VOA慢速英语2018 美国宇航局:私人公司即将登月（在线收听）

NASA: Private Companies to Make Next Moon Landing

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, has announced that private companies will make America’s next moon landing.

美国宇航局宣布私营公司将完成美国的下一次登月。

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Thursday that nine American companies will compete to carry experiments to the surface of the moon.

美国宇航局局长吉姆·布里登斯汀（Jim Bridenstine）周四表示，9家美国公司将竞标来执行月球表面的实验任务。

“(The) announcement marks tangible progress in America’s return to the Moon’s surface to stay,” Bridenstine said.

布里登斯汀表示：“这标志着美国重返月球表面的实质性进展。”

The space agency said in a statement the goal is to bring many science and technology experiments to the moon as soon as possible. The first such flight could come as early as next year.

美国宇航局在声明中表示，其目标是尽快将众多科技实验带到月球上，最早可能会在明年启动这样的航天飞行任务。

In 2019, NASA and people across the United States will mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. The last time humans visited the moon was in 1972, during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission.

2019年，美国宇航局和美国人民将会迎来首次载人登月50周年。人类最后一次登月是1972年美国宇航局的阿波罗17号任务期间。

NASA officials say the goal of the planned spaceflight is to transport equipment for performing experiments and collecting information about the moon. Some of the companies are expected to develop small launch vehicles or robotic rovers to explore its surface.

美国宇航局官员表示，计划中的航天飞行的目标是运送实验设备并收集有关月球的信息。预计一些公司将会开发小型运载火箭或机器人漫游车以探索月球表面。

The research is meant to help get astronauts back to the moon more quickly and keep them safer once they arrive.

这项研究旨在帮助宇航员更快重返月球，并确保他们登月后更加安全。

Thomas Zurbuchen is head of NASA’s science mission directorate, which leads the new flight efforts. “We’re going at high speed,” he said.

托马斯·左布臣（ Thomas Zurbuchen）是美国宇航局科学任务理事会的负责人，该部门负责这次新的飞行任务。他说：“我们进展神速。”

The space agency says it will award a total of $2.6 billion to private businesses for the moon effort over the next 10 years. Bridenstine said that NASA wants a lot of companies involved to strengthen competition. He also said he expects to have people regularly working on the moon within 10 years.

美国宇航局称将在未来10年内为私营企业合计拨款26亿美元用于这次月球任务。布里登斯汀表示，美国宇航局希望众多公司参与以强化竞争。他还表示，期待10年内让人们在月球上常规工作。

The new partnership is modeled after another NASA program that uses private companies to transport supplies to the International Space Station, or ISS. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman have made ISS shipments since 2012. SpaceX and Boeing are planning to start transporting astronauts to the space station sometime next year.

这一新的伙伴关系是仿照美国宇航局向国际空间站运送物资的项目。SpaceX公司和诺斯洛普格鲁曼公司自2012年以来已经开始为国际空间站运送物资。SpaceX公司和波音公司计划在明年某个时候开始将宇航员送到国际空间站。

NASA has said it expects work on a new space station laboratory to start as soon as 2022. The new space station would orbit the moon. But it is also expected to serve as a launching point for missions to other parts of the solar system, including the planet Mars.

美国宇航局表示，预计最早将在2022年启动新空间站实验室的工作。新的空间站将会围绕月球运行，但它也有望成为包括火星在内的太阳系其它星球任务的发射点。

The announcement on future moon flights came just three days after NASA successfully landed its InSight spacecraft on Mars. The InSight lander was built by Lockheed Martin, a private U.S. company. The lander is designed to explore under the surface, studying the geology of the planet and seeking signs of Martian earthquakes.

美国宇航局在洞察号宇宙飞船成功登陆火星仅仅三天之后就宣布了未来的月球飞行任务。洞察号着陆器由美国私营企业洛克希德马丁公司建造。该着陆器旨在探索火星地下，研究火星地质并寻找火星地震的迹象。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

tangible – adj. something real that can be seen, touched or measured

rover – n. small vehicle that can move over rough ground, often used on the surface of other planets

regularly – adj. something done repeatedly or often

mission – n. a project or operation