2006年VOA标准英语-NASA Delays Launch of Pluto Space Probe fo

By Chris Simkins
Washington, DC
19 January 2006
 
watch Pluto¹ Mission report

The U.S. space agency NASA delayed the launch Wednesday of a rocket carrying a probe that will study the planet Pluto and its surroundings. VOA's Chris Simkins reports on the mission and the reason for the delays.

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New Horizons probe atop its launch vehicle at Kennedy Space Center   
  

NASA's New Horizons probe, sitting atop a Atlas² rocket remained on the launch pad Wednesday after flight engineers canceled the schedule launch for a second day. NASA says a control center that manages the mission lost power and the situation was unable to be resolved so the countdown to the launch could resume. High winds at the Cape³ Canaveral, Florida site forced NASA to scrub the launch on Tuesday.

When the mission gets going the spacecraft will embark⁴ on a nine year voyage to the planet Pluto.

The unmanned probe, which is the size of a piano, will conduct fly-by studies of Pluto and its primary moon, Charon. Using seven scientific instruments, New Horizons will gather information about the two bodies' surface, geology and the atmosphere. Data from the space probe will be transmitted back to Earth.

Pluto is the last known plant in the solar system to be explored in part because it is some five billion kilometers from earth.

Alan Sternis, Principal Investigator⁵ for the mission, says the space probe can provide researchers with a wealth of new information about the far reaches of the solar system, areas known as the Kuiper Belt.

"It's the history of planetary exploration that nature always rewards us by getting a close up view. And we have never been to this exotica of the Kuiper Belt before. I think we're going to learn a great deal with how the solar system formed, about the bombardment history of the solar system, about how double planets work, about how rapidly escaping atmospheres work. There's so many presents inside the bag that I don't know where we're going to begin."

Pluto was discovered by an American astronomer⁶ in 1930. But its only in the last 10 years that scientists realized Pluto may hold many clues as to how the solar system was formed. Scientists say when the New Horizons spacecraft reaches Pluto by 2015 it will literally⁷ and figuratively take planetary exploration farther than ever before.

1 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

2 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

3 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。

4 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

5 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。