(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Nicole Nichols with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS. Today we report about the most distant human-madeobject in the universe. We have three reports about the planet Mars.One tells about a beautiful photograph of our planet that was takenfrom Mars. We report about the planet Mars coming closer to Earth.And we begin with a report about the successful launch of theEuropean Space Agency’s Mars Express.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
The European Space Agency successfully launched the European MarsExpress from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on June second.This is the first European Space Agency spacecraft to travel toanother planet. It is expected to enter an orbit around Mars inDecember. It will then perform studies of the planet’s surface andatmosphere. It will also deploy a device called Beagle-Two.
Beagle-Two is a small device that will land on the surface ofMars. The small lander has no power of its own. It will be releasedfrom the Mars Express on December twentieth.
VOICE TWO:
Beagle-Two will enter the Martian atmosphere on Decembertwenty-fifth. Two parachutes will be deployed to slow theBeagle-Two. After landing, it will study the surface and look forpossible signs of life, past and present.
Reports from the European Space Agency said the Mars Express hasdeployed the devices that gather sunlight and change it intoelectric power. The report also said all of the spacecraft’s systemsare working correctly. The Mars Express is traveling away from Earthat a speed of thirty kilometers a second.
VOICE ONE:
Would you like to see what the Earth looks like from far away inspace? NASA has answered that question with the help of the MarsGlobal Surveyor spacecraft.
The Global Surveyor is a NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Itis sending back photographs and scientific information about the redplanet.
Recently, scientists at NASA’s JetPropulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California pointed the GlobalSurveyor’s cameras back at Earth. The photograph was taken on Mayeighth. The result is a beautiful photograph of our planet. Theunusual photograph shows Earth surrounded by the darkness of space.It also shows a view of the giant planet Jupiter and some of itslarger moons.
VOICE TWO:
The Earth is seen in the evening sky of Mars. The photographshows only half of our planet. It looks like a ball cut in half. Itis nighttime on the dark part of the planet that is facing away fromthe Sun. The part that can be seen is mostly blue and green withsome brown color showing.
The image is not clear, but you can tell the lighter colors arethe land. The darker color blue is the ocean. The photograph showsthat our planet, seen from space, is very beautiful.
VOICE ONE:
Michael Malin is the chief scientist of Malin Space ScienceSystems of San Diego, California. His company operates the camera onthe Mars Global Surveyor.
Mister Malin said taking this picture permitted scientists tolook up from their work of exploring Mars and observe our Earth. Forthe first time, we can see our own planet as one among many, as partof our Solar System.
The Mars Global Surveyor is one of the most successfulexplorations to Mars. It has been orbiting the red planet sinceSeptember, nineteen-ninety-seven. It has examined all of the Martiansurface and provided valuable information about the planet’satmosphere and surface.
VOICE TWO:
If you have a computer that can link with the Internet, you toocan see the Global Surveyor photograph of Earth. The address iswww.jpl.nasa.gov/news/.
Or you can go to our Special English Web site and follow ourlinks. After you have looked at the picture of Earth, be sure tolook at the many beautiful Global Surveyor photographs of Mars.
VOICE ONE:
The planet Mars has been in the news recently for severalreasons. These include the successful launch of NASA’s first MarsRover spacecraft two weeks ago and the launch of the European SpaceAgency Mars Express. However there is another reason Mars is in thenews. NASA says that while you count slowly — one…two…three…four –the Earth became about thirty kilometers closer to the planet Mars.
This is not a joke. Earth and Mars are quickly moving closertogether. On August twenty-seventh, the two planets will only befifty-six-million kilometers apart. The last time they were thisclose was sixty-thousand years ago.
Fifty-six-million kilometers is very far if we measure distanceson Earth. However, fifty-six million kilometers is really very closeif it is measured by space scientists. Because the distance iscloser this year, NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan are allsending spacecraft to Mars.
VOICE TWO:
NASA officials say Mars will become brighter and brighter betweennow and August. You will be able to see Mars very clearly from nowuntil August. You can see it now in the morning sky. It is bright,steady and a very bright red color. Only Venus, which is closer tothe sun, is brighter. In fact, on June first, Mars was already verybright. On August twenty-seventh it will be six times brighter.
Anyone with a telescope, or other device that makes things appearcloser, can get a clear view of the red planet. Many people who usesmall telescopes have already reported seeing the south polar cap ofMars.
The area on the Martian South Pole is covered in frozen water andcarbon dioxide. The Sun shines off this frozen area and makes iteasier to see.
VOICE ONE:
Now, you have to get up very early to see Mars. Soon, however, itwill be moving into the night sky. By the middle of July, Mars willrise in the east late at night. In late August it will appear assoon as the sun sets.
Oh…and by the way…while you were listening to this report aboutMars getting closer to Earth, NASA says we moved about two-thousandkilometers closer to Mars.
VOICE TWO:
Two spacecraft named Voyager were launched twenty-six years agofrom Cape Canaveral, Florida. Voyager Two was launched in August andVoyager One in September, nineteen-seventy-seven. Voyager One is nowthe most distant human-made object in the universe. Voyager Two isclose behind.
They continue to explore space andsend back valuable information. Their job now is to send backinformation about the area where our Sun’s influence ends. This areais called the heliopause boundary. The Voyager spacecraft will studyparticles in this area of space that is not affected by the Sun.
VOICE ONE:
The heliopause boundary of space has never been reached by anyspacecraft. The Voyagers may be the first to pass through this area.The heliopause boundary is thought to be between eight andtwenty-four-thousand-million kilometers from the Sun.
Sometime in the next ten years, the two spacecraft should crossan area scientists call the termination shock. This is where theenergy force called solar winds produced by the Sun begin to slowand lose their effect.
This will be the first evidence the Voyagers are nearing theheliopause boundary. The Voyagers should cross the heliopause ten totwenty years after reaching the area called termination shock. Thevoyagers have enough electrical power and fuel for at least anotherseventeen years.
VOICE TWO:
NASA’s Deep Space Network is the agency’s space communicationssystem. The Deep Space Network has communications transmitters andreceivers placed around the world. The Deep Space Networkcommunicates each day with both the Voyager One and Voyager Twospacecraft.
After the launch in nineteen-seventy-seven, the task of theVoyager spacecraft was to expand our knowledge of Jupiter andSaturn. Later, Voyager Two extended its working life by flying pastUranus and Neptune. It was the only spacecraft ever to fly pastthese distant planets.
The Voyagers will continue to fly away from our solar system. Inabout forty-thousand years, Voyager One will move withinone-point-six light years of a star in the constellation ofCamelopardalis (ca-mel-a-PAR-da-lis). In aboutthree-hundred-thousand years, Voyager Two will pass the star Sirius– the brightest star in our sky. The Voyagers will continue totravel forever in the Milky Way Galaxy.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byMario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Nicole Nichols. Join us again next week forEXPLORATIONS, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.