超越的开始：阿尔忒弥斯火箭测试

超越的开始

阿尔忒弥斯火箭测试有助于推动太空旅行的下一个巨大飞跃

The Beginning of Beyond

Artemis Rocket Testing Helps Propel the Next Giant Leap in Space Travel

作者：Brooks McKinney，APR

By Brooks McKinney, APR

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）新的重型航天发射系统（SLS）的一个未经改造的版本将是几次阿尔忒弥斯任务中的第一次，这些任务将打破界限并创造纪录，使我们重返月球，并最终为我们进行前所未有的深空探索做好准备。

An uncrewed version of NASA’s new heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) will be the first of several Artemis missions that will break boundaries and set records, returning us to the moon and ultimately preparing us for unprecedented exploration of deep space.

SLS是有史以来最强大的火箭，具有880万磅的推力，并且主要依靠诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的固体火箭助推器（SRB）实现。五段式SRB将提供将SLS抬离发射台所需推力的75%，最终将宇航员运送到比以往任何时候都更远的太空。

The SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built, with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, and is largely made possible by Northrop Grumman’s solid rocket boosters (SRBs). The five-segment SRBs will provide 75% of the thrust required to lift SLS off the launch pad and ultimately carry astronauts farther into space than ever before.

所有这些动力都需要特别注意安全和性能。建造这些巨大的助推器本身就是一个挑战，测试它们意味着整合一系列借鉴民用空间新兴领域的尖端技术。

All of that power requires special attention to safety and performance. Building these massive boosters is a challenge unto itself, and testing them means integrating a host of cutting-edge techniques that borrow from the emerging field of civilian space.

重新推动太空探索

Re-Boosting Space Exploration

固体火箭助推器是一种大型固体推进剂发动机，能够以相对简单的设计提供难以置信的推力。它们可以站立近150英尺高，体重超过100万磅。

A solid rocket booster is a large, solid propellant motor capable of providing incredible amounts of thrust with a relatively simple design. They can stand almost 150 feet high and weigh more than 1 million pounds.

每一枚新的SRB实际上都是一枚经过改造、翻新的火箭，最初是由诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司为NASA航天飞机项目生产的四节SRB。诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司负责SRB航空电子设备和控制的高级项目经理保罗·卡尔纳解释说，许多商业火箭公司现在正在使用可重复使用的火箭来降低进入太空的成本。诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的团队正在使用类似的策略来支持阿尔忒弥斯项目。

Each new SRB is actually a remodeled, refurbished rocket that began life as a four-segment SRB produced by Northrop Grumman for NASA’s space shuttle program. Paul Karner, Northrop Grumman’s senior program manager for SRBs’ avionics and controls explained that many commercial rocket companies are now using reusable rockets to reduce the cost of access to space. The Northrop Grumman team is using a similar strategy to support the Artemis program.

采用这种方法，团队在发射前的多个阶段对SRB进行严格和完整的测试。

With that approach, the team does rigorous and complete testing of the SRB in multiple stages up until launch.

“我们需要大约18周的时间才能将五个部分组装成SRB，”Mahmood Akhavan解释道，他是该公司位于犹他州海角的推进系统事业部的固体火箭发动机测试专家。“在水平测试台上对每个完全组装的SRB进行全尺寸静态测试，这一过程达到了高潮。”

“It takes us about 18 weeks to mate the five segments into an SRB,” explained Mahmood Akhavan, a solid rocket motor testing specialist for the company’s Propulsion Systems Business Unit in Promontory, Utah. “The process culminates with a full-scale static test of each fully assembled SRB on a horizontal test stand.”

组装火箭

Assembling the Rocket

当SRB静态测试完成后，助推器将被拆卸，并作为单独的部分通过铁路从海角运至佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心。在那里，它们在NASA标志性的车辆装配大楼（VAB）中与SRB的前裙和后裙、鼻帽和推力矢量控制系统重新整合，这一过程大约需要五个月。

When SRB static testing is complete, the boosters are disassembled and shipped as individual segments via railroad from Promontory to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, they are reintegrated with the SRBs’ forward and aft skirts, nose caps and thrust vector control system in NASA’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a process that takes about five months.

