2015考研英语阅读太空之旅送我入太空_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读太空之旅送我入太空

　　鉴于美国赢得了第一次空间竞赛，俄罗斯人热衷于重新开赛。神剑和太空探险两家公司都使用俄罗斯生产的火箭和飞船。空间探险公司计划重新设计自身的联盟号宇宙飞船，该飞船曾经把7位旅客送进国际航空站。神剑公司倾向于使用重新整修的2号钻石空间站，该站由以前的苏联军队建造。

　　The space-tourism business is famously long on hype but rather short, so far, on results. Andboth firms face big engineering challenges, to put it mildly. The easier task probably falls toSpace Adventures, whose well-tested Soyuzcapsules-which have been flying, in one form oranother, since the 1960s-require a beefier communications system, larger portholes and a better heat shield for re-entry. A separatebooster rocket will be necessary to break the craft out of Earth orbit.

　　到目前为止，空间旅游已经大力宣传了很长时间，但是实际上刚刚开始。两个公司都面临着巨大的工程挑战，使他们抓狂。比较简单的任务可能降落在空间探险公司身上，其调试良好的联盟号飞船自从20世纪60年代以来已经以一种形式或另一种形式飞过仅仅需要加装强大的制动装置，大的舷窗另外为重新进入加装好的隔热层。助推火箭分离器需要有强大的推力使航天器脱离地球轨道。

　　Excalibur Almaz s bulky space stations will need a lot more work to convert into lunarspacecraft. The first step will be to attach engines. The company plans to use ion thrusters,a high-tech propulsion system in which propellant is ejected using an electric field. Suchmotors are extremely efficient, and can be powered from a station s solar panels. But theygenerate little thrust, meaning that Excalibur Almaz s mission will take at least six months,compared with just six days for Space Adventures chemical-powered craft. In fact, the low-energy trajectory planned by Excalibur Almaz will take its crew members farther from theEarth than any other humans have been.