帶你探索現代宇宙飛船設計背後的故事

As NASA prepares for the debut test flight of the first spaceship in more than 40 years to carry astronauts beyond Earth, a fleet of privately owned vehicles is in development to take over transportation services to and from orbits closer to home.

40多年來美國宇航局準備首次試飛第一艘宇宙飛船將攜帶宇航員到地球之外,一傢俬人公司正在開發接管從地球到軌道的運輸服務。

Whether heading to the International Space Station, which flies about 260 miles above the planet, or other destinations, the journeys begin with rocket rides that have enough muscle to counteract Earth's gravity and get their cargo traveling at speeds of at least 17,500 mph to achieve orbit.

不管前往國際空間站然後在距地球大約260英里處旋轉,或是轉到他目的地,旅行從火箭發射起,必須有足夠的力量來抵消地球引力發送他們的貨物以至少17500英里每小時的速度進入軌道。

NASA, for example, is using the biggest booster in the U.S. fleet, a Delta 4 Heavy, to shoot its Orion deep-space capsule as far as 3,600 miles from Earth during a test flight scheduled for Thursday. The key point of the test is to get Orion moving at about 20,000 mph before it slams into Earth's atmosphere to test its heat shield.

美國國家航空航天局(NASA),在週四即將使用美國私營公司最大的助推器（德而它斯重型火箭發動機）,將把“獵戶號深空探測器”太空艙發送距離地球3600英里處。測試的重點是測試它的隔熱板，就是讓獵戶座以20000英里每小時的速度猛烈撞擊地球大氣層。

Even suborbital spaceships, such as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and XCOR Aerospace's Lynx space place, rely on rocket power to leave the atmosphere, though gravity quickly pulls them back to Earth. They don't necessarily have to launch from land, however.

甚至亞軌道太空飛船,如維珍銀河二號宇宙飛船和XCOR公司航空航天的山貓亞軌道飛船,仍然依靠火箭離開大氣層,不過重力很快把他們拉回地球。他們不一定要從地面發射。

SpaceShipTwo, for example, is carried by airplane and released mid-air to fire its rocket, a design also used by the experimental X-15 space plane in the 1960s. Air-launching uses smaller rockets than those needed for similar ground-based flights, eliminates the need for expensive launch pads and opens options for launch sites, since the planes can take off from commercial runways.

例如,太空飛船二號是由飛機攜載和火箭空中發射,使用的設計也在1960年代發佈的一個實驗性的前身航天飛機原形。空中發射火箭使用小型火箭而不用類似有地面發射臺的,不需要啓動昂貴的發射臺發射站點,因爲飛機可以從商業跑道起飛。

More diverse are the spacecraft designs the companies have chosen, reflecting not only different technical solutions to the challenges of flying people beyond Earth, but also their alternative visions of the future.

更加多樣化航天器設計公司精心選擇結果,這反映了不同的技術解決方案來面對地球之外的挑戰,而且這也改變着未來。

FORM DICTATES FUNCTION

結構影響功能

NASA preceded its so-called Commercial Crew development effort with a program to buy flights for space station cargo. Two U.S. supply lines are now running, though one operator, Orbital Sciences Corp, is regrouping after a launch accident last month. The other company flying cargo for NASA is California-based Space Exploration Technologies, owned and run by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk.

NASA爲空間站貨物購買航班的商業模式，是由兩個美國供應鏈運行,不過一個運營商因爲上個月發射事故而重組。另一家是加州太空探索技術基地,擁有和經營的這家科技企業的是伊隆馬斯克（Tesla的創始人）。

From the start, SpaceX designed its Dragon capsule to not only fly cargo, but also crew. "Cargo doesn't need windows," Musk quipped before the capsule's first flight to the space station in 2012. Upgrades are underway to add life support equipment, seating and an escape system for crew, but SpaceX has even grander ambitions for its gumdrop-shaped Dragon. It isdesigned to fly people to Mars.

從一開始,SpaceX公司設計了“龍”太空艙不僅飛貨物,而且能飛船員。馬斯克在太空艙2012年第一次飛往國際空間站時打趣道:“貨物不需要windows。升級正在進行中,以添加生命支持設備、座椅和一個宇航員逃生系統,但SpaceX 對於具有三層保護裝置的太空艙有更大的保護。它的目的是帶人們飛往火星。

"The long-term ambition of SpaceX is to develop the technologies to establish a self-sustaining civilization on Mars … Wings and runways don't really work if you're going somewhere other than Earth," Musk said at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology symposium in September.

“從的長期來看SpaceX是要利用技術在火星上建立自己的文明…沒有了地球你可以在其他地方生活,”馬斯克9月在麻省理工學院的研討會上說。

Boeing, too, chose a capsule design for its planned space taxi, known as the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100. "The conical shape is inherently stable as we re-enter the atmosphere," Chris Ferguson, Boeing director of Crew and Mission Systems, said in an interview with Reuters.

