Firefly’s Alpha rocket reaches orbit on second launch
萤火虫的阿尔法火箭在第二次发射中进入轨道
KIHEI, Hawaii — Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha launch vehicle reached orbit on its second launch Oct. 1, more than a year after the vehicle’s first launch failed.
夏威夷基黑-萤火虫航空航天公司的Alpha运载火箭在第二次发射10月1日进入轨道，这是该运载火箭首次发射失败一年多之后。
The Alpha rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage achieved orbit nearly eight minutes later. After a circularization burn, the upper stage deployed its payloads, and Firefly declared “100% Mission success” about one hour and 45 minutes after liftoff.
东部时间凌晨3点01分，阿尔法火箭从范登堡航天基地的航天发射中心2发射升空。火箭的上层在将近八分钟后进入轨道。在循环燃烧后，上层部署了有效载荷，Firefly在升空约一小时四十五分钟后宣布“100%任务成功”。
Firefly initially attempted to launch Alpha nearly three weeks earlier, on Sept. 11. Controllers halted the countdown one minutes before the scheduled launch, which would have been at the start of a four-hour window. Firefly later said a drop in the supply of helium used to pressurize tanks in the rocket’s second stage prompted the abort, and ultimately scrubbed the launch.
Firefly最初试图在大约三周前的9月11日发射Alpha。控制人员在预定发射前一分钟暂停了倒计时，这将是四小时窗口的开始。Firefly后来表示，用于给火箭第二级舱加压的氦气供应量下降，导致火箭中止发射，最终取消了发射。
A second launch attempt the next day was postponed by weather, and Firefly then had to wait for improved weather and range availability before making a third attempt Sept. 30. That launch attempt saw the engines briefly ignite as the countdown reached zero, only to shut down. Firefly later said the rocket went into “auto abort” at engine ignition but did not disclose the issue that caused the scrub.
第二天的第二次发射尝试因天气原因推迟，Firefly随后不得不等待天气和射程可用性的改善，然后于9月30日进行第三次发射尝试。发射尝试导致发动机在倒计时为零时短暂点火，但最终关闭。Firefly后来表示，火箭在发动机点火时进入“自动中止”状态，但没有透露导致擦洗的问题。
The “To The Black” test flight carried several satellites to be deployed into a 300-kilometer orbit inclined at 137 degrees. The Teachers in Space – Serenity 3U cubesat is designed to collect basic flight data for use by educators. NASA’s TechEdSat-15 3U cubesat includes several technology demonstration payloads, such as an “exo-brake” intended to provide a targeted reentry of the cubesat. A PicoBus deployer carried six PocketQube satellites for AMSAT Spain, Fossa and Libra Space Foundation.
“到黑” 号试飞携带了几颗卫星，将部署到一个300公里的轨道上，倾斜137度。太空宁静3U cubesat中的教师旨在收集基本的飞行数据，供教育工作者使用。NASA的TechEdSat-15 3U cubesat包括几种技术演示有效载荷，例如旨在提供cubesat目标再入的 “exo制动”。PicoBus部署人员为西班牙AMSAT，Fossa和天秤座太空基金会携带了六颗PocketQube卫星。
Firefly launched the first Alpha 13 months ago. One of the four Reaver engines in the first stage of the rocket shut down 15 seconds into the flight, although the rocket continued to ascend until it hit maximum dynamic pressure about two minutes later, causing it to tumble. Range safety then detonated the rocket.
萤火虫13个月前发射了第一架阿尔法。火箭第一阶段的四个Reaver发动机之一在飞行15秒后关闭，尽管火箭继续上升直到大约两分钟后达到最大动压，导致其跌落。Range safety随后引爆了火箭。
The company later determined a faulty electrical connection caused the engine to shut down. The company corrected that problem and made other changes to the manufacturing process, said Peter Schumacher, a partner at majority owner AE Industrial Partners who served as interim chief executive of Firefly in summer. “It’s around ensuring that the second flight, the product that is sitting out there, is the absolute best product that we can produce.”
