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
andreas-salome
andromedin
as good as a play
Assad, Hafez al
average tater
axis of direct elasticity
Bronchoselectan
Broxoron
buried valley
capacitive coupling
card punch operator
center valve position
circumfetishist
colour telerecording
crystal rash
cynanchum sibiricum r. br.
Deca-Durabolin
desmot-ropism
dockets
ductless
East River
Eastman colour
edgebandings
eicke
El Divisadero
essential chorea
ethanedithioamide
fire foam
fluorobenzamide
fold-over noise
Forest-accountant
formular cost system
francesco redi
game ports
general-purpose automatic test system
glucuronoside
goddies
gravity feed cup
harbor service
high speed semantic net
Hinata
hollow shaft drive
horizontal guy
hot metal practice
hydatopneumatic deposit
impulse transmitter tube
isosceles right triangle
kourik
logical thinkings
long boom wharf crane
Lorenz Oken
loss of amenity
loster
MCBP
mcgarrett
Metachalcolite
million dollar man
Monosyl
mother truckers
national origin
ortho-terphenyl
oxidation reduction indicator
parental type
pelvic outlet
perseverate
phase wire
photo-electric paper tape reader
phylogenetic chart
pitch-line runout
polyalthia suberosa thwaits
positive afterimage
primary mycelium
profits prior to consolidation
psilomastax pyramidalis
public transport junction
pure mood
queenan
Rannoch, Strath
redele
relaxation of boundary condition
resident routine
risk of damage
riveted butt joint
routine maintenance
semireal time
signatus
sodium vapour
souffles
statistical probability
stepull
stroke type
stylet shaft
system frequency
throw ... weight behind
traiteurs
tribalists
trolley-bus
truck-mounted pile frame
uips
unweighted weight
vertical butt stroke
Yongul-li