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The Spacecraft Curiosity Heads Toward The Planet Mars in This Illustration From NASA
The Spacecraft Curiosity Heads Toward The Planet Mars in This Illustration From NASA
˄ The spacecraft Curiosity heads toward the planet Mars in this illustration from NASA.
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Before You Read
A. Quiz. Below are some key events in the history of space exploration. Match
each event with a year. Then check your answers on pages 150–151.
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˄ In this artist’s impression, an unmanned probe explores a new solar system.
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Though we have sent unmanned1 spacecraft to Mars and other parts
of our solar system for decades, humans haven’t ventured more than
650 kilometers (400 miles) from Earth since 1973. However, there is
increasing interest in sending new missions—both robotic and
manned— into space. But unlike in the past, this renewed interest is
not primarily being driven by government agencies. Instead, private
companies are leading today’s new age of space exploration.
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Another company called Planetary Resources—which is backed by
billionaires from Google—plans to use robotic spacecraft to mine2
asteroids3 for precious metals. One that the company hopes to find is
platinum, a metal so rare on Earth that an ounce (about 28 grams)
costs $1,600. Robots will have to travel millions of kilometers to locate
and mine asteroids, and this requires technology that doesn’t exist
yet. This isn’t stopping companies like Planetary Resources and
others from trying, though. They are investing millions into research,
hoping to create tools that will make space mining possible. “This is
the beginning of the new space age,” says Mason Peck, who works for
NASA, the U.S. space organization. “The energy we see now—the
economic motivation to go into space—we haven’t seen that before.”
2 When people mine for metals (like gold and silver), they dig deep holes in the ground
to extract them.
3 An asteroid is an irregularly shaped rock, that orbits the sun mostly in a zone between
Mars and Jupiter.
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For centuries, economics has driven
exploration. A thousand years ago,
merchants risked the dangers of the
Silk Road to reach the markets of
China. In the 15th century, European
ships traveled to new worlds,
searching less for knowledge than
for gold and spices. “Historically, the
driver has always been the search
for resources,” explains investor
Peter Diamandis. If you want people
to explore space, he says, create an
economic incentive.
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“This is the beginning of the new space age.”
Mason Peck
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For Musk, creating reusable rockets is part of a much bigger plan:
He wants to establish a human colony on Mars. NASA has had
enormous success on Mars with unmanned spacecraft, but it has
yet to launch a manned mission. Musk says SpaceX could put
astronauts on Mars within 20 years, and then keep sending them
for decades after that. “We can’t send one little group to Mars,” he
says. “We have to take millions of people and lots of equipment to
Mars to make it a self-sustaining civilization.” It will be the hardest
thing that humanity has ever done, but Musk thinks his company
can do it and he’s eager to see it happen. “It’s about making life
multi-planetary,” he says. “It’s about getting out there and
exploring the stars.”
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Reading Comprehension
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Interpreting 7. When was the U.S. least active in space exploration?
Charts a. the early 60s to mid-60s
b. the early 70s to mid-70s
c. the late 70s to early 80s
d. the late 80s
Critical Thinking
Interpreting: Why does Elon Musk mention airplanes (paragraph 5)?
What point is he making?
Discussion: How likely do you think building a Mars space colony is?
Would you be interested in going there?
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Reading Skill
Recognizing Appositives
Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that rename or identify another noun
beside them by providing additional information. They can appear at the
beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence, and are set off by
commas. For example:
However, there are some structures that appear to be appositives but are
not.
A thousand years ago, merchants risked the dangers of the Silk Road.
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A. Analyzing. Check (✓) the sentences that contain appositives.
1. □ Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died in 2012.
2. □ A 722-kilogram space probe, Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 to
study the solar system.
3. □ Several companies, hoping to take tourists into space, are taking
reservations now.
4. □ In 2012, China became the third country to land a rover on the
moon.
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B. Applying. Rewrite each sentence with the correct appositive from the box.
Then check your answers in the reading on pages 148–149.
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Vocabulary Practice
A. Completion. Complete the information below with words from the box.
One word is extra.
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DSI’s CEO, David Gump, says that obtaining resources from beyond
Earth is essential for future space travel. This is because pushing
extremely expensive. Some
through the Earth’s atmosphere is 6. ____________
90 percent of the weight lifted by a rocket sending a capsule to Mars is
fuel. Space exploration would be much cheaper if some of the fuel
could be picked up on the way. DSI is currently looking for financial
backing
7. ____________ to make its dream a reality.
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B. Words in Context. Read the sentences and circle T (True) or F (False).
Word Partnership
Use precious with: (n.) precious metal, precious stone, precious
jewelry, precious cargo, precious moment.
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