VAB是SLS的最终组装点，包括将SRB连接到其核心级，以及将SLS的上层和猎户座载人飞行器堆叠在其核心级上。

The VAB serves as the final assembly point for the SLS, including attachment of the SRBs to its core stage and the stacking of the SLS’s upper stage and Orion crew vehicle on its core stage.

一旦SLS的组装完成，NASA/承包商测试团队将在VAB中进行几次功能检查，以确保所有SLS子系统（如飞行计算机）都正常运行并相互通信。

Once the assembly of the SLS is complete, the NASA/contractor test team conducts several functional checks in the VAB to ensure that all SLS subsystems — think flight computers — are operating correctly and communicating with each other.

当SRB静态测试完成后，助推器将被拆卸，并作为单独的部分通过铁路从海角运至佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心。在那里，它们在NASA标志性的车辆装配大楼（VAB）中与SRB的前裙和后裙、鼻帽和推力矢量控制系统重新整合，这一过程大约需要五个月。

When SRB static testing is complete, the boosters are disassembled and shipped as individual segments via railroad from Promontory to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, they are reintegrated with the SRBs’ forward and aft skirts, nose caps and thrust vector control system in NASA’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a process that takes about five months.

VAB是SLS的最终组装点，包括将SRB连接到其核心级，以及将SLS的上层和猎户座载人飞行器堆叠在其核心级上。

The VAB serves as the final assembly point for the SLS, including attachment of the SRBs to its core stage and the stacking of the SLS’s upper stage and Orion crew vehicle on its core stage.

一旦SLS的组装完成，NASA/承包商测试团队将在VAB中进行几次功能检查，以确保所有SLS子系统（如飞行计算机）都正常运行并相互通信。

Once the assembly of the SLS is complete, the NASA/contractor test team conducts several functional checks in the VAB to ensure that all SLS subsystems — think flight computers — are operating correctly and communicating with each other.

从商业太空飞行中获取线索

Taking Cues from Commercial Spaceflight

SLS的最后一次，或许也是最重要的发射前测试是湿彩排，这是一次全面的、全人手甲板上的“干跑”，旨在模拟发射当天的每一项活动，除了实际点燃SRB和发射火箭。

The final and perhaps most important prelaunch test of the SLS is the wet dress rehearsal, a comprehensive, all-hands-on-deck “dry run” designed to mimic every activity that occurs on launch day except actually lighting the SRBs and launching the rocket.

令人惊讶的是，根据卡纳的说法，湿衣服彩排并不是NASA的标准发射前练习，但在商业航天中越来越常见。

Surprisingly, the wet dress rehearsal is not standard prelaunch practice for NASA but is increasingly common for commercial spaceflight, according to Karner.

由于这些商用发动机中的许多已经执行了多次飞行任务，因此在每次发射前进行性能和质量检查尤为重要。诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司的团队正在采用类似的“改造、翻新”固体火箭助推器测试方法来支持这一任务。

Since many of these commercial engines have flown on multiple missions, it’s especially important to do this performance and quality check before every launch. The Northrop Grumman team is following a similar testing method of the “remodeled, refurbished” solid rocket boosters to support this mission.

卡尔纳强调，发射前火箭测试旨在使发射过程尽可能安全。随着太空旅行越来越普遍，团队将测试、学习和发展他们的测试实践。

Karner emphasized that prelaunch rocket tests are designed to make the launch process as safe as possible. As space travel becomes increasingly common, teams will test, learn and evolve their testing practices.

他说：“火箭测试永远不会没有风险，但随着我们更好地了解每次发射前需要进行哪些测试，哪些测试不需要重复，测试应该变得更短、更常规。”

“Rocket testing will never be without risk, but as we get a better sense of which tests need to occur before every launch and which ones don’t need repeating, it should become shorter and more routine,” he said.

阿尔忒弥斯计划将为我们的世界创造几个历史性的第一，包括到2024年让第一位女性和第一位有色人种登上月球。阿尔忒弥s所使用的新技术将使未来几十年的太空探索取得令人兴奋的新成就，如月球居住，并最终前往火星和更远的地方。

The Artemis program will achieve several historic firsts for our world, including landing the first woman and first person of color on the moon by 2024. New technology like what’s being used for Artemis will enable exciting new achievements in space exploration for decades to come, like lunar habitation and, eventually, travel to Mars and beyond.