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As many of us broil in August heat, the Mars Rover Spirit is ___1___ to survive a far more brutal season—a Martian winter. Spirit’s been on Mars since January 2004 and already survived previous winters, which run from May through November. With sunlight reaching Spirit ___2___, the rover hibernates and uses the scant solar power to recharge batteries and heat itself to –40 degrees [Fahrenheit].
At least, that’s what’s happened in previous winters. This winter, the game little unit just doesn’t have enough juice to keep its heaters on, so temperatures inside the rover will ___3___ a frigid –67 degrees Fahrenheit.
When NASA scientists began signaling Spirit on July 26, they hoped to receive a communications beep back—but so far there’s only silence.
The researchers say that in about two months sunlight will start to increase again through March 2011. If we haven’t heard from Spirit ___4___, then the likelihood is that we never will. The rover was designed to work on Mars for three months, but was mobile for more than five years. Now mission scientists wait through the Martian winter to see if this ET will ___5___.
hunkered down at a weak angle plunge to by that point phone home
正當(dāng)我們被八月的驕陽炙烤之時，“勇氣號”火星探測器卻蜷成一團(tuán)抵御氣候更為惡劣的火星寒冬。火星冬季從5月份開始，到11月份結(jié)束。2004年1月以來，“勇氣號”已經(jīng)在火星上安然度過了一個又一個寒冬。由于太陽光照射角度太小，“勇氣號”只好休眠，用它能接收到的微弱太陽能來充電，將自身溫度維持在華氏40度。 至少，在前幾個冬天是這樣的。今年冬天，可憐的小家伙的燃料不足以維持加熱器正常運轉(zhuǎn)了，于是它內(nèi)部溫度將驟降到華氏零下67度。 7月26日，美國宇航局的科學(xué)家們開始向“勇氣號”發(fā)射信號，期望收到它的通信反饋，不過到目前為止，尚未接收到任何回音。 研究人員表示，在大約兩個月之內(nèi)，太陽光將開始逐漸增多，并持續(xù)到2011年3月。假如到那個時候還沒有接收到“勇氣號”的任何信號，那我們可能就永遠(yuǎn)都接收不到了。最初設(shè)計“勇氣號”探測器在火星上工作3個月，但它至今已經(jīng)工作了5年多了?，F(xiàn)在科學(xué)家們只好盼望著火星漫漫寒冬里“勇氣號”能掛個電話回家。