该公司后来确定是一个错误的电气连接导致发动机关闭。多数股东AE Industrial Partners的合伙人彼得·舒马赫（Peter Schumacher）表示，该公司纠正了这个问题，并对生产流程进行了其他更改，他在夏季担任了Firefly的临时首席执行官。“这是为了确保第二次飞行，即坐在那里的产品，是我们能够生产的绝对最好的产品。”
Schumacher said in July that, if the launch was successful, they would perform one more Alpha launch this year, carrying a set of NASA-sponsored cubesats through a Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contract the company won in December 2020.
舒马赫在7月表示，如果发射成功，他们将在今年再进行一次Alpha发射，通过该公司于2020年12月赢得的风险级发射服务（VCLS）合同，运载一组NASA赞助的立方体飞船。
The company was left off the initial list of companies that received Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) awards in January for smallsat launches because the company was in the middle of a sale. On Sept. 9, though, NASA announced it added Firefly to the VADR contract, citing the need for a provider capable of launching payloads between 500 and 1,000 kilograms. “Firefly is the only launch vehicle provider in this grouping that has completed development and conducted its first test launch of their Alpha Launch Vehicle,” NASA stated in the procurement filing.
1月份，该公司因smallsat卫星的发布而被排除在最初获得Venture Class收购Dedicated and Rideshare（VADR）奖的公司名单之外，因为该公司正在进行出售。然而，9月9日，NASA宣布将Firefly加入VADR合同，理由是需要一家能够发射500至1000公斤有效载荷的供应商。NASA在采购文件中表示：“Firefly是该集团中唯一一家完成了Alpha运载火箭开发并进行了首次试射的运载火箭供应商。”。
Schumacher said in July that the company is projecting up to six launches in 2023, and is setting up production at its Texas factory to support that launch rate.
舒马赫 (Schumacher) 在7月中表示，该公司计划2023年进行六次发射，并正在其德克萨斯州的工厂进行生产以支持这一发射速度。
The launch came hours after the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced it awarded a launch contract to Firefly Aerospace for a space domain awareness mission called Victus Nox, using a spacecraft that will be built by Millennium Space. The announcement did not disclose the value of the launch contract or the estimated launch date.
此次发射是在美国空间部队的空间系统司令部宣布将发射合同授予Firefly Aerospace公司几小时后进行的，该公司将使用将由Millennium Space公司制造的航天器执行一项名为Victus Nox的太空领域感知任务。该公告没有披露发射合同的价值或预计发射日期。
Victus Nox will be a demonstration of responsive launch, building upon the TacRS-2 mission in June 2021, when Northrop Grumman was given 21 days to integrate and launch a payload on its Pegasus XL rocket.
Victus Nox将以2021年6月的TacRS-2任务为基础，展示响应式发射，当时诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司有21天的时间在其Pegasus XL火箭上进行整合和发射有效载荷。
With Victus Nox, the Space Force is aiming for a 24-hour callup for launch. “What we have challenged that team to do, and what I am seeing them demonstrate the ability to do, is to rapidly respond to a real threat, with an operational capability, using operational crews on operationally relevant timelines,” said Lt. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, commander of Space Systems Command, in a Sept. 28 speech at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference.
与Victus Nox一起，太空部队的目标是24小时召集发射人员。空间系统司令部指挥官迈克尔·盖特林中将表示：“我们向该团队提出的挑战，以及我看到他们展示的能力，是以作战能力，在与作战相关的时间线上使用作战人员，快速应对真正的威胁。”，在9月28日的高级毛伊岛光学和空间监视技术（AMOS）会议上的演讲中。
“Within 24 hours, they can bring a satellite launch vehicle together, mate it, encapsulate it, launch it and put it into operations, all within 24 hours, and they’re going to demonstrate that next summer,” he said of the upcoming Victus Nox mission.
他在谈到即将到来的Victus Nox任务时说: “在24小时内，他们可以将卫星运载火箭组装在一起，将其封装起来，发射并投入运行，所有这些都将在24小时内进行，他们将在明年夏天展示这一点。”
