美國監管部門發現重要部件問題，SpaceX火箭又懸了

《華爾街日報》上周四援引美國官員消息稱，在對去年SpaceX獵鷹9號火箭發射事故的調查中，美國政府責任署（GAO）發現“關鍵推進部件始終存在裂縫”。裂縫主要影響將燃料泵入火箭發動機的渦輪葉片。該報告稱，以上是初步發現，詳細的GAO調查報告未來幾周內發布。

《華爾街日報》還說，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）警告SpaceX，所謂渦輪泵產品中出現裂紋是“不可接受的”風險。該報援引NASA副局長羅伯特·萊特福特講話稱，NASA得知存在裂紋問題已經一段時間，最近一次發現是去年9月的測試中。

GAO的調查意見可能使SpaceX面臨重大挫折。SpaceX的計劃是，除了現有的人造衛星業務，未來還將發射載人航天飛船。去年9月獵鷹9號火箭在卡納維拉爾角的發射臺發生爆炸后，該計劃已中斷四個月。那次事故給該司造成超過2億美元的收入損失。今年1月，SpaceX重新發射火箭，未出現任何事故。（財富中文網）

作者：Geoffrey Smith

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

The WSJ quoted officials Thursday as saying that the Government Accountability Office's investigation into the Falcon 9 rockets has uncovered "persistent cracking of vital propulsion components." The problem mainly affects turbine blades that pump fuel into the rocket's engines. The findings are preliminary, and the GAO report is due to be released in the next few weeks, according to the WSJ.

It added that NASA has already warned the company that cracking in the so-called turbo pumps is an "unacceptable" risk. It's one that NASA has known about for some time, with cracks found during tests as recently as last September, the WSJ quoted acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot as saying.

The GAO's conditions could prove a big setback to SpaceX, which aims to offer manned spaceflight launches in the future alongside its current satellite launching business, which is already backed up due to a four-month hiatus after a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in September. The incident cost it over $200 million in lost revenue. SpaceX resumed launches in January with an incident-free flight.