| 美国宇航局探索极光能源-2 To seek the answer to this mystery, NASA has launched five satellites aboard a Delta rocket from Florida to train their instruments on the northern and southern lights. The project is called THEMIS. 为了找到这个谜的答案，美国国家航空和宇宙航行局在佛罗里达发射了五枚人造卫星与一枚 三角洲火箭，以此来训练他们研究南北极光的仪器。这项计划称为 THEMIS ，即 副磁暴期间事件时间纪录与宏观尺度互动研究计划。 Once in orbit, two of the THEMIS spacecraft will circle Earth about one-sixth the distance to the moon while the other two circle half way to the moon. 一旦进入轨道， THEMIS 的两艘太空船将会围绕地球运行大约月地距离的六分之一，而另外两艘运行大约月地距离的二分之一。 A fifth will be a reserve, if one of the others fails during the two-year mission. 五艘太空船有一艘是后备的，以防其中一艘在这历时两年的使命中发生故障。 Angelopoulos says a finding will help scientists know more about the threatening solar storms and how our planet's magnetic field works. 安格罗保罗指出，一项发现将会帮助科学家们更多地了解危险的太阳风暴，以及地球磁场如何发生作用。 Vassilis Angelopoulos : Understanding and predicting space storms is important for protecting our satellites and astronauts in space. Meteorologists study tornadoes to understand the most severe thunderstorms, and we, too, want to study substorms to gain insight into the most intense space storms. 安格罗保罗：“理解并预测太空风暴对于在太空中保护我们的人造卫星和宇航员来说是很重要的。气象学家们研究龙卷风，以此做推理来研究最最剧烈的雷暴。我们也想研究亚暴，以此获得对最剧烈的太空风暴的了解” Cramming five miniature satellites into the nose of one launch rocket has had a collateral engineering benefit. Each is a cube, less than one meter wide and high. 将五个微型人造卫星放入运载火箭的前端，这样做在工程上会间接地起到积极的作用。每一个微型人造卫星都为立方体，宽高都不到一米。 The THEMIS project manager at the University of California, Peter Harvey, says it has taught technicians how to make small satellites with little computers and other instruments. 作为 THEMIS 计划的管理人员， 来自加利福尼亚大学的彼得·哈维 指出，这将教会技术人员如何尽量少使用电脑与其它仪器来制造小的人造卫星。 |
