双语校对文案蓝色起源vs维珍银河，布兰森贝索斯会如何比拼？

　　来源每日宇航员
　　理查德·布兰森(Richard Branson)的维珍银河公司(Virgin Galactic)和他们的＂太空船2号＂(SpaceshipTwo)航天飞机，杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)的＂蓝色起源＂(Blue Origin)和他们的＂新谢博德＂(New Shepard)运载工具，标志着人类太空飞行的新时代的开始。这两个系统都能够给客户带来难以置信的一生一次的体验，带他们到太空的边缘，然后再回来。这将为两种运载工具的乘客提供大约4分钟的失重状态和独特的视野，这是不到600人所经历过的。理查德·布兰森和杰夫·贝佐斯都决定乘坐他们公司的飞机进行首次载人飞行。
　　Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and their SpaceshipTwo space plane, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin with their New Shepard vehicle mark the start of a new era of human spaceflight. Both of these systems are capable of giving customers an incredible once in a lifetime experience, taking them to the edge of space and back. This will provide passengers on both vehicles approximately four minutes of weightlessness and a unique view, which less than 600 humans have ever experienced. Both Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have decided to ride on the very first crewed flights of their company’s crafts.
　　什么是亚轨道航天？
　　美国的第一次商业太空飞行始于2020年，当时 SpaceX 公司用猎鹰9号火箭和载人龙飞船将NASA宇航员鲍勃 · 本肯和道格 · 赫尔利送往国际空间站。这是一个称为 DM-2的轨道级载人任务，与蓝色起源和维珍银河正在做的是完全不同的任务。轨道飞行和亚轨道飞行相比需要能力更强的火箭。轨道任务将有效载荷送入轨道，除非它点火机动离开轨道，否则不会在短时间内返回地球。
　　亚轨道太空飞行并没有进入轨道，亚轨道可简单理解为＂小于轨道＂，介于航空与航天之间。与轨道任务相比，这些火箭的目标不是进入轨道。它们是专门建造的太空旅游航天器。嘲笑这些没有到达轨道的火箭，就像嘲笑本田思域没有大卡车那么大的马力一样。亚轨道航天器的设计不是用来做轨道任务的。
　　重要的是，这些亚轨道航天器可以去太空！毕竟，要进入太空，它们只需要飞到离开地球大气层的地方。这并不是大气突然消失，而是慢慢消失，直到到达一个几乎没有大气的高度。
　　What Is Suborbital Spaceflight?
　　The first operational commercial spaceflight from the United States was in 2020, when SpaceX took NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley up to the International Space Station on their Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. This was an orbital mission called DM-2 and is a completely different task than what Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are doing. Orbital missions require a much more capable rocket than suborbital missions. Once orbital missions get their payload into orbit, it won’t come back down to Earth until it deorbits.
　　Suborbital spaceflight on the other hand doesn’t reach orbit, they’re just that, sub orbital; less than orbit. Compared to orbital missions, these rockets’ goals aren’t to get to orbit. They are purpose built space tourism machines. Poking fun of these rockets for not reaching orbit is like poking fun of a Honda Civic for not being able to pull as much as a semi truck. It’s not designed to do that.
　　The important thing is that these rides do go to space! After all, to go to space they just have to go up until they are out of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s not like the atmosphere suddenly stops, but it slowly fades away until they have reached an altitude where there’s practically no atmosphere.
　　轨道 VS 亚轨道的分界
　　太空的定义源自于没有大气层，但不是没有重力。重力不会因为到达太空的高度而消失。在海拔100公里的高度，物体仍然受到地球引力的牵引，其作用力与海平面几乎相同。具体来说，与海平面的9.8 m/s2相比，100km高度的重力加速度仍然是9.4 m/s2。
　　蓝色起源公司的新谢泼德和维珍银河公司的太空船二号或多或少的沿斜上方发射飞行。新谢泼德和太空船二号分别经过大约两分钟的加速和一分钟的加速后，将关闭引擎，两个飞行器将无动力向上滑行，做减速运动，达到最高海拔或远地点，然后落回地球。在引擎关闭的那一刻，乘客将开始感受到失重。乘客将一直保持失重状态，直到航天器再次进入大气层并开始体验气动阻力。
　　Orbital VS Suborbital
　　Space can be defined as a lack of atmosphere, but not a lack of gravity. Gravity doesn’t stop by reaching space. At an altitude of 100 km, mass is still being pulled by Earth’s gravity with nearly the same force as at sea level. Specifically, gravity still pulls with 9.4 m/s2 of force, as opposed to the 9.8 m/s2 at sea level.
