美国国家公共电台 NPR SpaceX Reuses A Rocket To Launch A Satellite

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So in case you were considering traveling to space, the private company SpaceX wants to make space flight a lot cheaper. And to do that, it plans to reuse its rockets over and over again. As NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports, the first big test of that idea comes later today.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE¹: OK. Here's your standard rocket launch.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Five, four...

BRUMFIEL: Those big engines fire.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: One, zero. Liftoff.

BRUMFIEL: And the rocket goes up. But most of that rocket never makes it to space. Part way up, the big, expensive first stage falls off and plunges² back to Earth. SpaceX founder³ Elon Musk⁴ says he tells his engineers that when they see that, they should visualize⁵ a giant stack of money hurtling towards its doom⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELON MUSK: Would you try to save it? Probably, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Yes, OK.

MUSK: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

BRUMFIEL: That was Musk speaking at a conference last summer. And that philosophy is why SpaceX rockets don't crash back to Earth. Instead, they come back and land - vertically⁷ - on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: So you're seeing live footage of our drone ship waiting for the - there's the engine.

BRUMFIEL: That was the company's first ocean landing, which happened almost exactly a year ago. And today they will take that same rocket and launch it again.

MICHELE FRANCI: This is indeed a first.

BRUMFIEL: Michele Franci is with Inmarsat, a London company that runs a satellite network for tracking ships and planes. It's a SpaceX customer. Franci says if launch costs come down, companies like his could launch more satellites more often and build a better network. But he says to really bring down prices, SpaceX will have to recycle each rocket more than just once.

FRANCI: The question is how many times they can reuse each individual rocket and how often they can do that.

BRUMFIEL: Today's launch will be from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Franci says he'll be watching.

Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 plunges   

n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• Even before he plunges into his program, he has his audience in his pocket. 他的节目甚至还没有出场，就已控制住了观众。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Monseigneur, he precipitated himself over the hill-side, head first, as a person plunges into the river.' “大人，他头冲下跳下山坡去了，像往河里跳一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 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。

5 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

6 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

7 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。