VOA慢速英语2016--NASA发现丢失的宇宙飞船

AS IT IS 2016-08-26 NASA Finds ‘Lost’ Spacecraft NASA发现丢失的宇宙飞船

The American space agency, NASA says it has again made contact with a spacecraft studying the sun and space weather.

NASA said it lost contact with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories¹, also known as the STEREO-B spacecraft, two years ago.

Communications with the spacecraft were lost after NASA attempted to try to prevent overheating of the spaceship’s antenna².

The space agency said contact with STEREO-B was restored last week.

NASA has another spacecraft that is nearly identical to STEREO-B called STEREO-A. It also was launched in 2006 to study the sun and space weather. STEREO-A is working normally.

NASA said it will now test STEREO-B to see if the spacecraft’s instruments and sensors³ are operating correctly.

Both spacecraft are located on the other side of the sun from earth.

NASA says they have added to the understanding of how the sun works. The ships have studied the sun’s gasses, wind, particles and its atmosphere.

Words in This Story

spacecraft – n. a vehicle that is used for travel in outer space

overheating – v. becoming too hot

antenna – n. a device such as a wire or a metal rod for sending or receiving radio or television signals

sensors –n. a device that detects or senses heat, light, sound or motion and then reacts to it in a particular way

1 observatories   

n.天文台，气象台( observatory的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• John Heilbron, The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories, 3-23. 约翰．海耳布隆，《教会里的太阳：教堂即太阳观测台》，第3-23页。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists use satellites, land observatories and historical data to provide information about the weather. 气象学家使用卫星、上天文台和历史资料来提供有关天气的信息。 来自互联网

2 antenna   

n.触角，触须；天线

参考例句：

• The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
• In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里，每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。

3 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句