　　Both, Blue Origin’s New Shepard and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo will launch more or less straight up. After about two minutes of acceleration for New Shepard and one minute for SpaceShipTwo, the engines will cut off and both vehicles will coast up, where they will hit their peak altitude or apogee, and then fall back down to Earth. At the moment the engines cut off, passengers will begin to feel weightless. Passengers will feel weightless until the spacecrafts begin to hit the atmosphere again and start to experience aerodynamic drag.
　　在远地点，这些飞行器的速度几乎为零，在一个短暂的时刻几乎完全静止不动。如果他们现在试图通过进入轨道而留在太空中，他们将需要很大的轨道速度，大约以7.6公里/s的速度飞行，这大约是他们在上升过程中的峰值速度的8倍。飞行速度是决定轨道与亚轨道飞行的重要因素。
　　发动机关闭后，两种航天器的乘客将体验三到四分钟的失重状态。
　　＂太空＂的定义：卡门线是一个国际定义，标志着空间的边缘，定义为海平面以上100公里。美国对太空的定义是80公里高度，即产生升力所需速度超过轨道速度的高度。按照国际上的定义，这两种飞行器中只有一种（蓝色起源的新谢泼德）进入太空，尽管它们都会经历失重状态。
　　2.维珍银河公司的太空船二号
　　理查德 · 布兰森的维珍银河公司是一家亚轨道旅游发射公司，不要与维珍轨道混淆。维珍银河公司和维珍轨道公司都隶属于理查德 · 布兰森的维珍集团。维珍轨道公司是一家小型卫星火箭发射公司，从一架叫做 Cosmic Girl 的波音747上发射LauncherOne 火箭。在过去，维珍轨道是维珍银河的一部分，但现在是独立的实体。
　　维珍银河目前有一个由太空船二号和白骑士二号运载飞机组成的系统。维珍银河还有一个更新的产品叫做太空船三号。它实际上和太空船二号是同一型空天飞机，但是在本文发表之前还没有飞行过。
　　太空船二号和白骑士二号是由公司最初的太空船一号和白骑士一号按比例放大的版本。太空船一号和白骑士一号这两艘飞行器由Scaled Composites公司公司制造，在短短五天内成功两次进行太空往返飞行，赢得了2004年Ansari X大奖的1000万美元。这一壮举引起了理查德 · 布兰森和维珍集团的注意，他们正在寻找太空旅游的技术，并宣布他们将在太空船一号首次动力飞行后授权这项技术并赞助太空船一号。
　　2005年，维珍银河联合Scaled Composites创立了太空船公司，维珍银河拥有70% 的股份，Scaled Composites公司拥有30% 的股份。太空船公司的目标是扩大太空船一号及其运载飞机的规模，以最大限度地发挥其商业太空飞行潜力。
　　2008年，该公司推出新的白骑士二号飞机，比原来的白骑士一号大3倍。它采用了全双机身设计，配有四个喷气发动机。
　　白骑士二号飞机机身的一侧是太空船二号内部的完美复刻，用于以合理的成本训练乘客，而另一侧机身可以用于高度18公里的廉价旅行。飞行高度几乎是普通客机的两倍，乘客足以看到深蓝色的天空。
　　At apogee, these vehicles have virtually zero horizontal velocity. They are practically completely stationary for a brief moment in time. If they now were to try and stay in space by getting into orbit, they would need to be traveling at orbital velocities, roughly 28,000 kmh sideways, which is about 8 times faster than their peak velocity during ascent. A quick rundown on orbit vs suborbit can be found here.
　　Starting with engine cut off, passengers of both vehicles will experience weightlessness for three to four minutes.
　　Definition Of ＂Space＂
　　The Kármán line is an international definition that marks the edge of space and is defined as 100 km above sea level. The US’ definition of where space begins is 80 km, which is the altitude where speeds required to generate lift are exceeding orbital velocity. By international definitions, only one of the two vehicles reaches space, although both will experience weightlessness.
　　Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo
　　Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is a suborbital tourism launch company that is not to be confused with Virgin Orbit. Virgin Orbit is a small satellite rocket company, which launches their LauncherOne rocket from a Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl. At one point they both were part of Virgin Galactic, but are now separate entities. Virgin Galactic currently has one system composed of SpaceShipTwo and its carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo.
