首次在轨火箭试验未达到预期目标

首次在轨火箭试验未达到预期目标

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.

维珍轨道公司表示，从3.5万英尺高空的巨型喷气式飞机上发射的火箭首次测试发射失败，随后该火箭将自己推进轨道，并部署了一颗卫星。

"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.

“任务在飞行后不久就结束了。宇宙女孩和我们的机组人员都很安全，正在返回基地。”维珍轨道公司的推特账号报道了测试在加利福尼亚海岸进行的消息。

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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.

该公司说，飞机干净利落地释放了火箭，但火箭在点燃第一级引擎后出现了未知原因的故障。

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.

维珍轨道公司由英国亿万富翁理查德·布兰森于2012年创立，该公司希望为小型卫星运营商提供快速灵活的发射服务，小型卫星的重量在300到500公斤(600到1000磅)之间，这个市场目前正在蓬勃发展。

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.

这枚70英尺(21米)高的处女轨道火箭名为LauncherOne，它并不是垂直起飞的，而是被固定在一架改装的波音747“宇宙女孩”机翼的下方。

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.

当到达要求的高度时，飞机释放火箭，火箭自身的引擎点火，将火箭推进地球轨道，并将其有效载荷送入太空。

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.

该公司表示，在“宇宙女孩”号从莫哈韦沙漠的一个机场起飞后，测试的初始阶段取得了成功。莫哈韦沙漠是许多航天发射公司的基地。

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

这架飞机飞到太平洋上空洛杉矶海岸外的一个指定区域进行火箭发射。

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

“宇宙女孩已经发布了LauncherOne!”该公司在Twitter上说。

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

三分钟后又补充说：“我们已经确认了飞机的安全释放。”但指出任务已经终止。

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."

几小时后，公司解释道:“LauncherOne在发布后保持稳定，我们点燃了第一级引擎NewtonThree。在第一级飞行的早期出现了异常。当我们的工程师分析我们今天收集的海量数据时，我们将学到更多。”

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

在试飞之前，该公司曾强调，“这是我们试图实现的最复杂的技术任务。”

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

“在发行后的最初几秒钟，所有的东西都聚集在一起，”它说。

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

当被法新社问及火箭是否已经丢失时，公司发言人没有立即作出回应。

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.

从飞机上发射火箭的概念并不新鲜。由诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司开发的飞马火箭早在20世纪90年代就出现了。但是维珍轨道公司想要制造一个更便宜的发射版本。

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.

从飞机上发射火箭比垂直发射更灵活，因为理论上公司需要的是飞机跑道而不是太空发射台。

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·布兰森创办了另一家太空公司维珍银河，该公司使用了类似的概念，目的是将游客带入太空，体验距地球表面约50英里(80公里)处的失重状态。

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

布兰森曾在去年夏天为这些旅游航班开出了首张账单，但在2020年夏天却没有实现。