Rocket Report: FAA eyes more Starbase traffic; India's Skyroot snares US customer

本文为原文前 6,000 字符的节选翻译，完整内容请查看原文。

Welcome to Edition 9.15 of the Rocket Report! The launch I’m most looking forward to in the next few weeks is that of Japan’s Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission. MMX is one of the marquee space science missions launching this year, and it’s set to leave Earth as soon as Monday (US time) aboard a Japanese H3 rocket. The spacecraft will visit Phobos and Deimos, the two asteroid-like moons of Mars, deploying a rover and collecting specimens for return to Earth in 2031. Exploration at its finest.

欢迎阅读第 9.15 期《火箭报告》！在接下来的几周里，我最期待的发射任务是日本的火星卫星探测（MMX）任务。MMX 是今年发射的重头空间科学任务之一，它最早将于周一（美国时间）搭乘日本 H3 火箭离开地球。该航天器将造访火星的两颗类小行星卫星——火卫一和火卫二，部署一辆漫游车并收集样本，计划于 2031 年返回地球。这是最顶尖的探索。

Reflect Orbital looks to India for launch capacity. California-based Reflect Orbital, the startup attempting to offer sunlight on-demand with in-space mirrors, announced the purchase of two launches Wednesday from Indian launcher Skyroot Aerospace, Payload Space reports. One of the launches will use Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket, which became the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit in July. The other will fly on an upgraded rocket called the Vikram-1U.

Reflect Orbital 寻求印度提供发射能力。据 Payload Space 报道，总部位于加利福尼亚州的初创公司 Reflect Orbital 试图通过太空镜提供按需阳光服务，该公司周三宣布从印度发射服务商 Skyroot Aerospace 购买了两次发射服务。其中一次发射将使用 Skyroot 的 Vikram-1 火箭，该火箭于 7 月成为首枚进入轨道的印度私营火箭。另一次发射将使用名为 Vikram-1U 的升级版火箭。

Shining a light … Reflect Orbital plans to launch its first satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare next year. The company’s business model involves flying a constellation of some 50,000 mirrors in orbit to beam sunlight to the ground for power generation and illumination. The FCC approved Reflect’s first in-space mirror satellite earlier this year. The company’s selection of India’s Skyroot also shines a light on what satellite operators fear is a coming under-supply of launch capacity in the United States as SpaceX phases out its Falcon 9 rocket in favor of the much larger, but relatively unproven, Starship.

照亮前路……Reflect Orbital 计划明年通过 SpaceX 的猎鹰 9 号拼车任务发射其首颗卫星。该公司的商业模式涉及在轨道上运行约 50,000 面镜子组成的星座，将阳光反射到地面以进行发电和照明。美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）已于今年早些时候批准了 Reflect 的首颗太空镜卫星。该公司选择印度的 Skyroot 也凸显了卫星运营商所担忧的问题：随着 SpaceX 逐步淘汰猎鹰 9 号火箭，转而使用更大但相对未经考验的星舰（Starship），美国国内的发射能力即将出现供应不足。

LEAP targets smallsat launch market. A Colorado rocket startup named LEAP is aiming to enter the market for dedicated small-satellite launches in 2028 as growing demand for access to orbit creates new opportunities for smaller rockets, Space News reports. LEAP’s Bighorn rocket is designed for an initial payload capacity of 320 pounds (145 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit, with a first orbital launch slated for 2028. Bighorn is sized for dedicated launch services, with a single-engine booster stage and a kick stage named Cottontail for orbit insertion.

LEAP 瞄准小卫星发射市场。据《太空新闻》报道，随着对轨道进入的需求增长为小型火箭创造了新机遇，一家名为 LEAP 的科罗拉多州火箭初创公司计划在 2028 年进入专用小卫星发射市场。LEAP 的 Bighorn 火箭设计初始载荷能力为 320 磅（145 公斤）进入近地轨道，首次轨道发射定于 2028 年。Bighorn 的尺寸专为专用发射服务而设计，配备单引擎助推级和一个名为 Cottontail 的轨道插入上面级。

Rockets of mass production … LEAP says its Bighorn rocket is engineered for mass production. The company’s new factory, located in a Denver suburb, will support initial production of six Bighorn vehicles per year, with capacity to scale to two per month. “We know how to build remarkable vehicles. The challenge is building enough of them fast enough,” said Chris Beckman, CEO of LEAP, in a statement last month announcing the company’s new headquarters.