波音公司也爲自己的太空出租車計劃選擇了一個太空艙設計,稱爲船員艙運輸(CST)-100。“圓錐形狀利於我們進入大氣層,”克里斯-弗格森,波音公司主管人員在接受路透採訪時表示。

The capsule, which parachutes to a splashdown in the ocean or a touchdown on land, is intended to improve astronaut safety, added Ferguson, a former NASA space shuttle pilot and commander.

帶着降落傘的太空艙沒入大海之中或降落在陸地上,旨在改善宇航員安全,弗格森補充道,前美國國家航空航天局航天飛機飛行員兼指揮官。

Boeing plans to modify the CST-100 if it wins a second NASA solicitation, currently underway, to fly cargo to the station. Cargo and crew would fly separately.

如果贏得下一個NASA訂單波音公司不得不暫停cst - 100計劃,因爲貨物和船員分別要開飛。

"I lived through the (space shuttle) Columbia accident in 2003 and one of the conclusions … was that that including the payload with the people was not the wisest choice. We carried 50,000 pounds of payload (on the shuttle), which was incredible, and up to seven people. But to make the systems safe to carry passengers, you have to make a fairly large vehicle. We think it is a much better approach to have the people and the cargo travel in different vehicles," he said.

“我經歷過2003年哥倫比亞號(航天飛機)事故…,負荷太多不是最明智的選擇。我們放置50000磅重量在航天飛機上,這是難以置信的一共個7人。所以要使系統安全運送乘客,你必須做出相當大的火箭。我們認爲這是一個更好的方法,人們在客船火箭中旅行而不是貨船,”他說。

THINGS WITH WINGS

展翅飛翔

Capsules may be simpler to fly and cheaper to build, but they do have limitations. Sierra Nevada's winged Dream Chaser, for example, resembles a miniature space shuttle, with an aerodynamically shaped body and wings so it can fly back from space, rather than make a ballistic plunge through the atmosphere like capsules.

太空艙可能是簡單和便宜的飛行器,但它們確實有侷限性。例如內華達山脈股份公司Sierra Nevada Corporation,簡稱SNC的有翼的追夢者號,就像一個擁有翅膀和無阻力設計主體的迷你航天飛機,這樣就可以從太空飛回來而不是靠穿越大氣層的火箭。

"We come back with a significantly lower g-force during re-entry," said Sierra Nevada Vice President Mark Sirangelo, referring to "gravity force" or a measure of acceleration."We're about 2 gs and most capsules are 4- to 6. That protects returning experiments and crew," Sirangelo said in an interview.

“返回過程是一個顯著下降的低重力過程,“內華達副總裁Mark Sirangelo說,他指的是“地心引力”或加速度的測量。“我們的約是2 gs但是大多數太空艙是4 - 6（這是加速度單位,1Gs就是一倍的地球表面重力加速度）。它更有效保護船員“Sirangelo在接受採訪時表示。

Like the space shuttle, Dream Chaser is designed for runway, not water, landings, though its small size means it can touch down on most commercial runways anywhere in the world.“The idea of being able to come home to Ellington Field in Houston with an experiment from the space station for Texas Medical Center and have them take if off the vehicle and get it in their labs in a half-hour is very useful,” Sirangelo said.

像這種航天飛機,追夢者號是專用跑道,不需要水和降落傘,它的小尺寸意味着它可以在大多數商業跑道降落在世界任何地方。“這樣的話得克薩斯州醫學中心的空間站能夠回到休斯頓的愛玲董菲兒的機場或者用半小時時間就把他們送到實驗室是非常有用的,”Sirangelo說。

Sierra Nevada currently is protesting NASA's decision to proceed with a final round of development funds and flight services contracts to SpaceX and Boeing. A decision by the U.S. Government Accountability Office is due by Jan. 5. NASA also has an unfunded agreement to work with Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin.

內華達目前抗議美國宇航局決定進行最後一輪發展基金並且與飛行器SpaceX公司和波音公司簽訂的服務合同。由聯邦政府會計總署決定(Government Accountability Office)截止日期是1月5日。NASA也有短期協議與傑夫·貝佐斯的火箭公司（藍源公司(BlueOrigin)是由亞馬遜創始人傑夫·貝索斯(JeffBezos)創建的私人太空飛行初創公司,已經在2018無人任務開始前,成功地測試了現有的氫燃料火箭）。

In the meantime, Sierra Nevada is pursuing other contracts, including additional station resupply work for NASA that also is drawing bids from SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Boeing and possibly other contenders.

同時,內華達公司正在尋求其他的合同,包括爲美國國家航空航天局額外的空間站補給工作,包括爲SpaceX公司波音及其軌道科學公司畫畫圖紙,當然可能有其他的競爭者。

"We call Dream Chaser a 'space utility vehicle' for a reason. It can accomplish multiple purposes from the same core design, like an AC-130 aircraft. We can do repair missions, change altitudes. Capsules can't do that very easily. We can do construction, like the space shuttle did to build the space station. We can be an independent or co-dependent lab and stay in orbit for one year or longer conducting experiments. From the same basic design, we can contemplate all these missions," Sirangelo said.