　　There’s also a newer production-ready version called SpaceShip III (formerly SpaceShipThree). It is virtually the same spaceplane as SpaceShipTwo, but hasn’t flown by the time this article has been published.
　　SpaceShipTwo and WhiteknightTwo are scaled up versions of the original SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnightOne, which were built by Scaled Composites and won the 2004 Ansari X prize of 10 million US dollars by successfully flying to space and back twice in just five days. This feat won the attention of Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, who were looking for a space tourism option and announced that they would license the technology and sponsor SpaceShipOne after its first powered flight.
　　Virgin Galactic co-founded The Spaceship Company in 2005 at a 70% ownership, with Scaled Composites owning 30%. The Spaceship Company’s goal was to scale up SpaceShipOne and its carrier plane to maximize their commercial spaceflight potential.
　　In 2008 the company would roll out their new WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, which was about 3 times larger than the original WhiteKnightOne. It now features a full twin fuselage design with four jet engines.
　　While one side of the fuselage is a replica of SpaceShipTwo’s interior, which is used to train passengers at reasonable cost, the other fuselage can be used for cheaper trips to 18 km. At almost double the altitude of a standard airliner, passengers will be high enough to see a dark blue sky.
　　2009年12月7日，第一艘太空船2号推出，命名为 VSS 企业号。它采用了更大的设计，能够运送2名飞行员和6名乘客。它使用了独特的混合动力火箭发动机的升级版本用于飞行高度爬升。
　　太空船二号的混合火箭发动机：
　　混合动力发动机使用端羟基聚丁二烯(HTPB)，一种固体火箭燃料，但不同于传统的固体火箭发动机，它使用一氧化二氮作为氧化剂，使他们能够在飞行中关闭发动机。这就是＂混合＂二字的由来。只有当液态或气态 N2O 存在于发动机中时固体火箭推进剂才能保持燃烧。这使得飞行员能够用点火器启动发动机，一氧化二氮从氧化剂罐流入发动机的固体推进剂部分。尽管能够主动关闭发动机，它不能改变喷嘴的推力方向。
　　在短暂的一段时间内，维珍银河公司探索了一种叫做热塑性聚酰胺的固体燃料的可行性，这种燃料含有一氧化二氮和甲烷(CH4)用于燃烧，而使用氦用于关机。在第一次也是唯一一次使用这种发动机的飞行之后，他们转而使用 HTPB。不幸的是，在第一次也是唯一一次使用这种发动机的飞行中，两名试飞员中的一人死亡，一人重伤，太空船二号飞行器悲剧性解体坠毁。
　　挫折与悲剧：
　　太空船二号的解体与这台新发动机的使用无关。这次解体与它的一个主要设计——羽翼再入大气层系统有关。当副驾驶以0.92马赫的速度提前解锁了该系统时，空天飞机解体了。施加于羽翼系统的空气动力学和惯性负载超过了系统作动器，导致了飞行器的解体。
　　太空船二号的特性：
　　维珍银河公司的太空船二号空天飞机的整体形状和设计超级独特，具有气动倾斜的尾翼和水平稳定器。空天飞机的两个尾翼有一个独特的再入大气层的外形，这个外形的灵感来自羽毛球。这种独特的再入剖面设计是一种被动稳定的设计，利用气动阻力使飞行器再入时腹部向下，即使是在它再入时姿态倒置也能被动纠正。
　　一旦飞行器处于亚音速状态并再次进入大气层，它就会将机翼拉直并滑回跑道进行相对标准的着陆流程。它不使用前起落架，而是使用一个简单的刹车片，着陆时起到刹车的作用。
　　The first SpaceShipTwo, technically the first Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo, was revealed on December 7th, 2009, and was named VSS Enterprise. It sported a much larger design capable of ferrying 2 pilots and 6 passengers. On ascent it uses an upgraded version of their unique hybrid rocket engine.
　　SpaceShipTwo’s Hybrid Rocket Engine
　　The hybrid engine uses Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), a rubber based solid rocket fuel, but unlike a traditional solid rocket booster, it uses nitrous oxide (N2O) as oxidizer, which enables them to shut down the engine mid flight. This is where the ＂hybrid＂ comes from. The solid rocket propellant will only remain firing when liquid or gaseous N2O is present in the motor. This enables the pilots to light the engine with an ignitor, with N2O flowing from an oxidizer tank into the solid propellant part of the engine. Despite being able to turn the engine off, it cannot actively throttle.
