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VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus withEXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we have a report aboutNASA’s two exploration vehicles on the surface of Mars. We also tellabout a very successful satellite that is orbiting Mars. We beginwith a report about Space Ship One. The privately owned spacecraftwon a ten million dollar prize by flying into space two times in sixdays.
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VOICE ONE:
Thousands of people gathered near the little town of Mojave,California Monday. They watched as a privately built rocket planemade its second successful flight into space.
The rocket plane is called SpaceShip One. The Scaled Composites Company of California built it.Aviation designer Burt Rutan (roo-TAN) designed the spacecraft andorganized the project. Mister Rutan is already famous for designingand building the first airplane to fly around the world withoutstopping for fuel.
An aircraft called the White Knight carried the smaller SpaceShip One to an altitude of fifteen kilometers. It then releasedSpace Ship One. Mike Melvill flew the White Knight aircraft. He wasthe earlier pilot on Space Ship One. Brian Binnie was the secondpilot to fly Space Ship One. After the White Knight released SpaceShip One, pilot Binnie fired the rockets that gave it the powerneeded to reach space. Space Ship One was designed to reachsub-orbital space. This is just below the area where a spacecraftwould enter an orbit around the Earth. Space Ship One flew to aheight of more than one hundred twelve kilometers above the Earth.
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Brian Binnie became only the second private citizen tosuccessfully fly into space. He and Mike Melvill are now the onlytwo private citizens who have flown as astronauts. About an hourafter Space Ship One landed, it was announced that the spacecraft’steam had won the Ansari X prize of ten million dollars.
To win the Ansari X Prize, a spacecraft had to be built entirelywith private money. It had to make two flights within fourteen days.Each flight had to reach a height of at least one hundred kilometersabove the Earth.
This is the area where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and spacebegins. The spacecraft also had to carry the pilot and the amount ofweight that would equal two passengers.
The X Prize competition was organized to support space travel byprivate companies for private citizens. Reports say more thantwenty-four different groups around the world planned or builtspacecraft similar to Space Ship One. Each had hoped to win the XPrize.
Aircraft designer Burt Rutan’s Space Ship One made its firstsuccessful flight in June. It reached one hundred kilometers abovethe Earth.
It made a second flight on September twenty-ninth. Pilot Melvillwas at the controls. That flight was the team’s first attempt to winthe X Prize.
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Businessman Paul Allen was among those in the large crowd whowatched the flight on Monday. He is one of the founders of theMicrosoft Company. Mister Allen helped pay for the Space Ship Oneproject. Mister Allen says he spent more than twenty million dollarson the project. He says he has wanted to be part of space researchsince he was a small boy.
Richard Branson, who owns Virgin Airlines, was also there. Hesays he will buy several larger spacecraft from Mister Rutan. MisterBranson wants to start a business to take passengers into space. Hesays more than five thousand people have offered to pay for a seaton the first flights to space.
News of the flight of Space Ship One was also sent to theInternational Space Station. Astronaut Mike Fincke and CosmonautGennady Padalka welcomed Astronaut Binnie into space. TheInternational Space Station team said it was great to learn that fora while on Monday they were not the only people off the planetEarth.
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For more than twelve days in September, NASA’s two explorationvehicles on the surface of Mars did not move. For most of that timethe planet Mars passed nearly behind the Sun. This prevented goodradio communications between NASA scientists here on Earth and theexploration vehicles.
The two vehicles were also passingthrough the worst part of the Martian winter. This meant there waslittle sunlight for the vehicles’ collection devices to change intoelectric power. Now, NASA reports Mars is no longer behind the sun.Both vehicles are again making the needed electric power fromsunlight and have returned to work.
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The two vehicles are named Spirit and Opportunity. Theysuccessfully completed their first three months of work in April.Now, they have completed another five months of work. Their main jobis to search for evidence of water or water ice on the surface ofMars.
Andrew Dantzler is a top official at NASA headquarters inWashington, D.C. He says Spirit and Opportunity are continuing theirwork. Mister Dantzler says NASA is adding more support for the teamhere on Earth.
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Jim Erickson is the project manager for both vehicles at NASA’sJet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Mister Ericksonsays scientists had believed the two vehicles would have stoppeddoing any useful work by this time. However, he says neither vehicleshows any signs of problems. This is the second time NASA hasextended the work period for the two vehicles.
Mister Erickson says NASA does not know how much longer the twovehicles will continue to do useful work. He says it could be days,weeks or several months. Mister Erickson says the explorationvehicle team will do their best to continue getting the bestpossible use from these very valuable scientific machines.
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When Mars moved from behind the Sun, Spirit was near an area ofthe Martian surface called the Columbia Hills. This is more thanthree kilometers from its landing area.
Opportunity is inside a huge hole called Endurance Crater. Itwill explore an area of rock called Burns Cliff.
More than one hundred fifty exploration team members work withthe two vehicles. However, they no longer all work together at theJet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
The team members are now able to work at their home agencies inseveral states and in Europe. Special computer, video and soundequipment permit them to work together without being in the samebuilding.
This reduces the cost of the project and permits scientists tospend more time at home with their families. Steve Squyres is ascientist with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is a topinvestigator working with Spirit and Opportunity. He says he can nowexplore Mars during the day and still go home at night to be withhis family.
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The Spirit and Opportunity research vehicles are not the onlyscientific instruments sending back important information aboutMars. NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor satellite has recently started itsthird period of extended work.
The Mars Global Surveyor has been orbiting the planet for sevenyears. It has already sent back more than one hundred seventythousand photographs of the Red Planet. NASA reports that it issending back better pictures than ever because of new methods ofphotography.
The new photographs show three times the amount of detail as inthe past. For example, one of the improved photographs shows thewheel marks left on the Martian surface by the exploration vehicleSpirit.
Ken Edgett is a scientist for the Malin Space Science Systems inSan Diego, California. Malin Space Science Systems built the MarsOrbiter Camera. Mister Edgett says the new method is very difficultand does not always result in a good picture. However, he says whenit does, the results are extremely good.
NASA has placed more than twenty-four thousand new photographstaken by Mars Global Surveyor’s Orbiter Camera on the Internetcomputer communications system. You can see these photographs bygoing to www.msss.com.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byMario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.