[ti:US Space Agency Exploring Living Spaces for Moon and Mars] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The United States space agency NASA is considering models of [00:06.43]future living spaces for astronauts exploring the moon and Mars. [00:14.44]A group of NASA officials and veteran astronauts has examined five working models of space habitats. [00:25.20]Private companies developed the habitats for the space agency. [00:31.24]They were created to give NASA ideas for what a future Lunar Gateway might look like. [00:40.56]NASA has described the Lunar Gateway as a small spaceship [00:46.36]that would remain in orbit around the moon. [00:50.96]It would be designed as a living space for astronauts and as a laboratory for science projects. [01:00.84]NASA has set a goal of returning human beings to the moon by the year 2024. [01:09.52]The gateway would give the astronauts a base for making trips to the moon. [01:15.84]Such a spaceship could one day be deployed for the planet Mars, too. [01:22.64]NASA astronaut Mike Gernhardt serves as the chief investigator for the habitat testing program. [01:32.64]"The whole point is to define what we like and what we don't like [01:37.82]about these different habitats," he told Reuters news agency. [01:44.76]Recently, Gernhardt and his team were in Las Vegas, Nevada [01:49.64]for a final inspection at the headquarters of Bigelow Aerospace. [01:57.12]Bigelow is one of the companies that built a habitat model. [02:03.60]The company's founder, Robert Bigelow, told reporters the Gateway project provides the chance [02:11.60]"to test all these structures in a deep space environment...as a prelude to going to Mars." [02:21.04]His company's inflatable habitat, called the B330, would be launched from Earth aboard a rocket. [02:30.92]It is made of a fabric-like material. [02:34.46]The B330 is designed to protect astronauts from deep-space radiation and objects traveling at high speeds. [02:46.68]Once in space, the habitat opens up into a two-floor, 16-meter-long station that can hold up to six astronauts. [02:59.00]Four other companies are building model habitats. [03:02.67]They are The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, [03:08.12]Sierra Nevada Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation. [03:14.76]NASA plans to spend one billion dollars on the lunar space habitat and colonization program through 2028. [03:25.92]Each of the companies received a part of the $65 million [03:31.30]that the space agency approved in 2017 to develop the habitat models. [03:38.56]The companies are giving the space agency ideas. [03:42.54]These include suggestions about where to place astronaut toilets, [03:48.88]how big beds should be and how many windows the station should have. [03:55.36]The ideas are to be used in official plans that NASA officials are to release in the coming months. [04:04.28]Gernhardt and two other astronauts spent three days living in each habitat model. [04:12.68]For its Gateway design, Lockheed Martin created a four-and-a-half meter by seven meter [04:19.59]steel structure with beds, tables and windows. [04:25.04]At first, the structure was designed to be a shipping container. [04:29.50]The company had planned to use it to carry supplies to and from the International Space Station. [04:38.60]Lockheed Martin's Bill Pratt told Reuters one of the most important things for the habitat [04:46.28]is that it can be "reconfigurable" to fit whatever the immediate need is. [04:52.64]"Like in an RV, your table becomes the bed that you sleep on at night." [05:00.04]Bigelow said the B330 habitat has two toilets for a crew of up to six to use. [05:08.84]He added that his company was already working to develop a virtual reality system [05:15.95]to create an Earth-like environment so astronauts can feel at home as they orbit Mars. [05:24.36]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM