CCTV9英语新闻12月：嫦娥3任务使用尖端的深空跟踪

By CCTV reporte Han Bin¹

The Chang’e-3 lunar probe will be the country’s first attempt at a soft landing on any extra terrestrial surface and the first moon landing by any country in almost 40 years.

The extreme distances present new challenges for the mission control team, who must remotely manouver both the probe and the lunar rover to a high level of accuracy. Our reporter Han Bin has been granted special access to the command center, where it’s all taking place.

“This is the Beijing Aerospace² Command and Control Center. It’s the headquarters of the tracking and control system for the lunar probing satellite—the Chang’e 3. Moments after launch all of the monitoring and command orders will be made from here, making this site the project’s nerve center. ”

Going into the heart of China’s space program.

Or some might say, the brain.

Wu Fenglei, Deputy Director of the system design department, explains why the tracking and control system is key to the lunar project.

This command hall decides the fate of Chang’e 3. Numerous simulations are run again and again...

"We need to rehearse the whole process, and do extra practice for some crucial stages, like the braking, landing and separation of the Lander and moon rover." Wu Fenglei said.

The Chang’e 3 will involve China’s first use of an X-band Observation System in the soft landing and for the moon rover. China has built two giant antennas³ for that specific task.

There’s also the unified⁴ S-band observation system or USB and the very long baseline interferometry, or VLBI. Simply put, they’re used to track the distance and the angle position of the satellite for orbit determination.

"Through receiving the data from the rover, we know its working conditions, and we also send orders to control its function, through the image data it sends back to us. So, it’s a two-way communications." Xi Luhua, Senior Engineer of Beijing Aerospace Control and Command Center said.

Senior Engineer Xi Luhua has worked on all three Chang’e projects. She says this first moon rover provides both a challenge and an inspiration in deep space tracking and control.

This state-of-the-art Command and Control Center has witnessed all of China’s space progress, including the Shenzhou manned space missions, and the previous two lunar probes. This is the place where scientists and engineers collect data, monitor signals and make crucial decisions at each stage. And it’s here that China will write another page of aviation history with the launch of the Chang’e-3.

 

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

3 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

4 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。