量产火箭……LEAP 表示其 Bighorn 火箭专为大规模生产而设计。该公司位于丹佛郊区的新工厂将支持每年初步生产 6 枚 Bighorn 火箭，并具备每月生产两枚的扩展能力。LEAP 首席执行官克里斯·贝克曼（Chris Beckman）在上个月宣布公司新总部的声明中表示：“我们知道如何制造出色的运载工具。挑战在于如何足够快地制造出足够多的数量。”

Neutron debut delayed. Rocket Lab announced Wednesday that its Neutron launch vehicle won’t fly until 2027, citing an issue discovered during manufacturing of the rocket’s carbon composite structures, Ars reports. The announcement was public confirmation of what nearly everyone inside Rocket Lab and the wider space industry already knew. The most recent official update from Rocket Lab in August suggested the company still held hope of delivering the first Neutron rocket to its launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, before the end of this year, a schedule that would have almost certainly pushed the first flight into 2027.

Neutron 首飞推迟。据 Ars 报道，火箭实验室（Rocket Lab）周三宣布，其 Neutron 运载火箭要到 2027 年才会飞行，原因是该火箭在制造碳复合材料结构过程中发现了问题。这一声明公开证实了火箭实验室内部及更广泛的航天工业中几乎每个人都已经知道的事实。火箭实验室 8 月份的最新官方更新曾暗示，该公司仍希望在今年年底前将首枚 Neutron 火箭运送到弗吉尼亚州瓦勒普斯岛的发射台，但这一时间表几乎肯定会将首飞推迟到 2027 年。

Altered carbon … Rocket Lab’s statement Wednesday about Neutron’s schedule suggests the company is still struggling with manufacturing the rocket’s large booster stage. Neutron’s reusable first stage is made of carbon-composite structures, which offer low weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance. But carbon composites in aerospace are generally harder to manufacture than metallic structures. That latest problem discovered in Rocket Lab’s factory involves small air pockets, or voids, amid carbon-fiber layers making up the forward dome of Neutron’s first-stage propellant tank.

碳的改变……火箭实验室周三关于 Neutron 时间表的声明表明，该公司仍在努力制造该火箭的大型助推级。Neutron 的可重复使用第一级由碳复合材料结构制成，具有重量轻、强度高和耐腐蚀的优点。但在航空航天领域，碳复合材料通常比金属结构更难制造。火箭实验室工厂发现的最新问题涉及构成 Neutron 第一级推进剂箱前穹顶的碳纤维层中存在微小的气穴或空隙。

Stoke ships second stage for testing. The reusable upper stage for Stoke Space’s Nova rocket has left the company’s factory in Kent, Washington, for what would be the last time, Stoke wrote on X this week. Now at Stoke’s test facility in Moses Lake, the second stage will undergo cryo-proof testing and a hotfire campaign with its Andromeda engine. The milestone follows the completion of “proto-qualification” testing on Nova’s first stage earlier this year.

Stoke 将第二级运往测试。Stoke Space 本周在 X 上发文称，其 Nova 火箭的可重复使用上面级已经离开位于华盛顿州肯特市的工厂，这可能是它最后一次离开该工厂。目前，该第二级已抵达 Stoke 位于摩西湖的测试设施，将进行低温压力测试以及使用其 Andromeda 引擎进行的点火测试。这一里程碑是在今年早些时候完成 Nova 第一级的“原型鉴定”测试之后实现的。

Next stop, Cape Canaveral … The upcoming tests at Moses Lake will be a linchpin for Stoke’s ambition to launch the Nova rocket next year. If all goes according to plan, Stoke will ship the reusable rocket stage to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where it will meet the other elements of the rocket for final launch preparations. The medium-lift Nova is the only fully reusable Western rocket other than SpaceX’s Starship in an advanced stage of development.

下一站，卡纳维拉尔角……即将在摩西湖进行的测试将成为 Stoke 明年发射 Nova 火箭这一雄心的关键。如果一切按计划进行，Stoke 将把这个可重复使用的火箭级运往佛罗里达州的卡纳维拉尔角，在那里它将与火箭的其他部分汇合，进行最后的发射准备。中型运载火箭 Nova 是除 SpaceX 星舰之外，唯一处于高级开发阶段的西方全可重复使用火箭。