VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS. Today, we tell about plans to build a newinternational space research center at Cape Kennedy. We tell aboutnew pictures of a star that exploded ten-thousand years ago. And webegin with a report about a new space communications system that isbeing built in Spain.
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VOICE ONE:
Spanish workers are building a huge communications device nearMadrid. It will soon be used to communicate with all spacecraft. Itwill also help NASA study the planet Mars and comets that travelthrough space.
The large device looks like a hugeround dish. It is thirty-four meters across. It weighs more thanfive-hundred tons. The device is a radio antenna. It sends andreceives radio signals to and from spacecraft. It also guides theradio signals to a protected, underground electronics room.
VOICE TWO:
The antenna is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. NASA’s JetPropulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California is responsible for theDeep Space Network.
The network connects different kinds of radio communications forspacecraft exploring the solar system. It operates huge antennadishes in California, Spain and Australia. These communicationsstations take turns linking with different spacecraft as the Earthturns.
The Deep Space Network antennas catch information sent fromspacecraft. These spacecraft can be as near as an orbit aroundEarth, or millions of kilometers away. The antennas also sendcommands to spacecraft. The new antenna in Madrid will increase thecommunicating power of the center in Spain by thirty-three percent.
VOICE ONE:
Finishing the new antenna on time is extremely important. NASAneeds this antenna to communicate with several new projects. Theneed for space communications will greatly expand by November ofnext year. NASA says that for three months beginning in November,two-thousand-three, the Deep Space Network will be very busy.
The network will be communicating with three devices that willland and explore some of the surface of Mars. It also willcommunicate with two other spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The fivespacecraft orbiting and landing on Mars are from the United States,Europe and Japan.
At the same time, two other new spacecraft will be gatheringinformation about comets. The Deep Space Network will also have tokeep in communication with all of the other spacecraft that arealready traveling through the galaxy.
VOICE TWO:
The device that is being built in Spain will join five otherthirty-four meter antennas. Three are at the network’s Goldstonestation near the city of Barstow in the western American state ofCalifornia. One is already at the communications station nearMadrid. Another is near Canberra, Australia. Each of the threecommunications stations also has a seventy-meter antenna and severalsmaller antennas.
The new addition to the Deep Space Network will help provideexciting new discoveries to report in the future.
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VOICE ONE:
Once there was a huge star, millions of kilometers from Earth.This huge star was almost twenty-five times larger than our Sun.Space scientists say large stars like this do not live long. Theyburn their fuel a thousand times faster than our Sun. They use uptheir supply of nuclear fuel in tens of millions of years.
When their fuel is almost gone, a series of events takes place.The star first begins to cool. In the end, the material of the starbegins to fall back into itself. This causes gravity to increase bylarge amounts. In the end, a huge explosion results. The materialfrom the explosion travels into space at more than seventy-twomillion kilometers per hour. A star that explodes like this iscalled a supernova.
VOICE TWO:
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has sent to Earth photographs ofthe remains of a huge star. NASA scientists say it exploded morethan ten-thousand years ago.
Light from that explosion firstreached Earth in the sixteen-hundreds. That light had traveled tenthousand light years. It was so bright it could even be seen duringthe day.
All that is left of the huge star are long, thin clouds that looklike ribbons. The Hubble pictures show them as long pieces of red,green, pink and blue. NASA scientists say the colors are caused bydifferent chemicals. The dark blue color is caused by oxygen. Thecolor red is created by sulfur.
The photographs were made by the Hubble’s Wide Field andPlanetary Camera Two. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena,California, designed and built the camera. The remains of the deadstar are called Cassiopeia A, or just “Cas A” for short. Cas A isthe youngest known supernova that remains in our Milky Way galaxy.
VOICE ONE:
The new photographs of Cas A are permitting scientists to studythe supernova’s remains very clearly. For the first time, scientistscan study the material from the dead star.
Scientists say the new pictures show this material has becomethousands of small groups of gas particles which are slowly cooling.They say each group will someday become new stars and planets.
NASA officials say the new Hubble photographs were taken inJanuary two-thousand and January two-thousand and two.
If you have a computer that can link with the Internet, you cansee Hubble’s beautiful picture of Cas A. Type in w-w-w dotv-o-a-n-e-w-s dot c-o-m and follow the link to Special English.
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VOICE TWO:
In February two-thousand-one, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and thestate of Florida agreed to design, build and operate a new sciencecenter.
The building is named the Space Experiment Research andProcessing Laboratory. It will serve as a major link to theInternational Space Station for science experiments. It will also beused for experiments in biological science here on Earth. And itwill be used for research about the ecology of the area surroundingKennedy Space Center.
Scientists who work in life science research being done on theInternational Space Station will use the new building. They willprepare experiments to be launched on the Space Shuttle from theKennedy Space Center to the Space Station.
VOICE ONE:
The Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratoryrepresents a joint effort between NASA and Florida. The state willprovide thirty-million dollars to build the science laboratory. Thebuilding is expected to be ready for use in two-thousand-four.
The new science laboratory is the first building in theInternational Space Research Park at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.The new space research park is to be a research and developmentcenter for the exploration of space. NASA says it will combineresearch strengths in areas such as space technology, energy,ecology sciences and biology sciences.
The International Space Research Park will be the major areawhere science experiments are prepared for the International SpaceStation. NASA would like it to provide a base for groups interestingin working in space science and space exploration. It hopes toinclude both government and private groups. These private groupswould include major research universities and industries involved inadvanced technology.
NASA planners say they believe that top scientists and spacetechnology engineers will want to work at the new center. They willwant to do this because the new research center will be linked tothe Kennedy Space Center.
VOICE TWO:
NASA officials say the International Space Research Park will bebuilt on more than one-hundred-sixty hectares of land. They hope thespace research center will be used by countries around the worldthat are interested in space research.
NASA says it will provide the most modern structures for thiskind of research. It also says the research center will not be usedfor the building of large space vehicles or equipment that might bea danger to others who use the strutures.
NASA says the International Space Research Park will support theexploration of space and help improve the economy of the state ofFlorida. Officials say the new research center will make the KennedySpace Center the world’s leader in space science, development andexploration.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. Our director wasCynthia Kirk. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. This is MaryTillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week forEXPLORATIONS, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.