首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
On April 8th Envisat, Europe’s largest Earth-observing satellite, unexpectedly stopped talking to its users on the Earth below.
On April 8th Envisat, Europe’s largest Earth-observing satellite, unexpectedly stopped talking to its users on the Earth below.
admin
2011-02-03
64
问题
On April 8th Envisat, Europe’s largest Earth-observing satellite, unexpectedly stopped talking to its users on the Earth below. Since then those users have been frantically trying to re-establish contact. They rely on Envisat’s radars and other sensors for a wide range of measurements, from the temperature of the oceans to the chemistry of the stratosphere. Scientists have used it to gauge ocean conditions for shipping and to investigate earthquakes; its data have been the basis of thousands of scientific papers.
Envisat had, unlike much of Europe, forgone early retirement: designed for five years of operation, it was on its tenth. Given its advanced years, you would think that planning for its eventual end would be well in hand. You would expect that successor instruments would already be in orbit, their measurements carefully cross-correlated with Envisat’s so that the elucidation of the scope and pace of global environmental change could continue seamlessly. You would be wrong.
Wilful blindness
Providing earthlings with a reliable, continuous record of their planet’s condition would seem a sensible aim in any circumstances. With the state of the atmosphere and oceans upset in ways whose consequences are not easily foreseen, and may well prove catastrophic, it becomes an imperative. You do not need to know every little thing about the environment in order to make policy about it. But only long-term measurements will allow researchers to get a reliable grip on the science of climate change and other environmental stresses. A firm grasp of the basic trends is a necessary precondition for understanding and for informed policy.
The governments that build and operate satellites like Envisat are not taking that necessity seriously. According to a damning report from America’s National Academies, the number of civilian Earth-observing satellites flown by the United States government looks likely to fall from 23 today to just 6 in 2020, and the number of instruments in orbit could drop from 90 to 20. The situation in Europe is somewhat less disastrous, but has its own problems. The European Space Agency is unwilling to move forward with a new generation of satellites that can monitor the environment continuously until the European Union promises to pay their operating costs.
Several of the parties involved must share the blame for this failure. The scientists who have a say in setting the priorities for Earth observation often fixate on pet projects and new sorts of measurement, as scientists are not to do; that can lead to the vital business of long-term monitoring getting downplayed. Co-operation and co-ordination between agencies and countries is not what it should be. Then there is bad luck (or poor judgment): in recent years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lost two Earth-observing missions in a row because of a second-rate rocket for which it has yet to find an adequate replacement.
But the main culprits are governments, which are spending too little on the job. In 2010 the World Meteorological Organisation estimated that getting satellite observations up to scratch in terms of climate monitoring would cost an extra $1 billion a year. In the late 1990s NASA used to spend $2 billion a year on Earth observations, but by 2007 that had fallen to $1.3 billion (the costs of a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope rose from around $2 billion to $9 billion over roughly the same period). Properly co-ordinated, modest increases in the budget in America and the EU, and contributions from other powers (China is now flying very capable Earth-observing satellites; India and Brazil have been in the game for a while), could sort the problem out. Without them, the world will feel its way into the future blind and ill-prepared.
From The Economist, May 12, 2012
How long has the Envisat satellite been used for?
选项
A、5 years
B、7 years
C、10 years
D、3 years
答案
C
解析
本题为细节题。文章第二段提到:“Envisat had,unlike much of Europe,forgone early retirement:designed for five years of operation,it was on its tenth.”因此答案C正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/C01K777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Hestillremembers______toahospitalwhenhewasinjured.
______youhaveseenthingslikethesebeforedoesn’tmatter.
TheOrientalArtCenterlieswithin______ofmyhome.
Fromthetestimonyemergesaman______deviousandhonest,vulgarandgallant,scatterbrainedandshrewd.
Researchershaveestablishedthatwhenpeoplearementallyengaged,biochemicalchangesoccurinthebrainthatallowittoact
Whatisthespeakertalkingabout?
Whatisthespeakertalkingabout?
SEATTLE(Reuters)-Initsseconddtenteinasmanymonths,MicrosoftCorp.onFridaysaidithaspartneredwithlongtimerival
TheEnglishlanguageexistsinaconditionofeverlastingdanger,itsAmericanbranchmostparticularly,assaultedasitisfrom
TheNationalTrustinBritain,togetherwithsimilarvoluntaryorganizations,playsanincreasinglyimportantpartinthepreser
随机试题
建设工程项目进度控制在管理观念方面存在的主要问题包括()。
境外基础证券发行人应当确保存托凭证持有人实际享有的()等权益与境外基础证券持有人权益相当。Ⅰ.参与重大决策Ⅱ.资产收益Ⅲ.剩余财产分配Ⅳ.日常经营
某零售企业欲经营某种新产品,现要就进货方案做出决策。如表5—13所示(收益矩阵表)。根据资料回答下列问题。运用折衷准则,且折衷系数α=0.7,则应选择进货()万件。
下列对汉武帝时期的西汉的描述中,正确的是()。
杜威所属的心理学理论流派是()。
下列选项不属于功能复合材料的是()。
体验营销是指企业采用让目标顾客观摩、聆听、尝试、试用等方式,使其亲身体验企业提供的产品或服务,让顾客实际感知产品或服务的品质或性能,从而促使顾客认知、喜好并购买的一种营销方式。根据上述定义,下列采用了体验营销方式的是()。
论述知觉的基本特征及其在教学中的应用。
以下属于中华民族优良道德传统中追求精神境界,把道德理想的实现看做是一种高层次的需要的有
TermsandConditionsofEmploymentThesetermsandconditionsshouldbereadbeforeyousignyourcontract.Salary:Your
最新回复
(
0
)