NASA令人困惑的引擎難題：英語精讀講義

On the 12th of September 1962,

1962年9月12日，

President John F. Kennedy made his famous speech about landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. 文法

約翰·F·甘迺迪總統發表了著名的演說，宣告將在該年代末把人類送上月球。

At this point in time,

在這個時間點，

NASA had just several hours worth of human space flight experience.

NASA（美國太空總署）僅有數小時的載人太空飛行經驗。

Many Americans had accepted that the space race would be won by the Soviet Union, 文法

許多美國人已經默認太空競賽的贏家將是蘇聯，

who had already claimed the records for launching the first satellite and the first human into orbit.

畢竟蘇聯已包攬了發射第一顆人造衛星和將第一名人類送入軌道的紀錄。

So, in order to achieve their goal of reaching the Moon,

因此，為了實現登月目標，

NASA would need to develop much larger rockets with engines more powerful than anything they had made before.

NASA需要開發更大的火箭，其發動機功率必須超越他們以往製造的任何設備。

But scaling up to a much larger rocket design sent NASA engineers into a new world of complex problems. 片語動詞

但將火箭設計擴展至如此龐大的規模，把NASA工程師推入了一個充滿複雜新問題的新世界。

In this video,

在這支影片中，

we're going to look at the issues that NASA had with their F-1 engine. 表達脈絡

我們將探討NASA在其F-1發動機上遇到的問題。

We're also going to look at how they fixed these issues and the unusual method they used to test it.

我們還將了解他們是如何解決這些問題的，以及用於測試的非尋常方法。

In order to lift the enormous Saturn V rocket off the launch pad,

為了將巨大的農神五號（Saturn V）火箭從發射台升空，

it required five F-1 engines on the first stage,

其第一節需要五台F-1發動機，

each capable of producing 1.5 million pounds of thrust.

每台都能產生150萬磅的推力。

In order to achieve this amount of thrust,

為了達到這種推力，

massive amounts of RP-1 fuel and liquid oxygen had to be pumped into the thrust chamber. 文法

必須將大量的RP-1燃料和液氧泵入推力室。

Here, the two propellants would combust

在這裡，這兩種推進劑會燃燒

and lift the Saturn V away from the launch pad.

並將農神五號推離發射台。

The first stage alone would burn through an entire Olympic swimming pool's worth of fuel 講解

僅僅是第一節，就能燒掉相當於整個奧運標準游泳池容量的燃料，

in just over 2 minutes.

用時僅僅兩分多鐘。

The company tasked with making such a powerful engine was Rocketdyne. 片語搭配

負責製造如此強大發動機的公司是洛克達因（Rocketdyne）。

They had designed the F-1 engine several years before for the US Air Force,

多年前他們曾為美國空軍設計了F-1發動機，

but after the Air Force couldn't find a use for such a powerful engine,

但在空軍發現這款強悍發動機無用武之地後，

development was stopped until NASA came along. 片語動詞

開發工作就被叫停了，直到NASA接手。

In June 1962,

1962年6月，

Rocketdyne were ready to perform a long-duration test of the F-1 engine.

洛克達因準備對F-1發動機進行一次長時間測試。

But as the engine ignited and the turbopumps spooled up, 片語動詞

但隨著發動機點火和渦輪泵加速，

the test came to a catastrophic end when the engine exploded.

發動機發生了爆炸，測試以災難告終。

It took several more explosive tests

隨後又經歷了多次爆炸性的測試，

before the engineers finally found what was going wrong, 文法

工程師們才終於找到了癥結所在，

combustion instability. 用詞

即「燃燒不穩定性」。

This is where the propellants in the thrust chamber burn unevenly 文法

這種情況指的是推力室中的推進劑燃燒不均勻，

and cause enormous pressure swings inside the chamber.

在燃燒室內引發了巨大的壓力波動。

As one area of the chamber fills with more oxygen,

當燃燒室的某處充入了更多氧氣時，

it produces more heat,

就會產生更多熱量，

which pushes the flame around in the thrust chamber.

從而在推力室內將火焰推來推去。

The reason this was so catastrophic in the F-1 engine is because these pressure swings were happening 2,000 times a second, 文法

在F-1發動機中這之所以如此致命，是因為這種壓力波動每秒發生2000次，

enough to completely rip apart the engine. 片語動詞

足以將發動機徹底撕碎。

At this point,

此時，

the Apollo program was well underway and NASA needed a fully capable engine for the first crewed flights, 片語搭配

阿波羅計畫正在全速推進，NASA需要一台功能完備的發動機用於首批載人飛行，

which were just a few years away.

距離飛行只剩短短幾年時間。

But since an engine of this scale had never been made before, 文法

但由於這種規模的發動機前所未有，

the solution to this problem wasn't going to be obvious.

