时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(一月)


英语课

By David McAlary
Washington
15 January 2006
 

Tom Duxbury, Stardust Project Manager for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, answers questions during a news conference after the landing of the Stardust capsule  
  
A U.S. space capsule containing precious grains of star dust has landed intact in Utah, giving scientists the chance to study matter dating from the formation of our solar system.

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The landing ended a seven-year, 4.5 billion kilometer round trip journey halfway 1 to Jupiter, where the Stardust spacecraft captured material spewing from Comet Wild-2 as it melted during its approach toward the Sun.

Stardust released its cargo 2 Sunday, 110,000 kilometers above Earth. The capsule raced through the atmosphere faster than any spacecraft before. It came in at 45,000 kilometers per hour, before parachuting to a soft landing at a U.S. Army testing base in the Utah desert.

Stardust project manager Tom Duxbury says the entry and landing were flawless.

"This thing went like clockwork. It hit the atmosphere exactly on time," he said. "When we saw that drogue chute open, we knew we were home safe. So, then, the next thing was, of course, a little later, for our main chute opening, and this thing just gently lowered us to the surface of the Utah Test and Training Range."

A helicopter recovery team retrieved 3 the capsule, and brought it to a nearby sterile 4 room for safekeeping, before it is flown Tuesday to the U.S. space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Stardust's encounter with the comet took place in 2004, well within the solar system, but mission scientists say it was as if the spacecraft had journeyed to the solar system's edge and back, to the time 4.5-billion years ago, when the sun and planets formed. That is because comet orbits extend far beyond Pluto 5 and are believed to contain matter originally forged in stars that went into solar system construction.

"We're using this comet as a library that picked up records of the formation of our solar system, and has been storing them far from the Sun at very low temperatures for 4.5 billion years," added mission's principal investigator 6, Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington. He says the dust grains brought back to Earth can shed light on how our solar system came to be.

"We're learning about the origin of our solar system, the origin of the Sun, the origin of the planets, and something about the origin of life," he added. "Virtually all of the atoms in our bodies and in our Earth were in stardust grains, before the solar system formed."

The Stardust capsule contains hundreds of thousands of grains of matter captured in a wispy 7 glass filter, called aerogel. After the samples reach Houston Tuesday, the space agency will distribute them to scientists all over the world, who will analyze 8 their composition.



adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
  • The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
  • A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 );恢复;寻回;检索(储存的信息)
  • Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句
adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的
  • This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上,保持奶嘴无菌。
  • The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。
n.冥王星
  • Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
  • Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。
n.研究者,调查者,审查者
  • He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
  • The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。
adj.模糊的;纤细的
  • Grey wispy hair straggled down to her shoulders.稀疏的灰白头发披散在她肩头。
  • The half moon is hidden behind some wispy clouds.半轮月亮躲在淡淡的云彩之后。
vt.分析,解析 (=analyse)
  • We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
  • The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。
学英语单词
a thinker
aci-
againts
agricultural threshold temperature
Alloza
angle side bracket
arc welded pipe
Brachystemma calycinum
bradar
cab-tyre sheath
calcium bisulfate
candle Power
capacitive voltage divider
Casamance, Rég.de
Central London Railway
chartar
clay treating
cold-box core blower
common baterial blight of bean
creesh
cucumber
degassing of hydrogen
delivery of energy
earth bucket
effective exposure time
eight-team
ELF communication
emergency arrangements
feasible plan
feed water treatment
fight-back
food relationship
forgivable
fundamental duality theorem
Gloria in Excelsis (Deo)
glyoxylate bypass
halenesses
halls
Heteropanax brevipedicellatus
hypercorrected
impervious graphite
inferior anterior
initial orbit
instrumental azimuth
irreducible proof
jarosz
kinematic(al) variables
Kirenskiy Rayon
knights caligate
Laplace station
limitof elasticity in compression
liquid adsorption method
long - chain polymer
man-rad
marshy weeds
medellins
Mercamphoramidum
Microsoft Volume Licensing
microwave circuits
mkis
narc-
nondividing
nonlinear variation
opposite-field
p-base
paint remover
political views
pusher leg
PYDH
rectangular bloom
science and technology forecast
seamuss
secac
self-reports
semihydrogenation
septate parenchyma
set off at score
soil adversity resistance
SOMF
Sprucier
subroutine data area
swills
sympathicotonia
target gland
tea-ho
temperature deformation
temporary stopping
thonolan
three way jack
tmnt
to have an abhorrence of
token rotation timer (trt)
tree work
tricyclopentadienyl-butoxy-thorium
trimis
undivided profit
usatf
veneer peeling lathe
Welsh uncle
wooziest
worked off
zygomaticomaxillalry