　　For a short period of time, Virgin Galactic explored the viability of a different solid fuel called thermoplastic polyamide with N2O and methane (CH4) for combustion, while using helium for shut down. They would switch back to using HTPB after the first and only flight with that version of the engine, which unfortunately resulted in the tragic loss of one of the two test pilots and the vehicle.
　　Setbacks And Tragedy
　　The breakup of the spaceplane was not related with the use of this new engine. The breakup was related to a staple of its design, the feathered re-entry system. The spaceplane broke up when the Co-Pilot prematurely unlocked the feather system at Mach 0.92. Aerodynamic and inertial loads opposed on the feather system overcame the feather actuators, which resulted in the breakup of the vehicle.
　　SpaceShipTwo Specific Characteristics
　　The overall shape and design of Virgin Galactic’s spaceplanes is super unique, featuring pneumatically tilted tails and horizontal stabilizers. The twin tails of the rocket plane have a so-called carefree re-entry profile, which takes inspiration from a badminton shuttlecock. This carefree re-entry profile is a passively stable design that provides a large amount of drag and makes the vehicle want to re-enter belly down every time, even in the case of it re-entering upside down.
　　Once the vehicle is subsonic and in the lower portions of the atmosphere again, it straightens its wings back out and glides back to the runway for a relatively standard landing. Instead of a front landing gear, it uses a simple skid that also functions as a brake pad on touchdown.
　　没有自动驾驶，依赖两名专业的飞行员操作：
　　关于太空船二号最有趣的部分是，飞行员100% 控制他们。没有自动驾驶仪，也没有电传飞行。两名飞行员在超音速时通过电子控制舵直接控制飞行器，在亚音速时通过电缆和连杆机构直接控制飞行器。为了控制太空船二号在太空中的姿态，装有12个冷气推进器。冷气推进器使用压缩空气，是在没有大气存在的情况下控制飞行器姿态的一种非常简单有效的方法。可以控制俯仰，偏航和滚动，共有6对推进器冗余。
　　客户体验：
　　维珍银河密切关注飞行舱内的细节，并确保客户最佳的体验，安装了16个摄像头。顾客不必摆弄他们的相机和手机拍摄，帮助他们记录飞行过程（发朋友圈，炫个富），专注于体验。座椅有背显示屏，以帮助客户了解飞行每个阶段的最新状态。座椅也是动态调整的，可改变他们的角度，以在不同阶段的飞行过程中最大限度地舒适和安全。此外，座椅还具有自收缩安全带，以帮助乘客在失重状态下离开座位。分布有17个窗口，有圆角，乘客可以很容易地抓到窗户边缘。
　　2016年，维珍银河建造了他们的第二艘太空船二号 VSS Unity。在为商业乘客飞行做好准备之前，它曾三次飞向太空。2021年3月30日，维珍银河公司发布了他们的第一艘名为 VSS Imagine 的太空船三号。
　　Humans At The Helm
　　The most interesting part about these vehicles is that humans are 100% in control of them. There is no autopilot and no fly-by-wire. The pair of pilots control the vehicle directly through electronically controlled trim at supersonic speeds, and cable and rod linkages at subsonic speeds. To control the orientation of the spaceplane in space, they have 12 cold gas thrusters. Cold gas thrusters use compressed air and are a very simple and effective way of controlling the attitude of a vehicle when there is no atmosphere present. They can control pitch, yaw and roll, with a total of 6 pairs of thrusters for redundancy.
　　The Customer Experience
　　Virgin Galactic pays close attention to detail inside the vehicle and ensures the customer the best possible experience by including 16 cameras. Customers will not have to fiddle around their cameras, helping them to live in the moment and focus on the experience. There are seatback displays to help staying up to date with every phase of the flight. The seats are also dynamic and change their angle to maximize comfort and safety during the different portions of the flight. Furthermore, the seats also feature self retracting seat belts to help passengers getting out of their seats quickly during weightlessness. There are 17 windows spread across the whole spaceplane with halo edges so passengers can easily get a hold on them.
　　In 2016, Virgin Galactic built their second SpaceShipTwo called VSS Unity. It flew three times to space before being ready for passengers. Five years later, Virgin Galactic presented their first SpaceShip III called VSS Imagine on March 30th, 2021.
