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VOA常速英语:美国宇航局的MAVEN飞船到达

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NASA”sMAVENSpacecraftArrivesatMars

NASA’snewestMarsprobe,calledMAVEN,hassuccessfullyentered

itsdesignatedorbitaroundthe“redplanet.

“Scientistswilluitssophisticatedinstrumentstotryto

learnwhathappenedtotheatmosphereMarshadafewbillionyears

ago.

Aftera10-month,711-millionkilometerjourney,MAVEN’s

thrusterssloweditdowntoenterintoorbitSundayaroundMars.

MAVEN,whichstandsfor‘MarsAtmosphereandVolatile

EvolutionMission’,willtrytofindanswerstotwosimplequestions:

“Wheredidthewatergo?Wheredidthecarbondioxidego?”

MAVENprincipalinvestigatorBruceJakoskysaysscientistsnow

knowthatMarsoncehadamuchdenratmosphere,butitchanged

significantlyoverthelastfewbillionyearswhenmostofitsgas

eystilldon’tknowishowandwhy

thathappened.

“Wearetryingtounderstandwhatthecauofthatclimate

changehasbeen,andwearelookingattherolethatescapetospace

mayhaveplayedinremovingtheatmosphere,andchangingthe

atmosphere,”hesaid.

Implicationsofstudy

MAVENwillbeexploringthetoplayersofwhat’sleftofthe

Martianatmosphere,becauscientiststhinkthatcharged

particlemittedbythesun,theso-called“solarwind”,mayhave

beenresponsibleforslowlystrippingawaytheatmosphericgass,

includingwatervapor.

LearningabouthowMarslostitswateriskeytounderstanding

iftheplanetmostlikeEarthinthesolarsystemevercouldhave

supportedlife.

Itwilltakefiveweeksforthespacecrafttodeployitsbooms,get

calibratedandbereadyforwork,beforebeginningtheone-year

missionwhichcarriesapricetagof$671million.

Rightnow,NASA’ngineersarestillcelebratingthefactthat

sofarthemissionwentwithoutaglitch.

“Itreallyisanamazingamountofworkthattheteamdidto

makeitlooksosmoothtonight,“hesaid.“Itiskindofcliched,

peoplewalkaroundgoing”itisnotrocketscience”,wellsometimes

itisrocketscience.”

Other”explorers”

MAVENhasjoinedtwoAmericanandoneEuropeanspacecraft

orbitingtheRedPlanet,togetherwiththreeroversstilloperating

ays,India’sfirstMarxplorershould

enteritsorbitwhereitwillalsoconductatmosphericmeasurements.

MavenisNASA”s21stshotatMarsandthefirstsincethe

Curiosityroverlandedontheredplanetin2022.

Justthismonth,Curiosityarrivedatitsprimesciencetarget,

amountainnamedSharp,ortunityrover

isalsostillactiveadecadeafterlanding.

Alltheroboticscoutsarepavingthewayforthehuman

ceagency

wantstounderstandasmuchabouttheredplanetaspossiblebefore

itndspeoplethere,APreported.

SomematerialforthisreportcamefromReutersandAP.