密歇根新闻广播 未来的火箭发射场

 

Cape¹ Canaveral might have a bit of competition up here in the north. The Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport near Lake Huron is being considered as a spot for a horizontal rocket launch site. Stateside spoke² to Justin Kasper, a professor with the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, about how the site might be used and Michigan’s past and future place in the space industry.

What is a horizontal launch?

The sites where you see vertical³ launches, like those at Cape Canaveral, were chosen because of their proximity⁴ to the equator. That's because the spin of the earth gives whatever is being launched an extra push.

“There’s another way to launch a rocket, which is actually to put it on an airplane, have the airplane take it up to a high altitude, and then it launches when it’s above a lot of the atmosphere and the friction⁵ that the atmosphere has. That’s this horizontal launch you referred to. And so [Michigan] is as compelling a location as any. We’re starting to see a lot of different companies developing new rockets and new launch capabilities⁶ and Michigan wants to be a part of that.”

What makes Michigan an attractive place for a rocket launch site?

“You see these industries coming together to partner to look for supporting a launch site. We’re all keying off of a couple things: realizing that this is something a state can go after, realizing that, in particular, in the state of Michigan, you have a lot of highly-educated students coming out of the universities. You also have a lot of available physical space—industrial space that might have been used in the automotive industry that’s available now. That’s pretty amazing if you’re looking to start up a company.”

What role has Michigan played in the space industry?

“Some of the very first scientific payloads ever launched into earth’s upper atmosphere had their genesis at the University of Michigan. At the end of World War II, some leftover⁷ V2 rockets that were recovered from Germany were used for scientific applications, and the University of Michigan got in at the very beginning in developing some experiments that measured the composition of Earth’s upper atmosphere, its temperature and pressure. So different scientists and engineers just within the university system have been developing payloads to explore the solar system, the planets, the sun from the very beginning of the space age."

Oscoda’s water has been tainted⁸ by PFAS from fire fighting foam⁹ used at the Wurtsmith Air Force base. What would an expanding space industry mean for the environment in Michigan?

“The good news is people are developing much cleaner and safer chemicals for launch than you would have seen used years ago, and in particular for these smaller satellites, which I’d expect to see would be the best opportunity for this horizontal launch. Gree

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

4 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

5 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

6 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

8 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。