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Hypersonic flight
高超聲速飛行
The rockets' green glare
火箭的綠色光芒
A new fuel for jets and missiles is on the cards
一種用于飛機和導彈的新型燃料即將問世
The latest buzzword in the world's aerospace skunk works is "hypersonic". Speed and surprise have always been essential to warfare, and what better way to wrong-foot an enemy than by arriving unexpectedly on his doorstep in the form of an aircraft or missile travelling at Mach 5
世界航空臭鼬工廠的最新流行詞是“高超音速”。速度和出其不意一直是戰爭的關鍵，還有什么比以5馬赫的速度出人意料地以飛機或導彈的形式出現在敵人家門口更能讓敵人措手不及的呢？
In that context, a notice posted at the beginning of the year by America's navy, soliciting proposals for a new research project, is intriguing. The project's objective is to "determine a form of boron or a boron-based chemical pathway that leads to implementation of boron in energetic compounds, especially fuels (solid and liquid)". The navy's engineers, it seems, are trying to revive an idea that might make hypersonic flight easier to achieve, but which was tested and then abandoned more than half a century ago. They hope to spice up aviation and rocket fuel with a long-neglected element.
在這樣的背景下，今年年初美國海軍發布的征求新研究項目建議的公告耐人尋味。該項目的目標是“確定一種硼的形式或一種基于硼的化學途徑，使硼在高能化合物，特別是燃料(固體和液體)中得以實現”。看來，美國海軍的工程師們正試圖復興一種可能讓高超音速飛行更容易實現的想法，但這種想法在半個多世紀前經過了測試，然后被放棄了。他們希望在航空和火箭燃料中加入一個長期被忽視的元素。
Boron, atomic number five on the periodic table, is chemically a "metalloid"— meaning that it inhabits the debatable marcher lands between the empires of the metals proper, on the table's left-hand side, and the non-metals, on its right. Compounds of boron feature in washing powders and cleaning products ("borax"), antiseptics and water softeners, and also as additives in fibreglass, but such roles are humdrum. Boron does, though, burn like billy-o, generating a bright, green flame and releasing about 40% more energy per kilogram than conventional aviation fuel.
元素周期表上原子序數為5的硼，在化學上屬于“類金屬”——也就是說，它處在金屬帝國(在元素周期表的左邊)和非金屬帝國(在元素周期表的右邊)之間的爭議地帶。硼化合物用在洗衣粉和清潔產品(“硼砂”)、防腐劑和水軟化劑中，也可作為添加劑的玻璃纖維，但這些作用是單調的。不過硼確實可以快速燃燒，產生明亮的綠色火焰，每千克要比傳統航空燃料多釋放約40%的能量。
In light of this, and of reports by spies of green flames emerging from the exhaust of an experimental Soviet rocket, America's air force experimented in the 1950s with stuff nicknamed zip fuel, which was laced with compounds of boron called boranes. The project was abandoned in 1959, for two good reasons. First, boranes proved extremely dangerous. They are toxic, meaning those working with them need special gas masks. They also ignite spontaneously in air, and may even explode. At least eight people involved in the zip-fuel project died in borane-related accidents.
鑒于此，還有間諜們的報告，他們發現蘇聯實驗性火箭的排氣口冒出了綠色的火焰，美國空軍在20世紀50年代試驗了一種叫做拉鏈燃料(高型能的飛機燃料)的東西，這種燃料含有硼烷的化合物。該項目于1959年被放棄，原因有二。首先，硼烷被證明是極其危險的，它們是有毒的，這意味著工作人員需要特殊的防毒面具。它們也會在空氣中自燃，甚至會爆炸。至少有八名參與拉鏈燃料項目的人死于硼烷相關事故。
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