首次在軌火箭試驗未達到預(yù)期目標

首次在軌火箭試驗未達到預(yù)期目標

The first test launch of a rocket that is released from a jumbo jet at 35,000 feet and then propels itself into orbit to deploy a satellite failed on Monday, the Virgin Orbit company said.

維珍軌道公司表示，從3.5萬英尺高空的巨型噴氣式飛機上發(fā)射的火箭首次測試發(fā)射失敗，隨后該火箭將自己推進軌道，并部署了一顆衛(wèi)星。

"The mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base," Virgin Orbit's Twitter account reported as the test was underway off the coast of California.

“任務(wù)在飛行后不久就結(jié)束了。宇宙女孩和我們的機組人員都很安全，正在返回基地。”維珍軌道公司的推特賬號報道了測試在加利福尼亞海岸進行的消息。

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The plane released the rocket cleanly, but the latter developed trouble of unknown origin after igniting its first-stage engine, the company said.

該公司說，飛機干凈利落地釋放了火箭，但火箭在點燃第一級引擎后出現(xiàn)了未知原因的故障。

Founded by British billionaire Richard Branson in 2012, Virgin Orbit wants to offer a quick and flexible launch service for operators of small satellites, weighing between 300 and 500 kilos (600 to 1,00 pounds), a market which is currently booming.

維珍軌道公司由英國億萬富翁理查德·布蘭森于2012年創(chuàng)立，該公司希望為小型衛(wèi)星運營商提供快速靈活的發(fā)射服務(wù)，小型衛(wèi)星的重量在300到500公斤(600到1000磅)之間，這個市場目前正在蓬勃發(fā)展。

The 70-foot (21-meter) Virgin Orbit rocket, named LauncherOne, does not take off from a vertical lift off, but rather is strapped to the underside of a wing on a converted Boeing 747 named Cosmic Girl.

這枚70英尺(21米)高的處女軌道火箭名為LauncherOne，它并不是垂直起飛的，而是被固定在一架改裝的波音747“宇宙女孩”機翼的下方。

When it reaches the required altitude, the plane releases the rocket, whose own engine fires up to push it into Earth's orbit and place its payload in space.

當?shù)竭_要求的高度時，飛機釋放火箭，火箭自身的引擎點火，將火箭推進地球軌道，并將其有效載荷送入太空。

The company said that the initial phase of the test worked after Cosmic Girl took off from an airfield in the Mojave desert where a number of space launch companies are based.

該公司表示，在“宇宙女孩”號從莫哈韋沙漠的一個機場起飛后，測試的初始階段取得了成功。莫哈韋沙漠是許多航天發(fā)射公司的基地。

The plane flew to a designated area over the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Los Angeles, for the rocket release.

這架飛機飛到太平洋上空洛杉磯海岸外的一個指定區(qū)域進行火箭發(fā)射。

"Cosmic Girl has released LauncherOne!" the company said on Twitter.

“宇宙女孩已經(jīng)發(fā)布了LauncherOne!”該公司在Twitter上說。

"We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft," it added three minutes later, but noted that the mission had been terminated.

三分鐘后又補充說：“我們已經(jīng)確認了飛機的安全釋放。”但指出任務(wù)已經(jīng)終止。

Hours later the company explained: "LauncherOne maintained stability after release, and we ignited our first stage engine, NewtonThree. An anomaly then occurred early in first stage flight. We'll learn more as our engineers analyze the mountain of data we collected today."

幾小時后，公司解釋道:“LauncherOne在發(fā)布后保持穩(wěn)定，我們點燃了第一級引擎NewtonThree。在第一級飛行的早期出現(xiàn)了異常。當我們的工程師分析我們今天收集的海量數(shù)據(jù)時，我們將學到更多。”

Before the test flight, the company had stressed that "this mission is the most technically complex thing we've tried to achieve yet."

在試飛之前，該公司曾強調(diào)，“這是我們試圖實現(xiàn)的最復(fù)雜的技術(shù)任務(wù)。”

"The first few seconds after release are where it really all comes together," it said.

“在發(fā)行后的最初幾秒鐘，所有的東西都聚集在一起，”它說。

Asked by AFP if the rocket had been lost, a company spokesman did not immediately respond.

當被法新社問及火箭是否已經(jīng)丟失時，公司發(fā)言人沒有立即作出回應(yīng)。

The concept of launching a rocket from a plane is not new. The rocket Pegasus, developed by the Northrop Grumman group, has been around since the 1990s. But Virgin Orbit wants to make a less expensive version of the launch.

從飛機上發(fā)射火箭的概念并不新鮮。由諾斯羅普·格魯曼公司開發(fā)的飛馬火箭早在20世紀90年代就出現(xiàn)了。但是維珍軌道公司想要制造一個更便宜的發(fā)射版本。

Launching a rocket from a plane is more flexible than a vertical blast off because theoretically all a company needs is an airstrip rather than a space launchpad.

從飛機上發(fā)射火箭比垂直發(fā)射更靈活，因為理論上公司需要的是飛機跑道而不是太空發(fā)射臺。

Richard Branson has founded another space company, Virgin Galactic, which is using a similar concept with the goal of taking tourists into space to experience weightlessness some 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth.

理查德·布蘭森創(chuàng)辦了另一家太空公司維珍銀河，該公司使用了類似的概念，目的是將游客帶入太空，體驗距地球表面約50英里(80公里)處的失重狀態(tài)。

Branson had billed the first of these tourist flights for summer last year, and when that did not happen, for summer of 2020.

布蘭森曾在去年夏天為這些旅游航班開出了首張賬單，但在2020年夏天卻沒有實現(xiàn)。