Level 3 Reading 12B

Ch.24 Reading 12B THE ULTIMATE TRIP Although we have sent unmanned spacecraft to Mars and other parts of our solar system for decades, humans haven't ventured more than 650 kilometers from Earth since 1973. However, there is increasing interest in sending new missions—both robotic and manned—into space. Unlike in the past, this renewed interest is not primarily being driven by government agencies. Instead, private companies are leading todays new age of space exploration. Astronauts and supplies from the United States used to be transported to the ISS by NASA's space shuttles. But the space shuttle program ended in 2011. In early 2012, SpaceX, a private company based near Los Angeles, sent an unmanned rocket to the ISS. SpaceX and other private companies are now competing to replace the shuttle to become the ISS's main supply ship. Another company called Planetary Resources—which received backing from Google executives— has developed plans to use robotic spacecraft to mine asteroids for precious metals. One that the company hopes to find is platinum, a metal so rare on Earth that an ounce costs $1,600.

第24章 阅读12B 终极之旅 尽管几十年来我们已经向火星和太阳系的其他部分发射了无人驾驶航天器， 自1973年以来，人类还没有冒险离开地球超过650公里。 然而，人们越来越有兴趣将新的任务——机器人和载人——送入太空。 与过去不同，这种新的兴趣主要不是由政府机构推动的。 相反，私营公司正在引领当今太空探索的新时代。 过去，美国国家航空航天局的航天飞机将来自美国的宇航员和物资运送到国际空间站。 但航天飞机计划于2011年结束。 2012年初，总部位于洛杉矶附近的私营公司SpaceX向国际空间站发射了一枚无人火箭。 SpaceX和其他私营公司现在正在竞争取代航天飞机，成为国际空间站的主要补给船。 另一家名为Planetary Resources的公司得到了谷歌高管的支持-- 已经制定了使用机器人航天器在小行星上开采贵金属的计划。 该公司希望找到的一种是铂，这种金属在地球上非常罕见，一盎司的价格为1600美元。

Robots will have to travel millions of kilometers to locate and mine asteroids, and this requires technology that doesn't exist yet. However, this isn't stopping companies like Planetary Resources and others from trying. They are investing millions into research, hoping to create tools that will make space mining possible. "This is the beginning of the new space age," says Dr. Mason Peck, NASA's Chief Technologist. "The energy we see now—the economic motivation to go into space—we haven't seen that before." For centuries, economics has driven exploration. A thousand years ago, merchants risked the dangers of the Silk Road to reach the markets of China. In the 15th century, European ships traveled to new worlds, searching less for knowledge than for gold and spices. "Historically, the driver has always been the search for resources," explains investor Peter Diamandis. If you want people to explore space, he says, create an economic incentive. Entrepreneur Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, is spending a large part of his fortune on his own space program. SpaceX has developed a rocket that transports cargo to the ISS relatively cheaply. Musk reduced costs by creating reusable rockets—in the same way that we reuse a plane after a flight. People first thought that creating reusable rockets would be extremely difficult, or even impossible, but Musk knew there was no other way to keep costs down. "If we threw away airplanes after every flight," he says, "no one would fly." For Musk, creating reusable rockets has been part of a much bigger plan: He wants to establish a human colony on Mars. NASA has had enormous success on Mars with unmanned spacecraft, but it has yet to launch a manned mission. Musk says SpaceX could put astronauts on Mars within 10 years, and keep sending them for decades after that. "We can't send one little group to Mars," he says. "We have to take millions of people and lots of equipment to Mars to make it a self-sustaining civilization." It will be the hardest thing that humanity has ever done, but Musk thinks his company can do it and he's eager to see it happen. "It's about making life multiplanetary," he says. "It's about getting out there and exploring the stars."

机器人将不得不行进数百万公里来定位和挖掘小行星， 这需要尚不存在的技术。 然而，这并没有阻止像Planetary Resources和其他公司这样的公司尝试。 他们正在投资数百万美元进行研究，希望创造出能够使太空采矿成为可能的工具。 美国国家航空航天局首席技术专家梅森·佩克博士说：“这是新太空时代的开始。”。 “我们现在看到的能源——进入太空的经济动机——我们以前从未见过。” 几个世纪以来，经济一直在推动探索。 一千年前，商人冒着丝绸之路的危险进入中国市场。 在15世纪，欧洲船只前往新世界，寻找的不是知识，而是黄金和香料。 投资者彼得·迪曼蒂斯解释说：“从历史上看，驱动力一直是寻找资源。”。 他说，如果你想让人们探索太空，就要创造一种经济激励。 SpaceX的创始人、企业家埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）将其大部分财富用于自己的太空计划。 太空探索技术公司开发了一种火箭，可以相对便宜地将货物运送到国际空间站。 马斯克通过制造可重复使用的火箭降低了成本，就像我们在飞行后重复使用飞机一样。 人们最初认为制造可重复使用的火箭是极其困难的，甚至是不可能的， 但马斯克知道，没有其他方法可以降低成本。 “如果我们每次飞行后都扔掉飞机，”他说，“就没有人会飞了。” 对马斯克来说，制造可重复使用的火箭是一个更大计划的一部分： 他想在火星上建立一个人类殖民地。 美国国家航空航天局在火星上利用无人驾驶航天器取得了巨大成功，但尚未发射载人任务。 马斯克表示，太空探索技术公司可以在10年内将宇航员送上火星，并在之后的几十年里继续派遣他们。 他说：“我们不能派一个小组去火星。”。 “我们必须将数百万人和大量设备带到火星，使其成为一个自给自足的文明。” 这将是人类所做过的最艰难的事情， 但马斯克认为他的公司可以做到这一点，他渴望看到这一点发生。 他说：“这是关于让生活成为多平面的。”。 “这是关于走出去探索星星。”

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