解決這個問題的方法絕非顯而易見。

Engineers started to focus on the injector plate,

工程師們開始將焦點轉向噴注器面板，

which feeds the fuel and oxidizer into the thrust chamber. 片語搭配

它是負責將燃料和氧化劑送入推力室的部件。

The original design was a single large plate with multiple injection holes.

最初的設計是一塊帶有多個噴射孔的大平板。

Although this was a common design,

儘管這是一種常見設計，

previous engines never suffered from instability

以往的發動機卻從未受不穩定性困擾，

since their thrust chambers were much smaller and the propellants were more contained.

因為它們的推力室要小得多，推進劑也更受束縛。

In order to solve this critical issue,

為了解決這個關鍵問題，

Rocketdyne engineers looked back to one of the very first rocket designs, 片語動詞

洛克達因的工程師回顧了最早的一款火箭設計：

the V-2 rocket. 文化背景

V-2火箭。

This rocket was developed by the Germans during the Second World War,

這款火箭是德國人在二戰期間開發的，

but it contained the perfect solution to fix the F-1 engine.

但它包含了修復F-1發動機的完美方案。

Instead of a single flat injector plate,

V-2沒有採用單一扁平的噴注器面板，

the V-2 featured several different nozzles,

而是配備了幾個不同的噴嘴，

which separated the combustion into different streams.

將燃燒分成了不同的流束。

The engineers believed that the more controlled sections in the V-2 engine

工程師們相信，V-2發動機中更可控的分區

eliminated the possibility of combustion instability.

消除了燃燒不穩定性的可能。

In order to translate this theory onto the enormous F-1 engine

為了將這一理論應用到龐大的F-1發動機上

without a complete redesign,

且無需徹底重新設計，

engineers added a series of baffles to the injector plate 用詞

工程師們在噴注器面板上加裝了一系列擋板，

to split the combustion up into different zones. 片語動詞

以便將燃燒分割成不同的區域。

After experimenting with many variations of baffle designs,

在試驗了多種擋板設計的變體後，

the engineers came across a layout which seemed to stabilize the combustion. 講解

工程師們發現了一種似乎能穩定燃燒的佈局。

The new design was put to the test, 慣用語

新設計被投入測試，

and sure enough, 表達脈絡

果不其然，

the engine executed a flawless burn. 用詞

發動機實現了完美的燃燒。

But the engineers weren't convinced that the problem was fully fixed. 語氣意圖

但工程師們並不確信問題已被徹底解決。

Many worried that once the engine was in flight,

許多人擔心一旦發動機處於飛行狀態，

the extra forces and vibrations

額外的受力和振動

could reintroduce instability back into the engine.

可能會將不穩定性再次引入發動機。

So, in order to fully test the new design,

因此，為了對新設計進行充分測試，

NASA placed a small bomb in the center of the injector plate

NASA在噴注器面板中央放置了一枚小炸彈，

and set it off as soon as the engine fired up. 片語動詞

並在發動機點火的同時將其引爆。

The idea was that a small explosion within the engine 表達脈絡

這樣做的目的是，發動機內部的微小爆炸

could create an enormous amount of instability,

能製造出極大的不穩定性，

far greater than the engine would naturally receive.

遠超發動機在自然狀態下承受的程度。

When the bomb went off,

炸彈爆炸後，

the flame inside the engine became completely unstable.

發動機內部的火焰變得極其不穩定。

But almost instantly,

但幾乎就在瞬間，

the baffles on the injector plate started to dampen the pressure swings 用詞

噴注器面板上的擋板開始抑制壓力波動，

and the combustion became stable again.

燃燒又重新穩定了下來。

NASA performed multiple explosive tests

NASA進行了多次爆炸測試，

in order to make sure that the combustion instability had gone.

以確保燃燒不穩定性已經消失。

From the first Saturn V launch to the last, 表達脈絡

從第一枚農神五號發射到最後一枚，

65 F-1 engines propelled multiple astronauts into space

65台F-1發動機將多名太空人送入太空，

without any instability problems.

沒有發生任何不穩定性問題。

Looking back to a time when rocket engines were designed using slide rules, 講解

回顧那個使用計算尺設計火箭發動機的時代，

the ingenuity that was required to overcome these monumental challenges is spectacular.

克服這些巨大挑戰所展現出的獨創性令人驚嘆。

And although we have yet to return to the Moon, 文法

儘管我們尚未重返月球，

we can appreciate the incredible genius and dedication

但我們依然能感激為了實現甘迺迪的目標

that went into achieving Kennedy's goal. 片語動詞

而投入的非凡智慧與奉獻。

Thank you very much for watching

非常感謝您的觀看，

and I'll see you in the next video.

我們下期影片再見。