　　蓝色起源的新谢泼德
　　杰夫 · 贝佐斯的蓝色起源已经建立了很长一段时间，甚至早于 SpaceX 公司成立，成立于2000年。蓝色起源的哲学是＂ Gradatim Ferociter＂，这是拉丁语的＂一步一步，凶猛＂。他们缓慢而耐心的航天发展方式无疑反映出这一点。
　　新谢泼德的历史与发展：
　　在新谢泼德火箭之前，在2006年蓝色起源公司用一个名为戈达德的火箭动力飞行器展示了许多技术。在戈达德之后，蓝色起源开始发展新谢泼德系统，它包括一个太空舱和一个一级火箭。
　　新谢泼德火箭是以艾伦谢泼德命名的，他是第一个进行亚轨道飞行的美国人。蓝色起源的下一个火箭，新格伦，是以第一个进行轨道飞行的美国人约翰·格伦命名的，顾名思义，这个火箭将进行轨道飞行。
　　新谢泼德的太空舱在2012年底首次进行了发射中止系统的地面逃逸测试。蓝色起源展示了他们的固体火箭发动机中止系统，以及在低空软着陆时完全展开降落伞的能力。
　　航天器中央的大型中控台结构并不是提供饮料瓜子的柜台，实际上是固体火箭发动机，能够将太空舱推离失效的火箭，有助于航天器的安全。
　　Blue Origin’s New Shepard
　　Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin has been around for a long time and was even founded before SpaceX in 2000. Blue Origin’s philosophy is ＂Gradatim Ferociter＂, which is Latin for ＂Step by Step, Ferociously＂. Their slow and patient approach to spaceflight development certainly mirrors that.
　　New Shepard’s History And Development
　　Before New Shepard saw the light of day, Blue Origin was demonstrating many technologies with a rocket powered vehicle named Goddard in 2006. After Goddard, Blue Origin began developing the New Shepard system, which is comprised of a space capsule and a booster.
　　New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space who performed a suborbital flight. Their next rocket, New Glenn, is named after John Glenn, the first American to go on an orbital flight, and as the name suggests, this rocket will be orbital.
　　New Shepard’s capsule was first tested at the end of 2012 with a pad escape test of their launch abort system. They demonstrated their pusher style solid rocket motor abort system and the ability to fully deploy the parachutes for a soft landing at low altitudes. The large center console looking structure in the middle of the spacecraft is actually the solid rocket motor capable of pushing the capsule away from a failed booster, aiding in the safety considerations of the vehicle.
　　结构与设计：
　　火箭和返回舱之间有一个环，它不仅在火箭重返期间保持空气动力学稳定性，而且它也为逃逸发动机工作留出空间。这意味着，如果他们不得不在连接火箭时点燃逃逸发动机，逃逸火箭发动机产生的高温气体就会溢到到火箭的一侧，从而降低受逃逸发动机高温气体影响火箭爆炸的可能性。
　　2015年，蓝色起源公司宣布他们已经完成了 BE-3发动机的验收测试，该发动机将为新谢泼德火箭提供动力。BE-3是一种液氧液氢发动机。分离循环的特点是从主燃烧室中抽出热气体，热气体旋转涡轮为推进剂泵提供动力。这不是一个容易启动的发动机，因为燃烧只能在涡轮泵运行时发生，而涡轮泵需要燃烧发生运行等等（先有鸡还是先有蛋）。
　　BE-3从海拔1200米的西德克萨斯州发射基地为火箭提供动力，一直到50公里处关闭，新谢泼德将继续无动力滑向太空。在远地点前80秒左右，火箭分离为两个独立的部件: 火箭一级助推器和太空舱。太空舱将再入大气，下降速度慢于助推器。
　　在助推器下降过程中，助推器从顶部展开鳍来帮助引导它下降。在此之后，它部署了一些空气刹车片，进一步帮助其减小速度。然后，在离地面仅3公里处，助推器重新点燃 BE-3发动机，减速下降。 BE-3发动机可以将推力控制在最大推力的20% 以下，这样火箭就可以在目标着陆台上悬停，并完美地重新调整方向。作为参考，SpaceX 公司的猎鹰9号和重型猎鹰的梅林发动机可以将推力调整至最大推力的40% 左右，这也是猎鹰9号不能执行悬停任务，只能减速降落到地面。
　　事实上，蓝色起源的新谢泼德是第一个到达太空并在地面垂直回收的火箭，还早于SpaceX的猎鹰九号。在 SpaceX 公司的猎鹰9号助推器着陆前一个月，蓝色起源就实现了垂直回收。当然，猎鹰九号火箭是轨道级火箭，最高时速可达8000公里，携带一个较大的上面级，而新谢泼德火箭是亚轨道火箭，最高时速约为3500公里/小时，直线上升，几乎没有水平速度。虽然新谢泼德只是一个亚轨道火箭，它的垂直着陆回收和重复使用仍然是一个值得注意的成就。
　　Structure And Design
　　The booster has a ring that the capsule sits on top of. Not only does it serve a purpose for aerodynamic stability during re-entry, but it also has reliefs for the abort motor. This means if they had to light the abort motor while attached to the booster, the hot gases from the rocket motor can escape to the side of the booster, lessening the chance of the booster exploding below it.
