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Washington
14 September 2007
They are the space probes that will not quit. Many of us are looking to retire after more than 30 years of work. Not NASA's two Voyager spacecraft, racing1 through interstellar space. VOA's Paul Sisco has more.
An artist's conception of one of the Voyager probes traveling through our solar system |
They were built to last five years and make close-up observations of the planets Jupiter and Saturn2 and their larger moons. With "mission accomplished3" and energy to spare, in 1982 they flew to Uranus4 and Neptune5, the two outermost6 giants in the solar System.
Project scientist Ed Stone remembers. "As a scientist it was just an incredible period of discovery, and even today, as we head to interstellar space, we're still discovering things we had not thought about before. But as we flew by Jupiter and then Saturn and then Uranus and Neptune we discovered world after world which had just been points of light and each was distinct and different."
Ed Stone |
As the probes passed each body, they were flung deeper into space.
With images and data of Uranus's moon, Miranda, NASA scientists created a three dimensional animation7 of its rugged8 surface and bizarre canyons9 more that 25 kilometers deep.
Voyagers taught us that Neptune has the fastest winds of any planet, up to 2,000 kilometers per hour.
Roger Launius |
The crafts are running out of power quickly, but will still send bits of information back to Earth for at least a few more years. The Voyagers also carry two gold-plated discs [phonograph records, the audio technology of the time], should there ever be a chance encounter from a distant world. The greeting says, "Hello from the children of planet Earth ..."
A Voyager model on display at the Air and Space Museum |
The messages are intended to let those who find them know that we exist.
1 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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2 Saturn | |
n.农神,土星 | |
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3 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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4 Uranus | |
n.天王星 | |
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5 Neptune | |
n.海王星 | |
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6 outermost | |
adj.最外面的,远离中心的 | |
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7 animation | |
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作 | |
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8 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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9 canyons | |
n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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