美国国家公共电台 NPR--NASA officials say its asteroid defense test was a success

NASA officials say its asteroid¹ defense² test was a success

Transcript³

NASA says its mission to knock an asteroid off course — a test of planetary defense — succeeded beyond its expectations.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

NASA's mission to move an asteroid has apparently⁴ been an earth-shattering success.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LORI GLAZE⁵: For the first time ever, humanity has changed the orbit of a planetary body.

MARTINEZ: That's the space agency's Lori Glaze. As NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, the test proves there's at least one way to defend Earth from an incoming space rock.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE⁶: This was NASA's plan to save the world. Take a spaceship the size of a golf cart and smack⁷ it into an asteroid the size of an Egyptian pyramid at 14,000 miles an hour. Step one, steer⁸ the golf cart into the asteroid - not exactly easy. Both are moving really fast, and space is really big. But they did it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELENA ADAMS: We have impact.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And we have impact.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: And we did it.

BRUMFIEL: In late September, the little spacecraft known as DART⁹ splatted like a bug¹⁰ on the windshield of its target asteroid called Dimorphos. Dimorphos actually orbits a bigger asteroid called Didymos, which brings us to step two. Researchers had to figure out if the splat did anything, or in technical terms, did DART change the time it takes Dimorphos to go around Didymos? At yesterday's press conference, NASA scientists announced that they'd measured the change at around 32 minutes, which is good?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NANCY CHABOT: So a period change of 32 minutes is spectacular and exciting.

BRUMFIEL: Nancy Chabot is a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied¹¹ Physics Laboratory, where the mission is based. She says the change in time means the path of Dimorphos around Didymos also changed.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHABOT: Dimorphos just now orbits ever so slightly closer to Didymos than it used to previously¹².

BRUMFIEL: So job done; asteroid moved. Not that it really matters this time. Neither of these asteroids¹³ are on a collision course with Earth. But NASA's Lori Glaze says the space agency now wants to step up its search for asteroids that are because the sooner humanity finds them, the easier it will be to move them out of the way.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GLAZE: The more time we have for that little nudge, the better off we are.

BRUMFIEL: That's why NASA now wants to build a new space telescope just for asteroid hunting.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARDEN'S "EDEN")

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• 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。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 glaze   

v.因疲倦、疲劳等指眼睛变得呆滞，毫无表情

参考例句：

• Brush the glaze over the top and sides of the hot cake.在热蛋糕的顶上和周围刷上一层蛋浆。
• Tang three-color glaze horses are famous for their perfect design and realism.唐三彩上釉马以其造型精美和形态生动而著名。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

8 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

9 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

10 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

11 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

12 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

13 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。