VOICE ONE:
This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS. Today, we tell about science experiments that will besent to the planet Mars. And we tell about the hunt for gravity inextremely deep space.
We also tell about a possible new medical technology and aboutnew plans to send a spacecraft to study the planet Pluto. And wetell about the study of the atmosphere of a planet outside our solarsystem.
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Scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to make the firstdirect examinations and chemical tests of the atmosphere of a planetoutside our solar system. Their work shows that it is possible forthe Hubble telescope and other telescopes to measure the chemicalsin a planet’s atmosphere.
The planet that was tested is about two-hundred-twenty times thesize of Earth. The planet orbits a yellow Sun-like star called H-Dtwo-zero-nine-four-five-eight. The star is about one-hundred-fiftylight years away in the constellation Pegasus. NASA says almostanyone can find the star with a small telescope.
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The lead researcher for the project is David Charbonneau of theCalifornia Institute of Technology and the Harvard SmithsonianCenter for Astrophysics. Mister Charbonneau says his team used theHubble space telescope to find sodium in the planet’s atmosphere. Hesaid the research team found much less sodium in the atmosphere thanexpected. The team’s research is to be published in theAstrophysical Journal.
Mister Charbonneau said using the Hubble telescope in this kindof research opens up many new exciting possibilities in spaceresearch. Researchers say using the space telescope to examine theatmosphere of distant planets could lead to the first directevidence of life beyond Earth.
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NASA has selected seven researchers to spend the next three yearsdeveloping new medical technologies. The new devices and methodswill be able to find, study and treat disease inside the human body.
The researchers will develop extremely small devices are callednanoscale biomedical sensors. They are less than onethousand-millionth of a meter. They are so small they can enter thebody without doing damage. They will find changes in cells within ahuman body and communicate problems to a device outside the body.
NASA says such devices will help medical workers observe andtreat early any health problems of astronauts in space. And the newdevices will provide the National Cancer Institute with newtechnologies to find and treat the earliest signs of some kinds ofcancer.
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In the past year NASA asked scientific researchers for proposalsto develop the nanoscale sensors. NASA and the National CancerInstitute received fifty-three proposals. The National CancerInstitute, technical experts from major universities, governmentscientists and industry experts studied them.
The seven researchers chosen will receive eleven million dollarsduring the next three years to do the work.
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NASA will place a new satellite into orbit around the planet Marsin the year Two-Thousand-Five. The satellite is called the MarsReconnaissance Orbiter. It will carry six special scientificinstruments.
Recently, NASA announced that the instruments on the satellitewill be used to do ten science investigations. One of the mostimportant will use a device called HiRISE.
HiRISE is a multi-color imaging system. It is a thirty-onemillion-dollar device similar to a camera. HiRISE will be able totake extremely close pictures of the surface of Mars. It is expectedto provide pictures that will be used to find water and to helpidentify future landing areas on the planet.
A second instrument will also produce special picture likeimages. This device will produce maps of different kinds of rock andsurface material found on Mars.
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The eight other investigations will use the satellite’s sixscientific instruments to gather and study information. Theseinstruments include special radar that can study areas below thesurface of the planet. Another device will study the gravity ofMars.
Several of the instruments on the satellite will be the same asthose that were lost when the Mars Climate Orbiter disappeared.These instruments will study the weather on Mars.
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a scientific observationproject that will bring together teams from universities, industry,NASA centers and other organizations. The spacecraft will bedeveloped by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado. It isto be launched in August of Two-Thousand-Five.
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Small amounts of gravity move through deep space. This gravity issimilar to ocean waves. NASA scientists know the space gravity wavescan slow down the speed of objects.
Space scientists believe these waves began with the movements ofhuge bodies, such as black holes or large stars that have exploded.The famous physics expert Albert Einstein wrote that such spacewaves would be found. Some evidence of this theory was confirmed inthe Nineteen Seventies.
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NASA has just begun a forty-day study of the effects of gravityin deep space. The study will use the Cassini spacecraft and new,special equipment. The equipment is at NASA’s Deep SpaceCommunications Network in Barstow, California, Madrid, Spain andCanberra, Australia. Researchers will use the radio equipment of theDeep Space Network to measure changes in the speed of the Cassinispacecraft as it continues to move away from Earth.
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The spacecraft Cassini is in a quiet part of its trip throughspace. It passed the planet Jupiter eleven months ago. It shouldreach Saturn in about thirty months. Researchers will use radiobroadcasts between Cassini and Earth to search for gravity waves.The radio equipment will be able to measure changes in the speed ofCassini that amount to less than a second of time.
John Armstrong is a space scientist with the Jet PropulsionLaboratory in Pasadena, California. He says study of the gravitywaves is extremely important to space science.
Randy Herrera is an engineer for the project. He says gravitywaves will give science another way to see into the universe. MisterHerrera says understanding how the gravity waves work will helpscientists study black holes and other huge objects in space.
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VOICE ONE:
NASA has accepted a proposal to begin the design studies for aspacecraft that will fly to Pluto, the most distant planet in oursolar system. The spacecraft is to study the planet and also explorethe Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto. The Kuiper Belt is made up of spacerocks and comets. Water and the simple chemicals that supported lifeon Earth are believed to have come from the Kuiper Belt.
NASA says the scientific value of the flight to Pluto depends onthe spacecraft being launched by Two-Thousand-Six. The spacecraftwould have to fly near Pluto well before Two-Thousand-Twenty.
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NASA says two important conditions must be met before thespacecraft can be launched. First a study must approve the risksinvolved in the use of a nuclear power system that would be neededfor the spacecraft. And Congress would have to approve the moneyneeded for the project.
NASA now calls the proposed flight New Horizons. It would includedevices for creating images. It would also include radio scienceexperiments that study the surface rocks of Pluto and its moonCharon. The spacecraft would also make maps of Pluto and study anyatmosphere found there.
Colleen Hartman is the Solar System Explorations Director inNASA’s office of Space Science. She says a trip to Pluto and theKuiper Belt would mean a visit to the most ancient material in oursolar system. She says all the other planets including Earth aremade of that material. Mizz Hartman says the most exciting thingabout going to an unexplored planet is what we may find there thatwe are not expecting.
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written Paul Thompson. It wasdirected by Cynthia Kirk, and our studio engineer was Mick Shaw.This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.