　　In 2015, Blue Origin announced they had completed acceptance testing of their BE-3 engine that would power the New Shepard booster. The BE-3 is a combustion tap-off cycle hydrolox powered engine. The tap-off cycle is charactarized by tapping off hot gasses from the main combustion chamber to spin the turbine to power the propellant pumps. It’s not an easy engine to start up as combustion can only occure when the pumps are running, which need combustion happening to run and so on and so forth.
　　The BE-3 is inefficiently splayed out on the base of New Shepard. Although the packaging isn’t tight and probably not as mass efficient, it is much easier to access the parts and potentially tweak or repair if necessary. This allows them to quickly refurbish and learn the engine inside and out, which further helps them shape their BE-3U vacuum optimized open expander cycle version that Blue Origin will utilize on their orbital New Glenn rocket in the future.
　　The BE-3 powers the rocket from their West-Texas launch site at about 1,200 m above sea level all the way up to about 50 km, when the vehicle hits main engine cut off and will coast the rest of the way up to space. Around 80 seconds before apogee, the vehicle stages into its two separate components, the booster and the capsule. The capsule will reenter and fall back down slower than the booster, which is skinnier with less surface area.
　　It’s during this portion of the mission that the booster deploys fins from the top ring to help steer it. After that it deploys some air brakes that are up around the top ring too, which further help to scrub off velocity. Then, at only about 3 km above the ground the booster re-lights its BE-3 engine to propulsively land. The engine can throttle down below 20% of maximum thrust, which allows the rocket to hover and perfectly redirect itself over its targeted landing pad. For reference, SpaceX’s Merlin engine on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy can throttle down to about 40%, which is also why the Falcon 9 can’t actually hover and has perform its fairly aggressive hover slam maneuver.
　　In fact, Blue Origin’s New Shepard was the first rocket to reach space and then propulsively land. They did this about one month before SpaceX landed their first Falcon 9 booster. Of course, one rocket is an orbital rocket booster travelling up to 8,000 kmh sideways carrying a large upper stage, while the other is suborbital, reaching a peak velocity of about 3,500 km/h, traveling straight up with virtually no horizontal velocity. Although New Shepard is ‘only’ a suborbital rocket, it was and still is a noteworthy accomplishment since landing rockets that go to space is not a trivial task.
　　与此同时，由于太空舱腹部表面积较大，再入大气层返回速度较慢。在大约2公里的高度上，它部署了三个减速伞，在大约1公里的高度上部署三个主降落伞。尽管太空舱以每小时25公里的速度降落，但是着陆过程非常缓和，在最后一刻点燃制动推进器，从而在太空舱和地面之间形成一个很好的气垫。这与俄罗斯联盟号载人返回舱着陆时的情况类似。新谢泼德的太空舱实际上可以在两个主降落伞失效时，降落速度缓慢到足以生存。这也要感谢减震座椅，它进一步帮助减轻震动。
　　不像太空船二号，新谢泼德是100% 自动化的。这意味着飞机上的所有六个座位都可以坐乘客，不需要飞行员。六名乘客中的每一位都紧挨着巨大的窗户。它们是有史以来飞向太空的最大窗口，这是乘客在飞行中体验的重要部分。
　　新谢泼德在把人类送上太空之前成功飞行了15次。他们在2015年初的第一次尝试中失去了第一枚火箭，但太空舱安全返回。在那之后，第二个新谢泼德火箭在退役前飞行五次。第三个新谢泼德火箭在退役前成功飞行了七次，第四个新谢泼德火箭在准备进行第一次载人飞行之前飞行了两次。
　　Meanwhile, the capsule has a slower return due to a larger surface area and blunt body re-entry. At about 2 km it deploys three drogue chutes, followed by its three main parachutes at just about 1 km in altitude. Despite the capsule coming down at only about 25 km/h, touchdown will even be softer than that by firing retro thrusters at the very last moment to create a nice cushion of air between the capsule and the ground. This is similar and comparable to what ROSCOSMO’s Soyuz capsules do when landing. New Shepard’s capsule could actually lose two of its main parachutes and stil land slow enough to be survivable. That’s also thanks to shock absorbing seats that further help with dampening the shock.