“我們叫追夢者“空間多功能飛行器”是有原因的。它可以同時完成多個工作,像ac - 130飛機。我們可以自動完成修復任務甚至改變高度。太空艙就不能那麼做。我們可以做建築,像航天飛機一樣建造空間站。我們可以成爲一個獨立或相互依賴的實驗室並且在軌道上停留一年或更長時間進行實驗。從設計上看,我們可以完成所有這些任務,”Sirangelo說。

Sierra Nevada already may have landed one customer. Paul Allen's Strato launch Systems, which is building a massive airplane to serve as an airborne rocket-launching platform, announced last month it is considering buying a smaller version of Dream Chaser for commercial passenger spaceflights. The space plane would be attached to the Strato launch mothership for a ride into the atmosphere and then released to fire its own rocket engines and catapult it into space. The system could be used to fly people to and from orbit, as well as for sub-orbital hops, including taking off and landing in different locations, so called "point-to-point" travel. That's a service that Virgin Galactic, another space tourism startup owned by Richard Branson's Virgin Group, would like to offer as well.

內華達公司可能已經有一個客戶了。保羅·艾倫的平流層發射系統公司,構建一個龐大的飛機作爲機載火箭發射平臺,上月宣佈它正在考慮購買一個追夢者號較小的版本。航天飛機將附加到平流層發射系統母艦上然後點燃火箭引擎進入太空。系統可以用來發射和接受,以及亞軌道飛行,包括起飛和降落在不同的位置,就是所謂的“點對點”旅行。理查德·布蘭森表示維珍集團願意提供服務支持。

For now, Virgin Galactic's six-passenger, two-pilot space plane, called SpaceShipTwo, will be limited to sub-orbital flights that originate from and return to the same location. The company's first vehicle was destroyed during a fatal test flight inMojave, Calif., on Oct. 31. The second vehicle is under construction. Point-to-point suborbital travel would require a different design, such as a blunter shape to better handle the higher speeds and heat of atmospheric re-entry, and a more powerful rocket engine.

目前,維珍銀河的客載六人的雙駕駛航天飛機,被稱爲“宇宙飛船二號”將是有限次軌道飛行。公司的第一架被毀在莫哈韋試飛期間,加州10月31日。第二個正在建設中。點對點的亞軌道旅遊需要一個不同的設計,如頓的形狀更好的掌握速度但是進入大氣溫度卻很高需要一個更強大的火箭發動機。

RISK AND REWARD

風險和回報

Until the accident, SpaceShipTwo was on track to begin the world's first commercial passenger spaceflight service in 2015 – 11 years after the prototype SpaceShipOne won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for demonstrating private manned cidentally, it was 11 years after Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the world's first powered airplane in 1903 that a paying passenger sat in the open cockpit of a boat-shaped Benoist XIV biplane for a ride across Florida's Tampa Bay, the debut flight of the country's first commercial airliner.

發生事故到現在,太空飛船二號有望成爲世界上第一個商業客運航天服役（原型“2015 - 11年後贏得了1000萬美元的安薩里X獎（2004年10月4日，由魯坦（Burt Rutan)設計製造，微軟合夥人保羅·艾倫(Paul Allen)投資的價值2500萬美元的私人飛船“太空船一號”(SpaceShipOne)，贏得了這項獎額1000萬美元的安薩里X大獎））。巧合的是,在威爾伯和奧維爾·賴特在1903年發明世界上第一個動力飛機11年以後,敞開式座艙雙翼飛機搭載着乘客穿越佛羅里達的坦帕灣實現商業首飛。

"If you could have had a conversation with that person who bought the first ride and said, 'In your lifetime, you're going to be riding in air-conditioned comfort at 35,000 feet, traveling .8 Mach, watching a movie and talking to friends on the ground,' that guy would have said, 'What's a movie?' The telephone, the jet … none of that had been invented, but all ofit came into being very, very quickly after the airplane," said Stu Witt, the chief executive and general manager of the Mojave Air and Space Port.

“如果給你一個和第一個坐飛機乘客交談機會，你會說“在你的一生中,可以在35000英尺高度享受電影空調視頻聊天嗎,“那個傢伙會說,什麼是電影?什麼是電話,什麼是飛機…因爲那時這些沒有被髮明,但是自從有了飛機之後一切都發展的好快“莫哈維太空站負責人斯圖威特說

So is commercial spaceflight similarly primed?

那麼,商業航天時刻會來嗎?

"You put enough humans with brains and eyes and ears and senses in new environments and somebody is going to think of something we haven't thought of. The fashion industry will change. The entertainment industry will change. Something will come out of it that you and I shouldn't even be silly enough to try and forecast,” he said.

“新環境之中,時尚界將會改變。娛樂界將會改變。世界的發展毋庸置疑，一切東西就會發明出來。”他說。