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Stardust
星尘号宇宙飞船
Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight program. I'm Mike Procter.
AndI'm Rebekah Schipper. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
"We travelled about five thousand million kilometres in space. We visiteda comet. We took pieces of it. And they landed on Earth this morning."
"I fully expect school books in the future will have a lot of newinformation from the samples that landed here this morning."
OnSunday January fifteen, 2006 a very special container arrived back to earthfrom space. This container travelled a total of four thousand six hundredmillion kilometres. It had been in space for seven years!
Today's Spotlight is on the Stardust space vehicle. The Stardust collectedmaterials from space. Scientists were very happy to see the Stardust return toearth. They were excited to study the materials collected inside. Why doscientists believe these materials are so important?
NASA, the United States' space program, began building the Stardust in 1994. Ittook five years to build. NASA engineers sent it into space in February, 1999.
TheStardust vehicle is small. It weighs only about three hundred and fiftykilograms. During its time in space, the Stardust carried a special container.Inside the special container was a very special material. Scientists call thismaterial aerogel.
Scientists make aerogel by mixing together four different chemicals. Thechemicals react together and form a wet, soft substance. Then scientists putthe substance under a lot of heat and pressure. The final result is a very dry,very fine, soft material, like a sponge. It is blue. And it is very light. Thatis because aerogel is over ninety-nine percent porous - ninety-nine percentjust holes!
Thefact that aerogel is so porous is very important. In fact, it is the reason whyNASA chose to use this material for the Stardust project. You see, aerogel cancapture materials in its centre.
Thepurpose of the Stardust was to explore a comet. A comet is a small object thatcircles the sun. Stardust was the first NASA project designed to returnmaterials from outside of the moon's orbit.
NASAwanted the Stardust to cross paths with a particular comet named Comet WildTwo. However, the comet was moving very fast and it was very far away! But thescientists were prepared for that. By using mathematics they were able to timeexactly when the Stardust and the comet would meet. Their plan was to have theStardust orbit the sun three times. On its third time around the Stardust andComet Wild Two would cross paths. The Stardust would then be travelling at thesame speed as Comet Wild Two.
TheStardust and the comet had to be travelling at the same speeds. If the comethad been travelling faster, the comet's particles would hit the Stardust.Small, fast-moving particles could have easily destroyed the Stardust. But ifthe Stardust had been travelling faster than the comet, it would have passedthe comet by. It would not have been able to gather the materials thescientists wanted.
Ittook years for the Stardust to reach Comet Wild Two. In January of 2004 theStardust finally crossed paths with the comet.
So,why did scientist choose Comet Wild Two? Well, it is because they believe thatthis comet is over four billion years old! Weather and pressure have changedthe shapes and the faces of planets. But comets are frozen. Comets are made offrozen ice and dust. They mainly fly outside of the Solar System. Scientistsbelieve that comets are the most unchanged bodies in space. So, scientists hopethat particles collected from Comet Wild Two will explain more about thebeginning of the universe.
Theaerogel in the Stardust was able to collect particles from the comet. And onJanuary 15 2006 those particles arrived here on earth, four years after theStardust collected them. What a journey!
Ateam of scientists opened the Stardust container. They were surprised by whatthey found. The aerogel was able to capture over one million pieces of material!
Professor Brownlee of the University of Washington is one of thelead scientists for the Stardust. He said,
"(The Stardust) is a huge success. We can see lots of impacts into theaerogel. There are big ones and there are small ones. One impact is almostlarge enough to put your little finger into it."
Onehundred fifty scientists all over the world are waiting for their chance to study these materials.
These materials are the first of their kind to return to Earth from space.Scientists believe that molecules from the space dust will be the same asmolecules found on earth. They also believe that the space molecules will bethe same as some molecules found in the human body. Scientists say that thesematerials will give evidence about the beginning of our Solar System.
Somepeople fear the results from the Stardust study. They fear that scientistswill say that human life may exist outside of Earth. If human life exists inother places, then humans would not be special. But Brownlee does not believehumans exist anywhere else. He believes that the conditions are perfect for lifeonly on Earth. So, Earth, along with the people on it, is unique.
Brownlee has spent many years studying dust from space. He believes thisdust holds secrets to the beginnings of the universe. He believes that theorigins of people are in dust.
Christians use similar language. They believe that people are special. And theybelieve that the earth is special too. The Bible shares that God created theearth. And then it says:
"Then the Lord God formed a man. He made him out of thedust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into him. And the man becamea living person."
TheBible is not a science book. The Bible is the story of God and man. Bothscience and religion have something to say about where we came from. Sciencecan be used to describe "how". Science helps us understand how thingswork. But, religion helps us to understand "who". Who made us? TheBible is clear in its message that God made us. In the Bible one prophet says:
"God, you created the deepest parts of my being. You put metogether inside my mother's body. How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praiseyou for that."
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