As US relations fray, Canada gets serious about its own launch industry
As US relations fray, Canada gets serious about its own launch industry
随着美加关系趋紧，加拿大开始认真发展本国航天发射产业
A year or two ago, a few Canadian launch companies were trying to develop small rockets, but if we’re being frank, the industry was not particularly notable. Sure, something interesting might eventually happen, but no one outside of a few Canadian space geeks was paying much attention. 一两年前，几家加拿大发射公司正试图开发小型火箭，但坦率地说，该行业并不引人注目。当然，未来可能会出现一些有趣的进展，但除了少数加拿大航天极客外，几乎没有人关注。
But then the Trump Administration started threatening and instituting tariffs. There was talk of making Canada the 51st state. And pretty much every Canadian I know began telling me how enraged they were at their neighbors to the south. It’s hard to blame them. This has led the Canadian government to reassess all manner of areas where it had previously been happy to rely largely on the US government and American companies for goods and services. This included sovereign access to space. 然而，特朗普政府开始威胁并实施关税。甚至有言论称要将加拿大变成美国的第51个州。我认识的几乎每个加拿大人都开始向我表达他们对南方邻居的愤怒。这并不难理解。这促使加拿大政府重新评估了此前一直乐于依赖美国政府和美国公司提供商品与服务的各个领域，其中就包括自主进入太空的能力。
So this spring, the government announced the first awards to three companies—NordSpace, Reaction Dynamics, and Canada Rocket Company—to support work on rockets with “light lift” capability. 因此，今年春天，加拿大政府宣布向三家公司——NordSpace、Reaction Dynamics 和 Canada Rocket Company——发放首批奖金，以支持其“轻型运载”火箭的研发工作。
Decision to go bigger
决定做大
The initial awards as part of Launch the North were modest, $8.33 million CAD, but the government has signaled larger awards in the future. Accordingly, one of these three companies, Toronto-based Canada Rocket Company, decided it would skip the small-rocket phase and move directly into a more ambitious medium-launch vehicle. 作为“Launch the North”计划的一部分，最初的奖金数额并不大，仅为833万加元，但政府已表示未来将提供更多资金。因此，这三家公司之一、总部位于多伦多的 Canada Rocket Company 决定跳过小型火箭阶段，直接转向更具雄心的中型运载火箭研发。
“The advice we got from having spoken with about 150 engineers, from the director of Starship engineering all the way down to some entry-level folks, is that you’re not going to be able de-risk a rocket development program by building a smaller rocket,” said Hugh Kolias, chief executive of the Canada Rocket Company, in an interview. Canada Rocket Company 首席执行官 Hugh Kolias 在接受采访时表示：“我们与大约150名工程师交流后得到的建议是，从星舰（Starship）工程总监到初级员工，大家都认为通过制造小型火箭并不能降低火箭开发项目的风险。”
“From a technical perspective and an infrastructure perspective, essentially 90 percent of everything you do on that light lift piece gets thrown out the window, and it’s almost like a net new program,” Kolias said. “And everyone said, if you’re not going to try to commercialize light lift, then why even do it in the first place? And that kind of hit us relatively hard.” “从技术和基础设施的角度来看，你在轻型运载火箭上所做的一切，基本上有90%在后续开发中都得推倒重来，这几乎相当于一个全新的项目，” Kolias 说，“每个人都说，如果你不打算将轻型运载火箭商业化，那当初为什么要去做呢？这句话对我们触动很大。”
So the company set its sights higher: developing the R-2 rocket, a fairly standard medium-lift vehicle that in renderings somewhat resembles SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. There are nine methane-fueled engines, a gas-generator engine cycle, and landing legs that signal a future path toward reuse of the first stage. It could carry up to 12.5 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. If all goes well, Kolias said, the company could be ready to launch by 2032. That would be fantastic, but is any of this realistic? 于是，该公司将目标定得更高：开发 R-2 火箭。这是一款相当标准的中型运载火箭，渲染图看起来有点像 SpaceX 的猎鹰9号。它配备九台甲烷发动机，采用燃气发生器循环，并带有旨在实现一级回收的着陆支架。它能将高达12.5公吨的载荷送入近地轨道。Kolias 表示，如果一切顺利，该公司有望在2032年准备好发射。这听起来很棒，但这一切现实吗？
Canada goes defensive
加拿大的防御心态
