The Other Side of NASA.
What is happening inside America’s greatest science project?
Four decades after Apollo, we still know them
as the people who made it to the moon, but the folks at NASA aren’t just about
rockets: This year, nearly $2 billion of the agency’s $17 billion budget is
slated for aeronautics and earth-science research. While the “space” part of
NASA gears up for a long-delayed manned return to the moon, the agency’s
down-to-earth divisions are quietly yielding some practical advances.
FASTER-AND QUIETER-AIRPLANES
NASA’s
hypersonics research is pushing aviation speed limits with ultrafast scramjets
(supersonic combustion ramjet engines): In 2004, the agency’s unmanned
hypersonic X-43A craft briefly reached Mach 9.6 (about 7,000 miles per hour) a
record for an air breathing engine. The military hopes to use scramjets to send
missiles around the globe; they could also launch satellites more cheaply.
For commercial aviation, the tooth-rattling noise of sonic booms is a
significant problem. “To fly these aircraft over land without restrictions, we
have to reduce the sonic boom to acceptable levels,” says Peter Coen,
supersonics principal investigator at Langley Research Center. NASA is now
testing the quiet spike, a privately-developed, telescoping nose attachment
that breaks up the shock wave created when an aircraft hits the speed of sound,
potentially reducing noise to 1/10,000 of the Concorde’s boom. This technology
could make supersonic airliners commercially viable: The concorde flew only transatlantic
routes because of noise.
NASA is also advancing the design of subsonic airplanes. Here the focus
is on blended-wing-body craft, where the structure of a conventional airliner
is stretched into a single flying wing, generating more lift and less drag
while using less fuel. An unmanned 21-foot-wingspan prototype called the X-48B
had its first flight test in July.
SEEING THROUGH THE CLOUDS.
To improve aviation safety, NASA recently created the Synthetic Vision
System, a cockpit virtual reality display that allows pilots to see the terrain
around them clearly under any weather conditions (limited visibility
contributes to most fatal crashes).
The Intelligent Flight Control System, designed for both military and
civilian planes, is adaptive onboard software that responds to changes in
stability, helping pilots keep control when planes are damaged or systems fail
unexpectedly. Other projects aim to provide better weather data and turbulence
detection.
TESTING HUMAN LIMITS
To design easier-to-use machines, NASA’s human factors division
investigates sensory skills and cognitive patterns. One recent development: a
video-based alertness monitoring system that watches sleepy pilots for drooping
eyelids. Memory and attention research helps design cockpit displays and
controls that pilots can manage despite noise and distractions, while studies
of human-computer interactions help engineers construct virtual reality
displays and training simulations.
SUPERCOMPUTING IT
NASA’s Ames Research Center hosts Columbia, the world’s 13th
most powerful supercomputer. Its number-crunching capabilities are used to
study ship hydrodynamics and air turbulence, to probe industrial combustion
turbines to create cleaner engines, and to understand global ocean circulation,
as well as for earthquake simulations and aircraft noise-reduction modeling.
1.- The word “them” in line 1 makes reference to:
a) The people who created the Apollo.
b) The people who travelled to the moon.
c) The four decades after Apollo.
d) The America’s greatest science project.
2.- How much money is slated for aeronautics and earth-science research?
a) A small budget.
b) $17 billion
c) $ 2 billion
d) $19 billion
3.- What does the military hope to do with the scramjets?
a)
To
send missiles around the globe and they could also launch cheap satellites.
b)
To
send missiles and satellites around the world.
c)
To
send missiles around the world as well as to launch satellites more cheaply.
d)
To
send satellites around the globe and to launch missiles more cheaply.
4.- What is the
name of the technology that could make supersonic airliners commercially
viable?
a)
Aircraft
b)
Shock
wave
c)
Concorde’s
boom.
d)
Quiet
spike.
5.- Why is not
the Concorde allowed to travel over land without restrictions?
a)
Because
it makes a lot of noise.
b)
Because
it is very big.
c)
Because
it doesn’t make a lot of noise.
d)
Because
it is dangerous.
6.- The
structure of a conventional airliner is stretched into:
a)
Two
flying wings.
b)
A
lift.
c)
A
flying wing which is single.
d)
One
flying wing.
7.- What’s the
Synthetic Vision System?
a)
It’s a display that allows pilots to see the terrain around them unclearly under any
weather conditions.
b)
It’s a display that
let pilots to see the terrain around them clearly under any weather conditions.
c)
It’s a display that
allows pilots to see the terrain around them clearly under good weather
conditions.
d)
It’s a display that
doesn’t allow the pilots to see the terrain around them under any weather
conditions.
8.- Choose a synonym for the verb “aim”
a) Try
b) Help
c) Need
d) Have
9.- What does eyelids mean in spanish?
a)
Ojos.
b)
Pestañas.
c)
Párpados
d)
Iris.
10.- Choose an antonym for powerful:
a) Strong.
b) Weak.
c) Interactive.
d) Disposable.
