环球英语 — 51：Stardust

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Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight 1 program. I’m Mike Procter.

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And I’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.

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“We travelled about five thousand million [5,000,000,000] kilometres in space. We visited a comet 2. We took pieces of it. And they landed on Earth this morning.”

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“I fully 3 expect school books in the future will have a lot of new information from the samples that landed here this morning.”

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On Sunday January fifteen [15], 2006 a very special container arrived back to earth from space. This container travelled a total of four thousand six hundred million kilometres [4,600,000,000]. It had been in space for seven [7] years!

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Today’s Spotlight is on the Stardust space vehicle. The Stardust collected materials from space. Scientists were very happy to see the Stardust return to earth. They were excited to study the materials collected inside. Why do scientists believe these materials are so important?

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NASA, the United States’ space program, began building the Stardust in 1994. It took five [5] years to build. NASA engineers sent it into space in February, 1999.

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The Stardust vehicle is small. It weighs only about three hundred and fifty [350] kilograms. During its time in space, the Stardust carried a special container. Inside the special container was a very special material. Scientists call this material aerogel.

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Scientists make aerogel by mixing together four different chemicals. The chemicals react together and form a wet, soft substance. Then scientists put the substance under a lot of heat and pressure. The final result is a very dry, very fine, soft material, like a sponge 4. It is blue. And it is very light. That is because aerogel is over ninety-nine [99] percent porous 5 - ninety-nine percent just holes!

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The fact that aerogel is so porous is very important. In fact, it is the reason why NASA chose to use this material for the Stardust project. You see, aerogel can capture 6 materials in its centre.

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The purpose of the Stardust was to explore a comet. A comet is a small object that circles the sun. Stardust was the first NASA project designed to return materials from outside of the moon’s orbit 7.

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NASA wanted the Stardust to cross paths with a particular comet named Comet Wild Two. However, the comet was moving very fast and it was very far away! But the scientists were prepared for that. By using mathematics they were able to time exactly when the Stardust and the comet would meet. Their plan was to have the Stardust orbit the sun three [3] times. On its third time around the Stardust and Comet Wild Two would cross paths. The Stardust would then be travelling at the same speed as Comet Wild Two.

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The Stardust and the comet had to be travelling at the same speeds. If the comet had been travelling faster, the comet’s particles 8 would hit the Stardust. Small, fast-moving particles could have easily destroyed the Stardust. But if the Stardust had been travelling faster than the comet, it would have passed the comet by. It would not have been able to gather the materials the scientists wanted.

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It took years for the Stardust to reach Comet Wild Two. In January of 2004 the Stardust finally crossed paths with the comet.

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So, why did scientist choose Comet Wild Two? Well, it is because they believe that this comet is over four billion [4,000,000,000] years old! Weather and pressure have changed the shapes and the faces of planets 9. But comets are frozen 10. Comets are made of frozen ice and dust. They mainly fly outside of the Solar System. Scientists believe that comets are the most unchanged bodies in space. So, scientists hope that particles collected from Comet Wild Two will explain more about the beginning of the universe.

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The aerogel in the Stardust was able to collect particles from the comet. And on January 15 2006 those particles arrived here on earth, four [4] years after the Stardust collected them. What a journey!

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A team of scientists opened the Stardust container. They were surprised by what they found. The aerogel was able to capture over one million [1,000,000] pieces of material!

Professor Brownlee of the University of Washington is one of the lead scientists for the Stardust. He said,

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“(The Stardust) is a huge success. We can see lots of impacts 12 into the aerogel. There are big ones and there are small ones. One impact 11 is almost large enough to put your little finger into it.”

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One hundred fifty [150] scientists all over the world are waiting for their chance to study these materials.

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These materials are the first of their kind to return to Earth from space. Scientists believe that molecules 13 from the space dust will be the same as molecules found on earth. They also believe that the space molecules will be the same as some molecules found in the human body. Scientists say that these materials will give evidence about the beginning of our Solar System.

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Some people fear the results from the Stardust study. They fear that scientists will say that human life may exist outside of Earth. If human life exists in other places, then humans would not be special. But Brownlee does not believe humans exist anywhere else. He believes that the conditions are perfect for life only on Earth. So, Earth, along with the people on it, is unique.

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Brownlee has spent many years studying dust from space. He believes this dust holds secrets to the beginnings of the universe. He believes that the origins of people are in dust.

Voice 1

Christians 14 use similar language. They believe that people are special. And they believe that the earth is special too. The Bible 15 shares that God created the earth. And then it says:

“Then the Lord 16 God formed a man. He made him out of the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into him. And the man became a living person.”

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The Bible is not a science book. The Bible is the story of God and man. Both science and religion have something to say about where we came from. Science can be used to describe “how.” Science helps us understand how things work. But, religion helps us to understand “who.” Who made us? The Bible is clear in its message that God made us. In the Bible one prophet 17 says:

“God, you created the deepest parts of my being. You put me together inside my mother’s body. How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that.”