2007年VOA标准英语-Scientists, Space Enthusiasts Share Vision for

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
04 September 2007

Humans could get to Mars in less than 10 years, if they put their minds to it. That is the message of the Mars Society, a group of scientists and space enthusiasts¹ who met recently in Los Angeles. VOA's Mike O'Sullivan spoke² with some about their vision for the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet.

Mars

They came to see astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men on the moon, and to hear the ambitious plans of people like Elon Musk³. The Internet pioneer has founded a company called SpaceX to put payloads into orbit, and eventually to take tourists into space.

And they came to be inspired by people like Robert Zubrin, the aerospace⁴ engineer who heads the Mars Society, a non-profit educational and scientific organization with chapters in 40 countries. Zubrin says humans reached the moon with much simpler technology than we have now.

Robert Zubrin

"We are much better prepared today to send humans to Mars than we were to send men to the moon in 1961, and we were there eight years later. Given the will, given a presidential commitment of the type we had from JFK in 1961, we could have humans on Mars within a decade," said Zubrin.

Zubrin foresees an exploratory base and eventually permanent settlements on Mars.

President Bush has committed the United States to returning humans to the moon by 2020, and using the moon as a base to travel on to Mars. The key to the quest is funding, and the Mars Society is urging the president and Congress to allocate⁵ more money to space exploration. A volunteer collected petition signatures.

"Anybody want to sign letters to the Senate?" said the volunteer.

Robotic missions to Mars have greatly expanded our knowledge. Two orbiters of the U.S. space agency NASA are circling the planet, and two NASA rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still functioning on the surface. The latest NASA mission, the Phoenix⁶ Lander, was launched August 4, and it will analyze⁷ water ice in the Martian arctic.

Fuk Li

Fuk Li, the manager for the Mars exploration program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says we are still in the early stages of discovery on Mars.

"We are still looking for the ingredients that are perhaps necessary for the formation of life. One of them is water," said Li. "And one of the themes that has been permeating⁸ through our exploration in the last decade is looking for water, follow the water. Try to see where, when, how much, in what form, that water is on Mars."

Peter Diamandis

Space exploration may be driven in the future as much by individuals and private companies as by governments. Peter Diamandis is the man behind the X Prize to encourage private space flight. The $10-million prize was won in 2004 by a California team headed by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan and funded by billionaire Paul Allen. Rutan has teamed up with British entrepreneur Richard Branson to develop a tourist spacecraft.

Diamandis heads his own company that offers weightless rides in airplanes that simulate the zero-gravity conditions of space. He has helped send private citizens, including millionaire Dennis Tito, to the international space station aboard Russian Soyuz rockets. And he is planning a competition for rocket racers. He says we are beginning a new age of exploration.

"From here on out, we are going to have people opening up the solar system, and thousands of years from now, people look back at this time and say, that is the magical moment," said Diamandis.

Emily Colvin

The possibilities excite Emily Colvin, 22. She heads the Mars Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she is studying for a career in aerospace.

"I would ideally love to go into nuclear thermal⁹ propulsion, although I am also doing some other stuff on the side right now toward surface nuclear power, looking at the systems we could take to the Moon or Mars to power a base," said Colvin.

She says our human future is on Mars and other planets, and she hopes to be involved in the process of getting us there.

1 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

4 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。

5 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

6 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

7 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

8 permeating   

弥漫( permeate的现在分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透

参考例句：

• His grace was more permeating because it found a readier medium. 他的风度因为有人赏识显得更加迷人。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Thoughts are a strangely permeating factor. 思想真是一种会蔓延的奇怪东西。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

9 thermal   

adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的

参考例句：

• They will build another thermal power station.他们要另外建一座热能发电站。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。