Maybe so, because the mood in Canada is angry. For decades, Canada has relied on the United States, broadly, for defense. Famously, in 1959, the Canadian Prime Minister canceled the Avro Arrow interceptor aircraft under development in the country. Since then, Canada’s aerospace industry has largely languished. The country’s satellites typically go to space on American rockets. But sovereignty is back in vogue. 也许是现实的，因为加拿大国内情绪正处于愤怒之中。几十年来，加拿大在国防方面大体上依赖美国。众所周知，1959年，加拿大总理取消了当时正在研发的“阿夫罗箭”（Avro Arrow）截击机项目。自那以后，加拿大的航空航天工业基本陷入停滞。该国的卫星通常由美国火箭送入太空。但“主权”概念如今又重新流行起来。
Earlier this year, Canada unveiled a Defense Industrial Strategy that would ensure the country has a strong industrial and technological base to support defense readiness. Space is one of the 10 capabilities outlined in the report, which includes “space launch” as a priority. 今年早些时候，加拿大公布了一项国防工业战略，旨在确保该国拥有强大的工业和技术基础以支持国防准备。太空是该报告概述的10项能力之一，其中“太空发射”被列为优先事项。
“I think the geopolitics has actually created a fantastic opportunity, not just for us, but for other Canadian industries to finally build real ambitious industries,” Kolias said. “We’re pulling a little bit away from the globalist movement and realizing that there are some core aspects, both economically and from a sovereign or defense and military perspective, that you should own your own destiny.” “我认为地缘政治实际上创造了一个绝佳的机会，不仅对我们，对其他加拿大产业来说也是如此，让我们终于可以建立起真正雄心勃勃的产业，” Kolias 说，“我们正在从全球化运动中稍微抽离出来，并意识到在经济、主权、国防和军事等核心领域，你应该掌握自己的命运。”
Eventually, Kolias said, the Canadian government might put as much as half a billion dollars on the table for a sovereign launch capability, along with some guarantee of launch contracts. Canada Rocket Company remains small for now with about 30 people—a core of which are Canadian rocket scientists who left to work at places like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab but have now returned north. But the company has raised $22.5 million to date and is going to market with a Series A fundraise. So growth is coming. Kolias 表示，最终加拿大政府可能会投入高达5亿加元的资金用于建立自主发射能力，并提供一定的发射合同保障。Canada Rocket Company 目前规模尚小，约有30名员工，其中核心成员是曾前往 SpaceX、蓝色起源（Blue Origin）和火箭实验室（Rocket Lab）等公司工作，如今又回到北方的加拿大火箭科学家。但该公司迄今已筹集了2250万美元，并正在进行 A 轮融资。因此，增长指日可待。
An Artemis-named test stand
以“阿尔忒弥斯”命名的测试台
After his participation in Artemis II, becoming the first non-American astronaut to fly into deep space, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen became a national hero. Kolias tapped into this space patriotism by naming the company’s rocket engine test facility, near London, Ontario, after Hansen. 在参与“阿尔忒弥斯2号”（Artemis II）任务并成为首位飞入深空的非美国宇航员后，加拿大宇航员 Jeremy Hansen 成为了民族英雄。Kolias 利用这种太空爱国主义，以 Hansen 的名字命名了公司位于安大略省伦敦市附近的火箭发动机测试设施。
On Thursday, the company announced that the $30 million Jeremy Hansen Test Facility will be sited on 50 acres leased from the Greater London International Airport Authority and will include an engine test area with up to three vertical and horizontal test stands for static engine testing, capable of testing engines with more than 1MN in thrust (225,000 pounds of thrust). Kolias said he intends to begin testing the E-1 engine there in about two years. 周四，该公司宣布，耗资3000万美元的“Jeremy Hansen 测试设施”将坐落在大伦敦国际机场管理局租赁的50英亩土地上。该设施将包括一个发动机测试区，配备多达三个用于发动机静态测试的垂直和水平测试台，能够测试推力超过1兆牛顿（22.5万磅推力）的发动机。Kolias 表示，他打算在大约两年后在那里开始 E-1 发动机的测试。
Hansen has played an interesting geopolitical role over the last year. His flight on Artemis II was an unqualified success, raising the prestige of Canada’s space agency. At the same time, Canada’s achievement came on the wings of America’s space program. So how to feel about this at a time of tension between the two nations? Perhaps it offers some hope that they can remain good neighbors, with warm relations resuming in the future—while Canada also has the capability to launch its own rockets. 在过去的一年里，Hansen 发挥了有趣的地缘政治作用。他在“阿尔忒弥斯2号”上的飞行取得了圆满成功，提升了加拿大航天局的声望。与此同时，加拿大的这一成就也是建立在美国航天计划的基础之上的。那么，在两国关系紧张的时期，该如何看待这一点呢？也许这提供了一丝希望：两国仍能保持睦邻友好，未来关系回暖，同时加拿大也具备了发射本国火箭的能力。