launches new V3 Starlink satellites but suffers another booster failure
SpaceX 发射新款 V3 星链卫星，但助推器再次发生故障
SpaceX successfully deployed the first third-generation Starlink satellites on Friday using an upgraded version of its prototype Starship — the 13th test flight of its mega-rocket to date. But the company suffered another failure with its Super Heavy booster during a planned simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX 周五利用其原型星舰（Starship）的升级版成功部署了首批第三代星链（Starlink）卫星，这也是该巨型火箭迄今为止的第 13 次试飞。然而，在墨西哥湾进行的模拟着陆过程中，该公司的超重型助推器（Super Heavy booster）再次发生故障。
It’s the second time the company has had an issue with the Super Heavy booster on this V3 version of Starship. In May, on the first Starship V3 flight, SpaceX encountered a failure of the Starship’s Super Heavy booster as it separated from the upper stage of the rocket. SpaceX was able to perform a simulated landing of the upper stage of Starship during Friday’s launch after it deployed the Starlink satellites. 这是该公司在 V3 版星舰上第二次遇到超重型助推器问题。今年 5 月，在星舰 V3 的首次飞行中，SpaceX 的超重型助推器在与火箭上面级分离时就曾发生故障。在周五的发射中，SpaceX 在部署完星链卫星后，成功完成了星舰上面级的模拟着陆。
The launch came a little more than a week after SpaceX tried to conduct the 13th Starship launch. That attempt had to abort immediately after ignition due to a number of rocket engine failures. SpaceX said it replaced six engines ahead of Friday’s flight to fix the problem. During Friday’s launch, the booster made it farther into its planned flight but wasn’t able to properly fire up all of the engines required for its simulated landing burn. The booster exploded after a faster-than-expected impact with the water. 此次发射距离 SpaceX 上次尝试进行第 13 次星舰发射仅过去了一周多。那次尝试因多台火箭发动机故障，在点火后被迫立即中止。SpaceX 表示，为了解决该问题，他们在周五飞行前更换了六台发动机。在周五的发射中，助推器在预定飞行中走得更远，但未能成功点燃模拟着陆所需的全部发动机。助推器在以比预期更快的速度撞击水面后发生爆炸。
This was the first launch of Starship since SpaceX went public in June in the largest IPO in history. In a test of SpaceX’s “fly, fail, fix” approach to Starship development, the company saw its stock decline last week in the day following the launch abort. The dip is part of a larger downward trend since the IPO that has seen the company’s stock drop from a peak of more than $200 per share to $115 at the close of trading on Friday. In after-hours trading, SpaceX shares fell another 2% following the booster failure, before paring some of those losses. 这是 SpaceX 自 6 月以史上最大规模 IPO 上市以来的首次星舰发射。作为对 SpaceX 星舰开发“飞行、失败、修复”模式的考验，该公司股价在上周发射中止后的第二天出现下跌。此次下跌是自 IPO 以来整体下行趋势的一部分，公司股价已从每股 200 多美元的峰值跌至周五收盘时的 115 美元。在盘后交易中，受助推器故障影响，SpaceX 股价又下跌了 2%，随后收复了部分失地。
SpaceX had better luck with the Starship V3 upper stage during Friday’s launch. The upper stage lost a rocket engine during the first V3 launch in May. That didn’t happen this time around, as Starship encountered no issues on its way to deploying the new Starlinks. The Ship, as the company calls it, was able to survive the harsh forces of atmospheric reentry and perform a simulated landing in the Indian Ocean roughly one hour after liftoff. Unlike previous Starship missions, the Ship didn’t explode when it tipped over into the water. The Ship instead floated around in the water, giving SpaceX a chance to use a drone to closely examine the heat shield tiles on its belly. SpaceX 在周五发射中对星舰 V3 上面级的表现较为满意。在 5 月的首次 V3 发射中，上面级曾损失了一台火箭发动机。而这一次没有发生这种情况，星舰在部署新款星链卫星的过程中未遇到任何问题。正如该公司所称，这艘“飞船”（Ship）成功经受住了大气层再入的严酷考验，并在起飞约一小时后在印度洋完成了模拟着陆。与以往的星舰任务不同，飞船在倾覆入水时没有发生爆炸。相反，它漂浮在水面上，使 SpaceX 有机会利用无人机近距离检查其腹部的隔热瓦。
The new Starlink satellites burned up in the atmosphere roughly 20 minutes after deployment, as Starship still isn’t capable of reaching Earth orbit. SpaceX was able to communicate with all of them while they were in space, marking a step forward for that program, which is the only profitable part of the company’s business. The ability to deploy the more capable V3 Starlink satellites improves the economics of the company’s capital-hungry space internet network. SpaceX has said launching 60 of the new satellites on Starship is a “potential twenty-fold increase” in downlink capacity deployed versus those flown by a single Falcon 9. 新款星链卫星在部署约 20 分钟后在大气层中烧毁，因为星舰目前仍无法到达地球轨道。SpaceX 在卫星处于太空期间能够与它们全部建立通信，这标志着该项目向前迈进了一步，而这也是该公司业务中唯一盈利的部分。部署性能更强的 V3 星链卫星的能力，改善了该公司资本密集型太空互联网网络的经济性。SpaceX 曾表示，通过星舰发射 60 颗新卫星，其部署的下行链路容量相比单枚猎鹰 9 号火箭“有望提升 20 倍”。
However, it’s not clear if SpaceX can realize those gains if Starship expends the Super Heavy booster rather than reusing it. SpaceX’s S-1 said that without a fully-reusable Starship, progress on Starlink “would be at a slower pace and higher cost.” 然而，如果星舰在发射中消耗掉超重型助推器而无法实现回收利用，SpaceX 是否能实现这些收益尚不明确。SpaceX 的 S-1 文件指出，如果没有完全可重复使用的星舰，星链的进展“将以更慢的速度和更高的成本进行”。