时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2017年VOA慢速英语(五)月


英语课

 


A new airplane may soon be able to travel into space at more than five times the speed of sound.


The Defense 1 Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced last Wednesday that a project by the aerospace 2 company Boeing was making progress. DARPA said Boeing will “complete advanced design work” for an experimental space plane.


DARPA is an agency in the United State Department of Defense. It creates new technology for the American military.


The experimental spaceplane is called the XS-1, or the ‘Phantom 3 Express.’ It would operate without a human pilot.


The goal of the project is make it easier to reach low earth orbit, between 160 and 2,000 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.


For example, the spaceplane could be used to launch a satellite very quickly. Currently, a lost military or commercial satellite might take months to replace.


By 2020, the project could make it possible to launch one of the XS-1 vehicles 10 times within 10 days.


Jess Sponable is the DARPA program manager. In a press release, she said DARPA was pleased with Boeing’s earlier work on the project. She added the Phantom Express spaceplane would reduce the cost of space launches to one tenth of their current levels and would make them possible “on demand.”


“The XS-1 would be neither a traditional airplane nor a [normal] launch vehicle, but rather a combination of the two,” said Sponable.


DARPA reports that the Phantom Express will be about the size and weight of a business jet. Instead of using rockets to launch, it will use self-contained, super cold fuel.


Right before reaching outer space, the plane would launch a smaller rocket . This would be able to lift a satellite weighing up to 1,360 kilograms into low Earth orbit.


The XS-1 would then return to Earth, landing like a normal plane. DARPA said the plane could then possibly be reused “within hours.”


The Phantom Express could fly as a fast as Mach 10, or ten times the speed of sound, DARPA said.


But the XS-1 is still years away from completion. DAPRA reported testing of the plane’s engines on the ground is not planned to start until 2019.


Words in This Story


aerospace – adj. related to the development of airplanes and spacecraft


advanced – adj. not basic, well developed, using new methods


commercial – adj. related to the buying or selling of goods


jet – n. a fast airplane that has one or more jet engines



1 defense
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
2 aerospace
adj.航空的,宇宙航行的
  • The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
  • Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。
3 phantom
n.幻影,虚位,幽灵;adj.错觉的,幻影的,幽灵的
  • I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她,好像她是一个幽灵。
  • He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。
标签: VOA慢速英语
学英语单词
agt.
amissive
antihijack
arched-back nursing (abn)
automatic water level recorder
Beckenausgang
biopesticidal
camfering
cancer pain
Captain William Bligh
cernuda
Chaetangiaceae
chemical conditioning
colovesical
computer integrated
continuous wall method
Cytolex(MSI-78)
Dardanelle, Lake
disk file assignment table
endres
equipment under test
equivalent source e.m.f.
failsoft
fibroplasia
genus Corylus
Global Patient Movement Requirements Center
granular kidney
gum-elastic catheter
Hiace
HLAC
hobbing method
Hopkins County
hypersomniac
in alliance with
inertial axis
insolidity
international court of justices
jinsiyya
karter
kingdoms of norway
kyung
Laruellian
louise
malar flush
maximum developed pressure
misconceivers
mitotic activity
modification message (chg)
montes apenninus
Muhammat
mushroomers
mutilate
necked out
nidiot
night letters
nitric acid dissolution
nitrocellulose emulsion
nitsky
non use
oil vapor pump
old and unequal international economic order
Pentanema vestitum
philosopher-scientist
Platyventroceras
pluvialis fulva
primogony
principal coil
Prolidon
propyl caprylate
psychoreflex
rabigenic
redesigning
representative
roll-over credit
Rubik's cube
rural town
safe-custody
saframycin
saved area description entry
seed treating machine
share-pushings
Simon poplar
sissonne
solubilizing mechanism
spent-fuel storage
spot checked
strategic airborne operation
Tan Phuoc
Tanjungpandan
tape controlled recording equipment
thermistis taiwanensis
three-arm clasp
through palletization system
topless meeting
trial-and-error method
trichopterigia kishidai
Tricomoniasis
uncommitted unit
unliquidating
unlocking rail
wannier exciton
Yoshisuke