Project Aims to Study Stratosphere Via Aerospace Firm's Glider

Project Aims to Study Stratosphere Via Aerospace¹ Firm's Glider²

A glider designed by Airbus Group successfully completed its maiden³ flight Wednesday ahead of next year’s attempt to reach the edge of the space. The ultimate goal is to study the stratospheric weather, which seems to have more influence on Earth's climate than previously⁴ thought.

Because gliders⁵ are engineless, they must be towed by powered planes to a certain height. From there, they use natural updrafts, also called mountain waves, to soar through the sky. That is why their wings are so much longer than an ordinary plane’s.

Under the right conditions, experienced pilots can reach very high altitudes and stay aloft for hours in gliders.

On its first flight, Airbus’ Perlan 2 reached only 1.5 kilometers, but next year project managers plan to go a lot higher, to an altitude of 27 kilometers — higher than the records set by the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes.

“We're not a thousand percent sure that the mountain wave will go that high, but all the meteorologists tell us that it does, so we're going to go out and find out,” chief pilot Jim Payne said.

The goal is to investigate how fast-moving winds blowing at altitudes between 10 and 50 kilometers influence Earth's climate.

“It turns out some of the biggest waves in the world — vertical⁶ movements — exist in the stratosphere," said Ed Warnock, chief executive officer of the Perlan Project. "We're going to go and study those waves. Those waves change weather and they change climate, and we are going to study how do they do that.”

Stratospheric winds may also influence commercial air traffic as airliners⁷ fly higher to reduce fuel consumption. The air density⁸ at those altitudes is similar to that of the Martian atmosphere, so the Perlan Project may also contribute to the design of aircraft that someday could fly through the skies of the Red Planet.

1 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。

2 glider   

n.滑翔机；滑翔导弹

参考例句：

• The glider was soaring above the valley.那架滑翔机在山谷上空滑翔。
• The pilot managed to land the glider on a safe place.那个驾驶员设法让滑翔机着陆到一个安全的地方。

3 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 gliders   

n.滑翔机( glider的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The albatross is the king of gliders. 信天翁是滑翔鸟类之王。 来自《用法词典》
• For three summers, may bested and improved their gliders. 他们花了三个夏天不断地测试、改进。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

6 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

7 airliners   

n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The fog grounded the airliners. 大雾迫使班机停飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They placed very stable and accurate atomic clocks on regularly scheduled jet airliners. 他们将非常稳定、准确的原子钟装在定期飞行的喷气式班机上。 来自辞典例句

8 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。