U.S. delays launch of Mars rover

 　　WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which contains the car-sized Curiosity rover, has been delayed by a day to Nov. 26, the U.S. National Aeronautics¹ and Space Administration (NASA) announced Monday.

　　The delay will "allow time for the team to remove and replace a flight termination system battery," NASA said in a statement.

　　The launch is now scheduled for 10:02 a.m. (1502 GMT) on Saturday from Cape² Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch window remains³ open for one hour and 43 minutes.

　　Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing⁴ samples of powdered rock delivered by the rover's robotic arm.

　　Scheduled to land on the Mars in August 2012, the one-ton rover will examine Gale⁵ Crater⁶ during a nearly two-year prime mission. Curiosity will land near the base of a layered mountain three miles (five kilometers) high inside the crater. The rover will investigate whether environmental conditions ever have been favorable for development of microbial life and preserved evidence of those conditions.

1 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

5 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

6 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。