Spaceship passes critical review 太空飞船通过设计评审
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2009-09-02 03:13 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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The spacecraft Nasa is developing to replace the shuttle has passed a critical milestone1.

美国航空航天局正在计划的用于取代旧航天飞机的新飞船已经通过审评。

Nasa hopes its Orion ship will take it back to the Moon
Nasa hopes its Orion ship will take it back to the Moon

The Orion capsule, which is intended to carry at least four astronauts into Earth orbit and beyond, has completed its preliminary design review, or PDR.

The review is an essential engineering assessment2 that certifies3(证明,保证) the concept is fit for purpose.

The completion of the PDR paves the way for the US space agency to start to build the capsule for flight.

"This is the successful culmination4(顶点,最高潮) of all of the design trade studies and activities to date," said Mark Geyer, manager of the Orion Project Office at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"As a project, a programme and an agency, we are reviewing the design maturity5, strategy and plans for Nasa's next human spacecraft and agreeing that this is the architecture we are going to build."

The US space agency is scheduled to retire its space shuttles next year, and has begun the development of a new human space launch "architecture" called Constellation6.

The architecture calls for two new rockets: the Ares 1 to launch crew, and a new heavy-lift rocket known as Ares 5 that could put into orbit the equipment needed by an Orion capsule to travel to the Moon and beyond.

However, all the systems are under review by a top-level panel led by former Lockheed Martin chairman and chief executive Norm Augustine. President Barack Obama has asked the panel to assess different options for getting US astronauts into space.

Some commentators7 expect the Ares development plans to be modified or even cancelled.

Orion is scheduled to enter service no earlier than March 2015.

Under current plans, this would see the vehicle ferrying crews to the International Space Station (ISS) the following year. It was tasked by former President George W Bush of taking the US back to the Moon by 2020.

Whether Nasa could maintain this schedule even if President Obama endorses8(支持,赞同) the Constellation programme is open to question, however.

The Augustine panel has established that the shuttle replacement9 project is underfunded presently by about $3bn (£1.8bn) a year.



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1 milestone c78zM     
n.里程碑;划时代的事件
参考例句:
  • The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
  • I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。
2 assessment vO7yu     
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额
参考例句:
  • This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
  • What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何?
3 certifies 9ef675aeec5aa72e0576e2bb0bb20651     
(尤指书面)证明( certify的第三人称单数 ); 发证书给…; 证明(某人)患有精神病; 颁发(或授予)专业合格证书
参考例句:
  • Authority certifies the identity of sites on the internet. 权威负责向Internet网站授予其标识。
  • The paper then certifies this algorithm by infrared image processing. 并且文中使用红外图像对这个算法进行了验证。
4 culmination 9ycxq     
n.顶点;最高潮
参考例句:
  • The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
  • It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。
5 maturity 47nzh     
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期
参考例句:
  • These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
  • This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。
6 constellation CptzI     
n.星座n.灿烂的一群
参考例句:
  • A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
  • The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。
7 commentators 14bfe5fe312768eb5df7698676f7837c     
n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 );时事评论员;注释者;实况广播员
参考例句:
  • Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语,真叫人腻烦。
  • Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话,令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 endorses c3e60c44ba7aa93f0218a4cb8797284f     
v.赞同( endorse的第三人称单数 );在(尤指支票的)背面签字;在(文件的)背面写评论;在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品
参考例句:
  • There isn't one country in the Middle East that now endorses the Eisenhower Doctrine. 但至今没有一个中东国家认可它。 来自辞典例句
  • Whether any of this truly endorses Dr Patel's hypothesis is moot. 这些视频能否真正证明帕特的假设成立还是个未知数。 来自互联网
9 replacement UVxxM     
n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品
参考例句:
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
TAG标签: moon Nasa spaceship shuttle
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