2004-12-28
VOICE ONE:
I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program
EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about some of the major space stories of
the past year. We begin with the landing of two American vehicles
that were sent to explore the surface of the planet Mars.
VOICE ONE:
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| A picture taken by Mars Rover Spirit. (Picture - NASA_ |
On January third, two thousand
four, the United States successfully landed the first of two
exploration vehicles on Mars. The device is named "Spirit." It
landed safely on target in an area of Mars called the Gusev Crater.
Exactly three weeks later, a similar exploration rover named
"Opportunity" landed almost half way around the planet in an area
called Meridiani Planum.
Both vehicles began sending back exciting information. The
information included extremely good photographs. NASA officials
announced that anyone who could link with the Internet
communications system could see the new photographs taken by the
rovers.
VOICE TWO:
Very quickly, millions of people began linking with NASA to see
the photographs. NASA announced a new record. On February
nineteenth, NASA reported it had received more than six thousand
million "hits" to its Internet Web site. A hit is recorded for every
piece of information a computer user receives from a Web site. All
of these hits were to see the NASA photographs taken by the two Mars
exploration vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity.
On March third, scientists at the American space agency's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California again received
exciting news from Mars. Opportunity had sent back good evidence
that liquid water once was an important part of the environment of
Mars. Earlier this month, both Spirit and Opportunity sent back more
evidence of water on Mars. One scientist said it was the best
evidence of water yet received from the rovers.
NASA scientists have said the evidence of water suggests that
life may have once been possible on the Red Planet.
VOICE ONE:
Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers continue to send back
valuable information. They have done so for almost one year now.
That is well past the planned working life NASA scientists expected
of the two rovers. Spirit has had some problems with its right front
wheel. NASA experts have solved this problem by driving the rover
backwards and not using that wheel.
Opportunity also continues to send back huge amounts of
information about the surface of Mars. NASA officials say
Opportunity continues to work as well now as it did the day it
landed on the Red Planet.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
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| Saturn as seen by Cassini. (Picture - NASA) |
On July first, the Cassini-Huygens
(HOY-guns) spacecraft arrived at the planet Saturn. It flew into
orbit from below the famous rings that circle the planet. It reached
Saturn after almost seven years. It had traveled more than three
thousand million kilometers through space.
It did not take long for Cassini to start making discoveries.
Cassini took photographs of Saturn's giant moon Titan in its first
few days of orbit. These photographs provided details of Titan's
surface that had never been seen before.
NASA officials said the photographs showed Titan has a thick
atmosphere that usually looks white in photographs. However Cassini
has special cameras that can see though the giant moon's atmosphere
to study the surface. These photographs show very unusual features.
NASA officials said it will take a great deal of study to understand
the surface of Titan.
VOICE ONE:
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| Titan is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. (Picture - NASA) |
The study of Titan is one of the
major goals of the Cassini-Huygens flight. The exploration of Titan
is exciting for many scientists. Titan is very large -- even larger
than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Scientists are very interested
in Titan because it is the only known moon in our solar system to
have an atmosphere.
Plans call for Cassini to make more than seventy orbits around
Saturn. Forty-five of these will include passing close to Titan.
On December twenty-fourth, the Huygens part of the
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft separated from the larger spacecraft. The
Huygens instrument is expected to enter the atmosphere of Titan on
January fourteenth.It will descend to the surface of the huge moon
by parachute.
NASA scientists hope the Huygens instrument will provide more
information about Titan.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
On April twenty-first, a Russian Soyuz Eight space vehicle linked
up with the International Space Station. The Soyuz space vehicle
delivered Commander Gennady Padalka and Science Officer Mike Fincke.
They became the ninth International Space Station Crew.
For six months, the two men lived and worked on the International
Space Station. Science Officer Fincke completed one hundred percent
of the twenty-four research experiments that had been planned for
his stay on the station.
VOICE ONE:
During their mission, Cosmonaut Padalka and Astronaut Fincke
received two Russian Progress cargo supply ships. They also left the
safety of the station four times to work in space. Their work in
space included gathering test materials that had been in space for
more than two years.
They placed radio equipment and new navigation equipment needed
for the arrival of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle next
year. The unmanned space vehicle will carry equipment and supplies
from Earth to the International Space Station.
VOICE TWO:
International Space Station Crew number ten arrived in October a
few days before Commander Padalka and Science Officer Fincke
returned to Earth. They are American Commander Leroy Chiao and
Russian Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov. They are to prepare the
space station for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle to visit
the station since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Not all of the news from space during the past year was good
news. On September eighth, a spacecraft named Genesis entered
Earth's atmosphere high above the Western United States.
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| Genesis crashed into the ground leaving a hole. (Picture - NASA) |
It was traveling at speeds of more
than eleven kilometers a second. The spacecraft was supposed to
deploy a parachute at almost thirty kilometers above the surface of
the Earth. The device failed and the parachute was not deployed. The
two hundred sixty million dollar spacecraft crashed in the desert in
the state of Utah. It hit the ground at a speed of more than three
hundred kilometers an hour. It hit so hard that it buried itself
half underground.
The Genesis spacecraft had been in an orbit almost one and one
half million kilometers from the Earth for the past three years. Its
purpose was to collect extremely small pieces of material from the
Sun. Some of the material weighs no more than a few grains of salt.
VOICE TWO:
At first, scientists who were working with Genesis believed it
had been destroyed in the crash. However, in October they reported
finding a large amount of material within the Genesis scientific
collectors.
This material was gathered from deep space. The NASA Genesis team
says the material will provide information about the beginning and
development of our solar system.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
On December eighth, NASA completed placing the three main engines
in the Space Shuttle Discovery. The work was completed at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in the state of Florida.
NASA is preparing the shuttle Discovery for its Return to Flight
program. Plans call for Discovery to be ready for launch in May, two
thousand five.
Discovery and its seven-person crew will fly to the International
Space Station. One of the main tasks for the crew will be to test
new flight safety plans.
These tests will include inspecting the space shuttle and testing
methods to repair possible damage. The new safety measures were the
result of the accident that destroyed the Space Shuttle Columbia and
its crew on February first, two thousand three. That accident was
caused by safety problems and damage to the Columbia during its
launch.
VOICE TWO:
NASA officials say returning the Space Shuttle Discovery to
flight is the first step in renewing human exploration of space.
NASA hopes the flight of Discovery will be the first of many
attempts to reach new exploration goals. Two of these goals are
returning to the Moon and flying humans to the surface of Mars and
returning them safely.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by
Mario Ritter. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another
EXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.