Parameter name: request
Translate Request has too much data
Parameter name: request
Test of Big Space Rocket Set for Late 2012 | Special English | Learning English/*
VOA Learning EnglishLearn American English and Much More
Read, Listen, Learn
RSS FeedTest of Big Space Rocket Set for Late 2012??10 April 2011
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images/AFPElon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC. to announce SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket should be ready for use by the end of 2012, April 5, 2011 Share ThisDiggYahoo! BuzzFacebookdel.icio.usStumbleUponTO DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this story, click on the MP3 link in the upper right corner of the page. Double-click any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary
This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
An American space company says a powerful new rocket should be ready for a test launch by the end of next year. The company is Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. Its new rocket is called the Falcon Heavy.
Company officials say it will be able to transport satellites or spacecraft weighing up to fifty-three metric tons into orbit. Fifty-three metric tons is one hundred seventeen thousand pounds. That load weight is double the capacity of NASA space shuttles. The space agency is retiring its shuttles after thirty years.
Elon Musk is the chief executive officer of SpaceX.
ELON MUSK: "One hundred seventeen thousand pounds is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with one hundred thirty-six passengers, luggage and fuel in orbit. So that is really, really humongous. It’s more payload capability than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn Five."
NASA used Saturn Five rockets during its Apollo and Skylab programs in the nineteen sixties and seventies. A Saturn Five launched the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first humans on the moon in nineteen sixty-nine.
The rockets were removed from service in nineteen seventy-three. But they remain the most powerful ever built.
Elon Musk says the Falcon Heavy will be the second most powerful rocket ever. He says it was designed to do more than carry satellites and other equipment into space. He says the rocket was designed to meet NASA's ratings for human flight safety. So it could someday be used to carry astronauts and other travelers into space.
Mr. Musk says the Falcon Heavy could also be used for missions like carrying a robotic lander to collect samples from Mars.
ELON MUSK: "It has so much capability, so much more capability than any other vehicle, that I think we can start to contemplate missions like a Mars sample return, which requires a tremendous amount of lift capability because you’ve got to send a lander to Mars that still has enough propellant to return to Earth."
The first launch is planned from the company's launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is expected in late twenty-thirteen or fourteen.
In time, SpaceX hopes to launch ten Falcon Heavy rockets a year. It says the rocket should reduce launch costs to about two thousand dollars a kilogram. That is about one-tenth the cost of carrying loads into orbit on a space shuttle.
SpaceX already has a billion-and-a-half-dollar deal with NASA to use a smaller rocket to transport cargo to the International Space Station. The rocket is the Falcon 9, and the deal is for after the two last shuttles -- Endeavour and Atlantis -- are retired this year.
And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms and Jessica Berman. I'm Steve Ember.
Listen? Email? Print? Comments?Comments (16)10-04-2011Denis(Croatia)I think that only question of time when people go in the space like moon and live there and if NASA search volunteers I will be one. I hope that there in the space will be peace and people will be not dependent about money.
11-04-2011to live in space or to make people live better on the earth. I think the later is more important.
11-04-2011sam(china)one earth is not enough for us to consume
11-04-2011jin-hyoung-kang(korea)thank you~~ Steve Ember~!!!
11-04-2011Honda(Taiwan)Ii's so cool ~~I like it .
11-04-201140 years ago, we have sent guys to the moon, why we cannot land people on the other planet? 40 years , so many years.
11-04-2011Joruji(Japan)SpaceX's plan to develop a new type of rocket is wonderful, but I wonder if the company has some experience in launching rockets. If not, its plan seems too ambitious to me.
11-04-2011grr(USA)Joruji, SPaceX has already launched 7 times. The first 3 had issues, but the last 4 were succesful. At this time, they have launched more than than 1/2 of the nations that have launches.
11-04-2011Maki(Japan)It's amazing that they have developed such a big rocket and that is produced not by NASA. I had never expected that one rocket was so big. Nor have I seen any rocket with my eyes. Also what is interesting was the rocket will be mass-produced. That news is more than I expected.
12-04-2011Yuki(Japan)The more i hear the news like this, the more i'm eager to fly to space by using a general company's space mobile in the future. Even though we have a little bit depressed news recently, when i know the topic sounds romantic, i become little bit happy anyway.
12-04-2011jjjj(China)it is exciting that America has had such a huge development in space exploration,i believe space exploration technologies of China will have a increasing development at the same time,that's to say, sicences and technologies is a very important way of developping ourselves.
12-04-2011Domo(China)I think it's too many people to live in our earth,and it's not enough room to live such as China,Japen.Yet SPaceX is not enough experience in lauching rockets .um,,May be i seldom hear of the company,so i don't expect more hope in lauching rockets like Apollo X.
12-04-2011Pyotr(Siberia)Sooner or later the humankind will have to leave this planet if we are not to destroy each other first. So this is one of the babysteps to interstellar spacecrafts of the future. It is important that the rocket is produced by private firm, not a state agency. As a matter of fact the latter usually more economically efficient.
12-04-2011mohamed(sudan)i can't say only am lucky cuz i got this web site.i really i felt that there is improved in my english,not only english but also knowledge and news.thanks a lot for workers in VOaNews.com
12-04-2011Balance(China)I don't understand why a space shuttle costs so much more than a rocket. Recovery and maintenance cost is a big part, but ten times is unbelievable. In our country, we claimed that we develop rocket only from the very beginning. But I prefer space shuttle.
12-04-2011join(china)I think the space will be more and more importent in many years.
Post Your Comment* RequiredYour Name(Optional)Your Country(Optional)
Your Message(Limit 500 characters)*
By using this form you agree to the following: All comments will be reviewed before posting. Be aware - not all submissions will be posted. VOA has the right to use your comments worldwide in any VOA produced media.Terms & Conditions Listen: Hear or download this story
MP3Email This Article?Print This Article?Comment on This Article?Learn English!
Click on The Classroom to improve your English skills.
MoreEnglish Lessons!
English lessons for beginner, intermediate and advanced English speakers.
More>Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Get the latest reports from VOA News
Share With Your Friends
Start your own VOA Learning English Group
VOA60Watch one minute of world news (updated Monday-Friday) or listen to a 30-minute broadcast of VOA?Special English from today | VOA News home
Blogging
The Student UnionA VOA blog about studying in the US
More ?goEnglish.me
Learn American EnglishLearning tools for Chinese, Persian and Russian speakers
More ? Most E-mailed in Last 24 HoursGrow It Yourself: Turning Bulbs Into Beautiful BloomsObama Enters 2012 Race on Good News About JobsSports Doping: From the Laboratory to the Playing FieldMicrosoft Says Google Blocks Competition in Europe Search MarketWhy Hands-Free Faucets May Be a Risk to Some Hospital Patients
VOANews:Special EnglishProgramsThe ClassroomAbout UsWeb Services:PodcastsRSSMobileNewsletter SubscriptionWebcastsAbout VOANews.com:Terms of Use and Privacy NoticeBroadcasting Board of GovernorsLink to UsContact usJob Opportunities 
没有评论:
发表评论