2023 Was Another Big Year for Space Missions

2023 Was Another Big Year for Space Missions

2023年是太空任务的又一大年

【听力音频】

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　　By Bryan Lynn

　　31 December 2023

　　As 2023 comes to a close, we are taking a look back at some of the biggest space stories of the year.

　　Asteroid sample returns to Earth

　　A container carrying asteroid material captured in space three years ago arrived safely on Earth in September. The container, or capsule, was released by the American space agency NASA's Osiris-Rex spacecraft. It floated to Earth and landed in a desert area in the western state of Utah.

　　The spacecraft captured the asteroid material, or sample, from the asteroid Bennu in 2020. NASA announced in October the first examinations of the sample showed evidence of high-carbon material and water. These two substances suggest the possibility that "the building blocks of life on Earth may be found in the rock."

　　Psyche mission

　　NASA's Psyche spacecraft launched on a mission to observe an asteroid made mostly of metal. It is expected to travel 3.6 billion kilometers over six years to reach the asteroid, also called Psyche.

　　NASA believes the asteroid could have separated during violent crashes that happened during our solar system's early creation. Scientists think data collected on the asteroid could provide new details about how rocky planets, including Earth, formed.

　　Laser communication demonstration

　　The Psyche spacecraft is also being used to test a laser-based communication method. The system aims to greatly improve data links between Earth and spacecraft exploring deep space.

　　A few weeks ago, NASA demonstrated the technology with a short video sent by the laser technology over 30 million kilometers to Earth. The space agency said it took less than two minutes for the video to reach an observatory in California. The video showed a cat repeatedly chasing a red laser light.

　　Oldest black hole discovery

　　Scientists announced last month they had discovered the oldest black hole ever found. The huge object is believed to have formed about 470 million years after the Big Bang. The researchers said the findings confirm their theory that supermassive black holes existed in the very early universe.

　　European telescope shows ‘dark universe'

　　Last month, the European Space Agency (ESA) released the first images from its new Euclid space telescope. ESA designed Euclid to study dark matter and dark energy. Scientists think those hidden forms of matter and energy make up 95 percent of the universe. ESA said the newly-released images covered 1,000 galaxies about 240 million light years away from Earth.

　　Webb telescope observes distant black hole

　　Data collected by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope helped astronomers identify the most distant, active supermassive black hole ever discovered. Researchers said the black hole sits at the center of a galaxy called CEERS 1019. The galaxy is estimated to have existed about 570 million years after the Big Bang.

　　Ingenuity helicopter keeps exploring Mars

　　Earlier this month, NASA said its Ingenuity helicopter continues to perform well in tests carried out on Mars. So far, Ingenuity has completed at least 66 flights over the past two-and-a-half years. NASA said it is also testing equipment on Earth that it plans to include in future helicopters built for space exploration. The latest tests on Earth involved new rotor blades the space agency said reached speeds near the speed of sound in experiments.

　　India lands spacecraft on moon

　　In August, India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. The moon lander, called Chandrayaan-3, also became the first spacecraft to land near the moon's south pole. The south pole is thought to be an important area, with scientists saying it may contain large amounts of frozen water and minerals.

　　Chinese water discovery on moon

　　Chinese scientists announced in March they had discovered water in materials collected during the country's Chang'e 5 mission. Researchers from Nanjing University reported the water was in the form of extremely small beads found in dirt collected in 2020. The scientists noted that billions, if not trillions, of these beads could exist on the moon, possibly providing a huge water source. But the team said mining the water would be difficult.

　　I'm Bryan Lynn.

