外太空的模擬實驗

Located at the NASA Research Center in Iowa is a 5,000-gallon vat of water, and inside the tank is an underwater treadmill designed by Dava Newman, an aerospace engineer.

For four years Newman observed scuba divers as they simulated walking on the Moon and on Mars on her underwater moving belt.

She wanted to discover how the gravity of the Moon and of Mars would affect human movement.

To do this, Newman attached weights to the divers and then lowered them into the tank and onto the treadmill.

These weights were carefully adjusted so that the divers could experience underwater the gravity of the Moon and of Mars as they walked on the treadmill.

Newman concluded that walking on Mars will probably be easier than walking on the Moon.

The Moon has less gravity than Mars does, so at lunar gravity, the divers struggled to keep their balance and walked awkwardly.

But at Martian gravity, the divers had greater traction and stability and could easily adjust to a pace of 1.5 miles per hour.

As Newman gradually increased the speed of the treadmill, the divers took longer, graceful strides until they comfortably settled into an even quicker pace.

Newman also noted that at Martian gravity, the divers needed less oxygen.

The data Newman collected will help in the future design of Martian space suits.

Compared to lunar space suits, Martian space suits will require smaller air tanks; and, to allow for freer movement, the elbow and knee areas of the space suits will also be altered.

單詞表達(dá)

vat 大桶; 缸

tank (盛放液體或氣體的) 罐; 箱; 槽

treadmill n. 踏車，跑步機(jī)；單調(diào)的工作

aerospace /???r??spe?s/? N-UNCOUNT 航空航天

?the U.S. aerospace industry. …美國航空航天工業(yè)。

scuba diver戴水肺的潛水員

simulate vt. 模擬，模仿

?a machine that simulates conditions in space 一臺模擬太空環(huán)境的機(jī)器

?Interviews can be simulated in the classroom. 可以在教室里模擬面試。

moving belt 移動帶

gravity /?ɡr?v?t?/? N-UNCOUNT地球引力; 重力

attached weights to 附帶重量

lowered them into the tank onto the treadmill.

underwater /?nd?'w??t?/ adj. 在水中的；水面下的 adv. 在水下

lunar gravity 月球的引力

Martian gravity 火星的引力

Martian? ADJ火星的

The Martian atmosphere contains only tiny amounts of water.

火星的大氣層只含有微量的水。

traction n. 牽引；[機(jī)][車輛] 牽引力

space suits 航天服

air tanks空氣罐；氧氣筒