科学家如何在家操控火星探测器？ | TEENS好文精选
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今天的精选文章“Science never stops 科学家如何在家操控火星探测器？”来自《21世纪学生英文报·初三》第627期第6版。
Science never stops
科学家如何在家操控火星探测器？
After working from home for the last few months, most people have adapted to their new work situation. But what if your job was to control a multi-billion-dollar space rover (探测车) located on a planet nearly 200 million km away from Earth?
A team of NASA scientists is doing just that. In order to follow social distancing rules, these scientists have had to work from home. But they’ve still found ways to work together and take care of the complex (复杂的) tasks that are needed to keep the Curiosity rover working on Mars.
Their work-from-home setups (装配), as seen in photos provided to CNBC and ScienceAlert, look much like typical home office setups. They use ordinary computers. But instead of working on spreadsheets (电子制表), these scientists are programming complex sequences (序列) of instructions that are then sent to the rover. These instructions allowed the rover to find a rock sample (样本) in a location on Mars called “Edinburgh”, according to EarthSky.
Usually, the team’s 20 scientists work together by communicating through apps or video meetings. One scientist might have to follow 15 message channels (通道) at once.
NASA gave the scientists headsets (耳机), monitors (监视器) and other equipment to allow them to do their jobs from home. However, the 3D goggles (眼镜) they usually use to analyze pictures from Mars could not be sent out. So they have to rely on simple red-and-blue glass lenses (镜片) instead.
But setbacks like these have not been a problem for the scientists. In fact, adapting to changing situations and improvising (临时做) is “classic, textbook NASA,” according to the head of science operations Carrie Bridge. “We’re presented with a problem and we figure out how to make things work. Mars isn’t standing still for us; we’re still exploring,” she said.
BY MIKE FUKSMAN, 21ST CENTURY TEENS STAFF
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测试题
Choose the best answer
01
During the outbreak, NASA scientists _____.
A.use different computers to work
B.work on spreadsheets
C. don’t need to follow social distancing rules
D. are operating Curiosity from home
点击空白处查看答案
D
02
Working at home is inconvenient for NASA scientists because _____.
A.they have to use special red-and-blue lenses
B. they cannot communicate person to person
C. they don’t have the equipment to do their jobs
D. they cannot work together at the same time
点击空白处查看答案
A
03
How do we understand “classic, textbook NASA” in the last paragraph?
A. NASA wrote a textbook on how to deal with problems.
B. NASA always finds ways to deal with new situations.
C. Setbacks are common for NASA.
D. Setbacks have never been a problem for NASA.
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B
04
What is the story mainly about?
A. NASA’s project on Mars.
B. The problems NASA faces.
C. How NASA analyzes pictures from Mars.
D. How NASA scientists work at home.
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D
