VOA标准英语2015--NASA支持私企涉足未来的太空飞行

NASA Looks to Private Sector¹ for Future of Space Flight NASA支持私企涉足未来的太空飞行

LOS ANGELES—

Many companies are capitalizing on the future of space travel thanks to an evolving partnership² with the U.S. space agency, NASA.

Forty-six years after NASA first put a man on the moon, much as changed about space flight, said NASA official William Gerstenmaier.

“There’s a tremendous new environment out there where it’s no longer just the government doing this. The private sector wants to do this. So my job on the government side is how do I figure out how to team with this private sector that has this quickness, has this entrepreneurial spirit; that I can team and use that with the government side to actually move us forward,” he said.

NASA and some of the players in the private sector met at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles to discuss the future of space exploration.

Space tourism

Naveen Jain, co-founder of the aerospace³ company Moon Express, has high hopes that space tourism will explode. “If you’re getting married or getting engaged, why give someone a diamond. If you love her enough you’ll give her the moon,” Jain added.

But traveling to the moon may not be viable⁴ at this time, said Lockheed Martin’s Michael Hawes.

“I think it is somewhat still science fiction, but mostly not because it can’t technically⁵ be done,” he explained. “But I don’t see the market place evolving for that as quickly as some do.”

International Space Station

Work is being done on future travel to deep space. Hawes notes that NASA has conducted a successful test flight of Orion, its next-generation spacecraft, which will eventually explore the moon and beyond. NASA also is looking to private industry to service the International Space Station.

“So they have a couple of companies providing cargo⁶. They have a couple companies that are been contracted to provide crew in the future,” said Hawes.

NASA is also looking to the private sector for space travel research that can have benefits on earth too.

They include advances in technologies, such as miniature cameras on cell phones, and finding solutions to health problems in space, which can also help the people on Earth.

Contributing to medical research

“What we see in space is the human body, for some reason there’s tremendous bone loss: On the order of 20-to-30 percent of your bones can be lost per month in space if you don’t do any kind of physical exercise. That occurs in our elderly population,” said NASA's Gerstenmaier.

Boeing’s John Elbon said the research opportunities are exciting but solving space-related problems takes time. 

“In a hundred years from now, there will be a commercial space industry that you can’t imagine today what it will be like based on kind of where we are now," he said. "We have to be careful not to lose sight of how difficult these things are. At the same time, we can’t lose the enthusiasm that there’s going to be a heck of a lot opportunity in front of us."

And, space experts say, that opportunity could even lead to colonizing⁷ Mars.

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 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。

4 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

5 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

6 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

7 colonizing   

v.开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The art of colonizing is no exception to the rule. 殖民的芸术是� 有特例的。 来自互联网
• A Lesson for Other Colonizing Nations. 其它殖民国家学习的教训。 来自互联网