美国国家公共电台 NPR NASA's Other Asteroid Mission: Grab A Chunk And Put It In Orbit Around The Moon

NASA's Other Asteroid¹ Mission: Grab A Chunk² And Put It In Orbit Around The Moon

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:02repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser³ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

A NASA spacecraft is on its way to an asteroid. The robotic probe launched yesterday and will collect a bit of dirt from the asteroid and bring it back to Earth. This isn't the only asteroid mission the space agency has in the works. NASA also wants to send astronauts up to study an asteroid. And NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports that the human mission has a lot of critics.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE⁴: The idea of visiting an asteroid goes back to 2010. President Obama went to Kennedy Space Center and announced he wanted astronauts to go out beyond the moon and ultimately to Mars.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Trouble is, flying people to an asteroid turned out to be really hard. The trip would take months. So NASA settled on a slightly different plan - send a robot out to retrieve⁵ an asteroid and bring it over to the moon. That way the astronauts could study it in lunar orbit.

MARCIA SMITH: It wasn't sending people to an asteroid; it was bringing an asteroid to people. But you were still demonstrating some of the technologies that NASA wanted to demonstrate as part of its long-term goal of sending humans to Mars.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Marcia Smith is a space policy analyst⁶ and consultant⁷. She says the original so-called asteroid redirect mission also proved to be daunting⁸. It was difficult to find a small asteroid to target.

SMITH: They ultimately made the decision to not move an entire asteroid, but just pluck a boulder⁹ from the asteroid surface and bring the boulder to the astronauts. So that is the current plan.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Having a robot go out tens of millions of miles, grab a multi-ton, car-sized boulder and then drag it to the moon, plus sending people up to study this rock will cost something like $2 billion. Smith says a lot of people are asking this question.

SMITH: If your long-term goal is to go to Mars, do you need to spend $2 billion doing this mission, or can you spend it better doing other things?

GREENFIELDBOYCE: NASA says this is worth the money. Michele Gates is NASA's program director for the mission. She says, when a crew flies up to the captured boulder in the mid-2020s, it will be a significant advance.

MICHELE GATES: It'll be the first time we've brought humans back to the lunar vicinity. They'll actually be 50,000 miles past the surface of the moon - farther than people have ever been before.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: And, Gates says, the mission will use a new kind of solar-electric propulsion.

GATES: This technology that we'll be demonstrating is truly a leap from where we currently are and a significant step and contribution to what we'll need for deeper-space human missions.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: But others say, if you just sat down and tried to chart a path forward to Mars, it's hard to imagine that you'd include capturing part of an asteroid. Leroy Chiao is a former astronaut who works with NASA's Advisory¹⁰ Council. He says, if he was still part of the astronaut corps¹¹, he would be psyched to fly around the moon.

LEROY CHIAO: And if there happened to be an asteroid there that we can fly in formation with or, you know, a boulder, that's fine. But I'd be just as happy not flying in formation with a boulder (laughter).

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Given that NASA's stated goal is to get to Mars in the 2030s, he just doesn't see the point of this.

CHIAO: On a technical level, I don't think it's worth doing. But in order to satisfy the president and the White House administration's desire to do something with an asteroid, this, I think - I believe this is what NASA figured out they might be able to afford.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says this asteroid mission is a product of budget constraints¹² and politics. He personally thinks we'd learn a lot more about how to explore Mars if we did something like set up a moon base to test out habitats and rovers and space suits.

CHIAO: But frankly¹³, you know, the moon was perceived as President Bush's program, so I don't think that was really a starter, politically.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: It's the next president, along with Congress, who will have to decide where astronauts should go next - whether NASA should still boldly go to a piece of an asteroid or do something else. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

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 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 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。

5 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

9 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

10 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

11 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

13 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。