　　Unlike SpaceShipTwo, New Shepard is 100% autonomous. This means all six seats on board can be filled with passengers and there is no need for any of those seats to be taken up by pilots. Each of the six passengers are treated to massive windows. They are, at the time when this articles was published, the largest windows to ever fly to space, which are an important part of the passenger experience during flight.
　　New Shepard successfully flew 15 times before putting humans on board. They lost their first booster on their first attempt in early 2015, but still safely recovered the capsule. After that, the second booster would fly five times before being retired. The third booster and second capsule flew seven times successfully before being retired and then the fourth booster and third capsule flew twice before being ready to be the first to fly humans.
　　太空船二号 VS 新谢泼德
　　太空船二号长18米，翼展8.2米，尾翼4.6米。蓝色起源的新谢泼德高19m，宽3.8m。作为参考，SpaceX 的猎鹰9号高70米，宽3.7米。
　　发动机
　　蓝色起源公司的新谢泼德采用一个燃烧液态氢和液态氧的自循环发动机，而维珍银河公司的太空船二号则配备了一个混合固体火箭发动机，燃烧固体燃料 HTPB，氧化亚氮作为氧化剂。
　　蓝色起源公司的 BE-3比维珍银河公司的 RocketMotorTwo 发动机产生的推力大约多出三分之一。由于 BE-3是一个 液体 发动机，它有一个相对较高的比冲。这些发动机的燃烧时间也大不相同，因为新谢泼德在地面发射，而太空船二号在空中发射。正因为如此，新谢泼德的 BE-3发动机运行时间约为2分20秒，而太空船二号只需要1分钟。
　　SpaceShipTwo VS New Shepard
　　SpaceShipTwo is 18 m long with an 8.2 m wingspan and a tail height of 4.6 m. It’s about as long as New Shepard is tall, which is 19 m and about 3.8 m wide. For reference, SpaceX’ Falcon 9 is 70 m tall while being 3.7 m wide.
　　The Engines
　　Since both vehicles sport different engines, their stats differ as well. While Blue Origin’s New Shepard sports a combustion tap-off cycle engine burning liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOx), Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo are fitted with a hybrid rocket engine burning the solid fuel HTPB with nitrous oxide (N2O) as oxidizer. Blue Origin’s BE-3 produces about one third more thrust than Virgin Galactic’s RocketMotorTwo at 490 kN and 310 kN respectively. Since the BE-3 is a Hydrolox engine, it has a relatively high specific impulse (ISP) compared to RocketMotorTwo’s ISP at 310 s and 250 s respectively. The burn time of these engines is quite different as well, due to the fact that New Shepard launches on the ground and SpaceShipTwo launches mid air. Because of this, New Shepard’s BE-3 runs for about 2 minutes and 20 seconds compared to just about one minute for SpaceShipTwo.
