搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。
(单词翻译)
20-Kilometer Inflatable Tower Could Make Space Launches Cheaper 加拿大设计20公里长可充气通天塔使太空发射成本更低
Launching space vehicles is still very costly1 because booster rockets are not reusable. A space elevator could make it dramatically cheaper but we still do not have the material for the space cable that could lift such an elevator to a height that would eliminate the need for a booster rocket.
Canadian company Thoth Technologies won a U.S. patent for a different solution – an elevator encased within a 20-kilometer space tower that could bring people and vehicles much closer to outer space.
According to Thoth Technologies the elevator would run inside an inflatable tower. Launching space vehicles from its top would be much cheaper.
“We think it's realistic. We're looking to license2 the patent to Google or Alphabet, SpaceX, Elon Musk3, maybe the European Space Agency, and we think that in three to five years a 1.5-kilometer prototype model - full-scale model - could be accomplished," said Ian Tomaszewski.
The company estimates that its elevator could carry 10 tons of cargo4 at approximately 11 kilometers per hour, reaching the top in about 60 minutes. From there passengers and cargo could easily reach the orbit and beyond.
There would be other opportunities too.
“Tourism is one. You'd have a great sight of the earth at 20 kilometers up, you'd see about 1,000 kilometers in any direction," said Tomaszewski.
Another idea being developed is a space elevator. A laser-powered car traveling along a ribbon made of strong and light nanotubes, stretched between Earth and a satellite in the geostationary orbit.
A number of experiments have been conducted but the biggest obstacle remains5: how to manufacture a 36,000-kilometer-long ribbon.
1 costly | |
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 license | |
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 musk | |
n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物,香猫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。