Rocket Report: China wants a Raptor 3 engine; SpaceX set for big Starship test

火箭报告：中国想要“猛禽3”发动机；SpaceX准备进行大型星舰测试

Welcome to Edition 9.11 of the Rocket Report! The most interesting story of the week, in our view, is a deep dive by Stephen Clark, linked below, into the dwindling fortunes of United Launch Alliance. As recently as a decade ago, the launch company, co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, could claim dominance over the US industry. But those glory days are fading fast. So what’s next for a company that is tied to an expendable rocket? 欢迎阅读第9.11期《火箭报告》！在我们看来，本周最有趣的故事是斯蒂芬·克拉克（Stephen Clark）对联合发射联盟（ULA）日益衰落的命运所做的深度报道（链接见下文）。就在十年前，这家由波音和洛克希德·马丁公司共同拥有的发射公司还称霸着美国航天业。但那些辉煌的日子正在迅速消逝。那么，对于一家依赖一次性火箭的公司来说，未来将何去何从？

Avio seeks to cash in on Falcon 9 retreat

Avio 寻求从猎鹰9号的“退却”中获利

Italian launch services provider Avio has seen an influx of customers who were unable to secure launch opportunities with SpaceX, European Spaceflight reports. “I can tell you SpaceX has already gone captive because we have a whole bunch of customers coming to us and saying, ‘Oh my God, can you fly us?’” Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said during the company’s September 10 earnings call. In recent months, SpaceX told multiple prospective customers that it was no longer accepting new orders for commercial Falcon 9 launches. 据《欧洲航天飞行》（European Spaceflight）报道，意大利发射服务提供商 Avio 迎来了一批无法从 SpaceX 获得发射机会的客户。Avio 首席执行官朱利奥·兰佐（Giulio Ranzo）在9月10日的财报电话会议上表示：“我可以告诉你，SpaceX 已经处于满负荷状态，因为我们有大批客户找上门来说：‘天哪，你们能帮我们发射吗？’”近几个月来，SpaceX 已告知多位潜在客户，不再接受新的商业猎鹰9号发射订单。

Europe’s answer to this, a subsidy?

欧洲的对策是补贴吗？

According to Ranzo, some customers who had been turned away by SpaceX used the International Space Summit in Paris last week to lobby European institutions for financial support that would help offset the higher cost of launching with a European provider. Although prices for Avio’s Vega C rocket are not public, it likely costs about $60 million for a launch on the solid-fueled rocket. In our view, subsidizing launches on expendable launch technology is a poor plan. The continent should increase investment in developers of more competitively priced rockets. 据兰佐称，一些被 SpaceX 拒之门外的客户利用上周在巴黎举行的国际空间峰会，游说欧洲机构提供财政支持，以抵消使用欧洲供应商发射所带来的更高成本。虽然 Avio 的织女星-C（Vega C）火箭价格未公开，但这种固体燃料火箭的发射成本可能在6000万美元左右。在我们看来，补贴一次性发射技术并不是一个好计划。欧洲大陆应该增加对更具价格竞争力的火箭开发商的投资。

Vega C successfully lofts two satellites

织女星-C 成功将两颗卫星送入轨道

Speaking of Avio, a Vega C rocket launched on Tuesday from French Guiana, successfully carrying the European Space Agency’s FLEX Earth Explorer satellite and the Copernicus Sentinel-3C into low-Earth orbit. It was just the second launch of the Italian-made Vega rocket this year. A new launch adapter called Vespa allowed both satellites to be stacked inside the rocket’s fairing, the European Space Agency said. 说到 Avio，一枚织女星-C 火箭周二从法属圭亚那发射升空，成功将欧洲航天局的 FLEX 地球探测卫星和哥白尼哨兵-3C（Copernicus Sentinel-3C）卫星送入近地轨道。这是意大利制造的织女星火箭今年以来的第二次发射。欧洲航天局表示，一种名为 Vespa 的新型发射适配器使得两颗卫星能够堆叠在火箭整流罩内。

French company test-fires new rocket engine

法国公司试车新型火箭发动机

French launch startup Sirius Space Services has successfully test-fired a complete prototype of its STAR-1 rocket engine for the first time, European Spaceflight reports. The company announced the milestone on Sunday, stating that it had conducted the first hot-fire tests of the complete STAR-1 engine at Airborne Engineering’s propulsion test facility in southern England. 据《欧洲航天飞行》报道，法国发射初创公司 Sirius Space Services 首次成功试车了其 STAR-1 火箭发动机的完整原型机。该公司周日宣布了这一里程碑，称已在英格兰南部的 Airborne Engineering 推进测试设施对完整的 STAR-1 发动机进行了首次热试车。

China launches four rockets in two days

中国两天内发射四枚火箭

China carried out four launches in quick succession, starting Tuesday, using its Jiuquan and Hainan spaceports and a maritime mission from the East China Sea, Space News reports. The rockets were: LandSpace’s Zhuque-2E; Orienspace’s Gravity-1; the Chinese space agency’s Long March 12; and ExPace’s Kuaizhou-11. The launches occurred within 44 hours of one another. 据《太空新闻》（Space News）报道，中国从周二开始，利用酒泉和海南航天发射场，以及东海的一次海上任务，在短时间内连续进行了四次发射。这些火箭分别是：蓝箭航天的朱雀二号改进型、东方空间的引力一号、中国航天局的长征十二号，以及航天科工的快舟十一号。这些发射在44小时内相继完成。

SpaceX hits Falcon 9 milestone

SpaceX 达成猎鹰9号里程碑

SpaceX launched a trio of satellites for its oldest commercial customer, SES, on a Falcon 9 rocket flying Sunday afternoon from Florida. Notably, this was SpaceX’s 700th Falcon rocket launch to date, split between 687 Falcon 9 rockets and 13 Falcon Heavy rockets, Spaceflight Now reports. 据《今日航天》（Spaceflight Now）报道，SpaceX 周日下午从佛罗里达州发射了一枚猎鹰9号火箭，为公司最资深的商业客户 SES 发射了三颗卫星。值得注意的是，这是 SpaceX 迄今为止第700次猎鹰系列火箭发射，其中包括687次猎鹰9号和13次猎鹰重型火箭。

Two launch companies spar over Mars mission

两家发射公司争夺火星任务

NASA finally reached a decision earlier this month on the development of a “Mars Telecommunications Network” spacecraft, selecting Blue Origin to develop, launch, and operate a $700 million spacecraft at Mars, Ars reports. However, t… 据《Ars Technica》报道，NASA 本月初终于就“火星通信网络”航天器的开发做出了决定，选中蓝色起源（Blue Origin）公司开发、发射并运营一个价值7亿美元的火星航天器。然而……