　　Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者：Bryan Lynn

　　日期：2023年12月31日

　　随着2023年的结束，我们回顾了今年一些最大的太空新闻。

　　小行星样本返回地球

　　一个装有三年前在太空捕获的小行星物质的容器在9月份安全地返回地球。这个容器，或者说太空舱，是由美国航天局NASA的奥西里斯-雷克斯飞船释放的。它飘落到地球，降落在美国西部州犹他的一个沙漠区域。

　　这个飞船在2020年从小行星贝努上捕获了小行星物质，或者说样本。NASA在10月宣布，对样本的初步检查显示出高碳物质和水的证据。这两种物质表明"地球上生命的基础可能存在于这块岩石中"。

　　Psyche任务

　　NASA的Psyche飞船启动了一个观察主要由金属构成的小行星的任务。预计它将在六年内行驶36亿公里，到达同样被称为Psyche的小行星。

　　NASA认为，这颗小行星可能在我们的太阳系早期形成过程中发生的剧烈碰撞中分离出来。科学家们认为，收集到的小行星数据可能会提供关于地球等岩石行星是如何形成的新细节。

　　激光通信演示

　　Psyche飞船也被用来测试一种基于激光的通信方法。这个系统旨在大大提高地球和深空探索飞船之间的数据链接。

　　几周前，NASA通过激光技术发送了一段短视频，距离地球3000万公里，演示了这项技术。太空署表示，视频在不到两分钟的时间内就到达了加利福尼亚的一个天文台。视频显示了一只猫反复追逐红色激光光点。

　　最古老的黑洞发现

　　科学家们上个月宣布他们发现了有史以来最古老的黑洞。这个巨大的物体据信是在大爆炸后约4.7亿年形成的。研究人员表示，这些发现证实了他们的理论，即超大质量黑洞在宇宙的早期就已经存在。

　　欧洲望远镜展示‘暗宇宙'

　　上个月，欧洲航天局（ESA）发布了其新的欧几里得空间望远镜的首批图像。ESA设计欧几里得望远镜是为了研究暗物质和暗能量。科学家们认为这些隐藏的物质和能量形式占据了宇宙的95%。ESA表示，新发布的图像覆盖了距离地球约2.4亿光年的1000个星系。

　　韦布望远镜观察遥远的黑洞

　　NASA的詹姆斯·韦布太空望远镜收集的数据帮助天文学家识别出有史以来最遥远、最活跃的超大质量黑洞。研究人员表示，这个黑洞位于一个名为CEERS 1019的星系的中心。据估计，这个星系在大爆炸后约5.7亿年就已经存在了。

　　Ingenuity直升机继续探索火星

　　本月早些时候，NASA表示，其Ingenuity直升机在火星上进行的测试中表现良好。到目前为止，Ingenuity在过去的两年半中至少完成了66次飞行。NASA表示，它还在测试地球上的设备，计划将这些设备包含在未来为太空探索制造的直升机中。最近在地球上进行的测试涉及到新的旋翼叶片，太空署表示，在实验中，这些叶片的速度接近音速。

　　印度在月球上着陆航天器

　　在8月份，印度成为第四个成功在月球上着陆航天器的国家。这个名为Chandrayaan-3的月球着陆器也成为第一个在月球南极附近着陆的航天器。科学家们认为南极是一个重要区域，可能包含大量的冻水和矿物质。

　　中国在月球上发现水

　　中国科学家在3月份宣布，他们在国家的嫦娥五号任务中收集的材料中发现了水。南京大学的研究人员报告说，这些水以极小的珠子形式存在于2020年收集的土壤中。科学家们指出，可能有数十亿，甚至数万亿这样的珠子存在于月球上，可能提供大量的水源。但是，他们也表示开采这些水将会很困难。

　　我是Bryan Lynn。

　　Bryan Lynn为VOA学英语撰写了这篇报道。

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　　故事中的词汇

　　asteroid– n. 小行星，是由岩石和金属构成的物体，围绕太阳运行，但比行星小

　　mission – n. 任务，指宇宙飞船执行特定任务的飞行

　　rotor blade – n. 旋翼叶片，是薄而平的材料片，旋转以使飞行器升离地面并飞行

　　bead – n. 珠子，小的圆形液滴（如水或血液）