　　由于 BE-3是一台液氧液氢发动机，它对环境的影响很小，因为燃烧产物只是水蒸气。相比之下，太空船二号的火箭对环境的影响相当大，因为 HTPB 会破坏地球大气层的臭氧层。
　　任务特征
　　正如前面提到的，太空船二号可以携带八个人，包括两名飞行员和六名乘客，而新谢泼德也可以携带六名乘客，不需要飞行员。与太空船二号相比，新谢泼德起飞到着陆的时间要短得多，只有大约十分钟。太空船二号从起飞到着陆通常的飞行时间是大约两个小时。大部分的时间要么是骑着白骑士二号的漫长缓慢的爬升，要么是缓慢的下滑。两种飞行器在失重状态下所花费的时间大致相同，大约为3到4分钟。
　　这两种飞行器之间另一个显著的差别是它们的最大飞行高度。有史以来最高的 VSS Unity 飞行高度接近90公里，这意味着它从未越过卡门线边界。另一方面，新谢泼德达到约105公里的远地点。
　　可重用性降低成本
　　这些系统都是完全可重用的，这对于降低太空商业飞行的成本至关重要。
　　这两类飞行器每张票的价格还没有公布出来。大多数预定太空船二号的人都花了25万美元，但乘坐新谢泼德的价格还没有公开。到目前为止，只有一个价格公布了，那就是出价2800万美元的一位顾客，将与杰夫 · 贝佐斯、他的兄弟马克和航空界传奇人物沃利 · 芬克一起参加首次飞行。在2019年的一次会议上，蓝色起源的首席执行官鲍勃 · 史密斯建议每张机票的价格为＂数十万美元＂，其他消息来源称，每张机票的价格将＂远远超过50万美元＂。
　　Since the BE-3 is a Hydrolox engine, it has very little environmental impact as combustion products are only water vapor. In comparison, SpaceShipTwo’s RocketMotorTwo has a rather large environmental impact as HTPB damages the Ozon layer of Earth’s atmosphere. For more information on how much rockets pollute, please check out this video and/or article.
　　Mission Characteristics
　　As mentioned before, SpaceShipTwo can carry eight people, two pilots and six passengers, while New Shepard can also carry six passengers without the need of pilots. Compared to SpaceShipTwo, New Shepard is a much shorter ride with only about ten minutes from take off to landing. SpaceShipTwo’s usual flight time is about two hours from wheels up until touchdown. A lot of that time is either the long and slow climb while being attached to WhiteKnightTwo, or the slow glide back down. Both vehicles still spend roughly the same amount of time experiencing weightlessness of around three to four minutes.
　　One notable difference between the two vehicles is their maximum altitude. The highest VSS Unity has ever flown is just shy of 90 km, which does mean it has never crossed the Kármán line. Even though it is rather arbitrary, and doesn’t really change anything as far as the passenger experience goes, it is worth noting. New Shepard on the other hand reaches an apogee of around 105 km.
　　Reusability Brings Down Cost
　　Another important note about these systems is that they are both fully reusable. This is vital in bringing the cost of commercial spaceflight, even suborbital spaceflight, down and opening up the experience to more people than before.
　　The price per ticket for both vehicles is not something that is well published yet. Most people who have paid for rides on SpaceShipTwo have paid $250,000, but unfortunately, the price of a ride on New Shepard is not public yet. So far, there is only one example of price and it’s a customer who bid $28 million dollars to fly on the first flight alongside Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, and aviation legend Wally Funk. On a conference back in 2019, Blue Origin’s CEO Bob Smith suggest a price per ticket in the ＂hundreds of thousands＂, with other sources saying it will be ＂well north of $500,000＂. At the publishing date of this article, no official price has been disclosed yet.
　　总结
　　维珍银河公司的太空船二号(未来的太空船三号)和蓝色起源公司的新谢泼德都提供了一个难得的太空边缘旅游的体验，但同时又是两个完全不同的系统。
　　一方面，新谢泼德的简易火箭返回舱设计将客户发射到卡门线之上，并在大约10分钟内使用降落伞系统将他们安全降落。另一方面，维珍银河公司复杂但优雅的空中发射混合火箭飞机，它将花两个小时载客到达太空边缘，然后再返回。当新谢泼德展示有史以来最大的太空窗户时，太空船二号将颠倒过来，让乘客可以回头看地球。
　　两个系统都有优缺点，可以满足不同客户的个人需求，它们都能提供差不多相同的3到4分钟的失重体验时间。
　　Conclusion
　　Both, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SpaceShip III in the future) and Blue Origin’s New Shepard offer a great passenger experience focused ride to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, while being two totally different systems.
　　On the one hand, there is New Shepard’s simple booster-capsule design catapulting customers above the Kármán line and landing them under parachutes in about ten minutes. On the other, there is Virgin Galactic’s complex but elegant air launched hybrid rocket plane that will take customers on a two hour round trip to the edge of space and back again. While New Shepard sports the biggest windows that have ever been to space, SpaceShipTwo will flip upside down, allowing passengers to look back down on Earth.
　　At the end of the day, both systems have advantages and disadvantages over one another that will fit the personal need of different customers, but, when it comes to experiencing weightlessness, they both offer nearly the same at around three to four minutes.