VOA慢速英語：保護宇航員和宇宙飛船免撞塵埃

Our Milky Way solar system began as small pieces ofstar-created gas and dust. They came together to formthe Sun, the Earth and other planets, and life as weknow it. But not all the dust was used, and whatremains can be dangerous.

銀河系剛開始只是由星球制造的氣體和塵埃組成的小塊星系。這些氣體和塵埃組合到一起組成太陽、地球、其它星球和我們所認知的生命。但是并不是所有的塵埃都會用完，留下的塵埃就很危險。

Scientists are studying this dust with a student-designed instrument on the American space agency’sNew Horizons spacecraft. The agency is busycollecting information from the spacecraft this week in the first-ever flyby of Pluto.

科學家利用美國航天局里的由學生制造的“新視野”宇宙飛船研究這些塵埃。這周宇宙飛船首次靠近冥王星，因此航天局正忙于從宇宙飛船收集信息。

David James is a research assistant at the University of Colorado. Ourreporter found him in one of the university’s laboratories on a recent day. He was inspecting the settings on a room-size machine.

大衛·詹姆斯是科羅拉多大學的一位調查助理。我們的記者最近在大學里的一間實驗室里發現了他。他正在有一間屋子大的機器里檢測裝置。

“That’s one of the cryopumps. You have to continuously pull air out otherwiseit will leak up to the atmosphere again”

這是其中一臺低溫泵。你必須一直將空氣擠壓出來，否則它就會再露空氣。

Those pumps take air from a tunnel or passageway. The process helpsscientists make dust on Earth move as fast as it would in space.

這些泵通過通道將空氣擠壓出去。整個過程幫助科學家在地球上將塵?？焖僖苿?，和在太空中一樣快。

“We’ve even reached 107 kilometers per second is our fastest particle here.”

我們甚至達到分子最快移動速度為每秒107公里。

The tests may help scientists learn what causes dust to be created in space. It may also help them design spacecraft and equipment that cannot be hurt bydust.

這項實驗可能幫助科學家們了解太空中塵埃的由來，也可能會幫助他們設計免受塵埃碰撞的宇宙飛船和裝備。

David James says he became interested in space more than 10 years agowhen he was studying physics in graduate school. A friend told him about theStudent Dust Counter project.

大衛·詹姆斯說10年前他在大學學習物理時就對太空感興趣。他的一位朋友告訴他這個“抗塵埃學生工程”。

he said ‘I’m working on this project that’s really neat. It has a lot of real-world applications and, you know, it’s eventually going to be launched intospace.’”

他說，我現在工作的這項項目真的很酷，它有許多存在于現實世界的裝置，這些裝置最后是要被發往太空的。

iffany Finley was also a graduate student when she began working on thedust counter project, in 2002.

蒂芙尼·芬利同樣是名大學生，她在2002年開始在這個項目上工作。

“This opportunity came up and I said ‘What? You’re going to Pluto? I wouldlove to be part of that.’”

“當這次機會來臨時，我說‘什么？’你要去冥王星？我很高興成為其中一員。”

The dust counter was designed to measure and count the dust that hit andflew by the New Horizons spacecraft as it traveled to Pluto. Tiffany Finley sayssuch a device would usually be created by experts.

設計抗塵埃項目是為了新視野宇宙飛船飛往冥王星時衡量和避免受到塵埃撞擊。芬利說這樣的裝置通常是由專家制造的。

“As a student project, it’s one of the first where students actually got to buildthe hardware on the mission.”

作為一個學生項目，這是學生首次真正為執行任務的飛船建造裝置。

She later became the manager of the dust project. Today, Ms. Finley is theScience Operations Manager for the New Horizons mission.

后來芬利成為該項目經理。芬利如今是新視野任務的科研運作經理。

Mihaly Horanyi is a professor of physics at the University of Colorado. He alsoserves as the faculty advisor for the Student Dust Counter project. He saysthe counter did not cost as much money as it would have if a company built itbecause so many students were involved. More than 30 students haveworked on the project.

米哈里是科羅拉多大學的物理學教授，同時也是抗塵埃學生項目的技術顧問。他表示如果一個公司建立該項目花不了多少錢，因為有好多學生參加。現在有30多名學生參與其中。

The Student Dust Counter was launched with the New Horizons spacecraft in 2006. Six devices on the almost 5-billion-kilometer-long journey were designedto stay quiet during the trip. Now they are operating. They are sending colorpictures back to Earth, and studying Pluto’s chemical makeup. But theStudent Dust Counter has been operating throughout the trip.

抗塵埃學生項目和新視野宇宙飛船在2006年建立。在長達五百萬公里的飛行中六個裝備靜止不動，現在它們開始運作了。它們向地球發回彩色圖片，研究冥王星的化學組成。但是抗塵埃學生工程在整個旅途中一直運作。

Professor Horanyi says dust counters help researchers better understandspace dust, including the problems it may cause for space travelers. Even thesmallest particles of dust can be harmful.

米哈里教授稱這個項目幫助研究者更好地理解宇宙塵埃，包括對宇航員造成的潛在的問題。即使是最小的顆粒也是危險的。

“Hundred-micron-size particles, like that thickness of your hair, if they were tohit the spacecraft at 10, 15 kilometers per sec(ond), that’s an end of missionevent. It’s over. It would puncture a hole. It would destroy the mission.”

像頭發絲一樣厚度的幾百微米的顆粒如果以每秒10或15公里的速度撞擊宇宙飛船，那么這項任務也就中止了。它能將飛船撞出一個洞，破壞整個任務。

After a planned five-month-long exploration of Pluto, most scientificinstruments on New Horizon will stop operating. But the spacecraft itself willcontinue flying past the edge of our solar system, and the Student DustCounter will keep on counting.

經過對冥王星近五個多月的探索。新視野上的許多科學儀器停止了工作。但是飛船仍在我們得星系邊緣轉動，抗塵埃學生工程一直在運作。

I’m Jim Tedder.

Shelley Schlender reported this story from Boulder, Colorado. ChristopherJones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

solar system – n. the sun and everything that moves around it

neat– (informal) adj. pleasant, fun or interesting

real-world application(s) – n. something that can be used in life rather thanonly in theory or in a laboratory

hardware– n. computer equipment

sec(ond) –n. a unit of time that is equal to 1/60th of a minute

puncture– v. to make a hole in (something) with a sharp point