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Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has spent much of his time seeking artistic solutions to solve our environmental problems. His past projects include "Bioluminescent(生物发光)Trees" to light streets, a "Smog-Free Tower" to clean Beijing's polluted air and "Gates of Light", which uses the headlamps of passing cars to light up the 60 floodgates of the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands. Now, he is hoping to use his skills to solve a pressing global problem—space junk!
Scientists guess that there are over 500, 000 bits of large rubbish. To deal with the problem, Roosegaarde intends to achieve his goal by educating the public about the need of the situation and coming up with possible solutions. The plan, called the Space Waste Lab, started in October 2018 with a laser(激光)show in the Netherlands. The unique outdoor artwork of LEDs used real-time tracking information to point at pieces of space junk floating at altitudes of 200 to 20, 000 kilometers. The experience was designed to make the public know more about how much space junk there are.
To find a solution, the designer has been thinking with experts. One of the projects being considered is "Shooting Stars", which attempts to reintroduce the trash to the atmosphere in a controlled way. Upon reentry the waste would burn in the atmosphere like a shooting star. Roosegaarde envisages that, if successful, burning space trash could someday replace fireworks at large public events!
In September 2018, the Remove DEBRIS satellite successfully sent a net to catch a target while orbiting at an altitude of about 300 kilometers (190 miles). Sometime this year, the capsule will set free a harpoon that has been designed to remove space trash. At the end of its task, Remove DEBRIS will let go for a sail to bring the satellite itself, and hopefully some trash, back into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.
Shooting for the Stars
Tereshkova flew into space on June 16, 1963, on the three-day Vostok 6 mission. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to Earth, having spent more time in space than all U. S. astronauts combined to that date.
A textile worker from a modest family, Tereshkova became interested in parachuting at a young age. Tereshkova and four other women were part of the first all-female cosmonaut training group in 1961, but only Tereshkova ever completed a flight.
After Tereshkova's landmark mission, it would take another 20 years for the United States to send a woman into space. Since then, a total of 57 women from nine different countries have blasted off.
Chinese astronaut Wang Yaping heads for the launch site shortly before her mission to dock with a space lab on June 11.
NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg was aboard the International Space Station and China sent its second-ever female astronaut, Wang Yaping, to work on its orbiting space module. However, Tereshkova remained the only woman to complete a solo flight.
In recent years, NASA has run into trouble with funding. However, this new class of astronaut candidates suggests that NASA is looking ahead to the future of space exploration. The group includes the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in almost two decades, as well as a female helicopter pilot.
A. Since then, many astronauts have conquered the space.
B. Two women have been in orbit in recent years.
C. However, her parents thought it dangerous to do so and tried to stop her.
D. Currently, there are no American spacecraft that can carry humans to space.
E. Sally Ride became the first female American woman to leave Earth on June 18, 1983.
F. It took place just two years after Yuri Gagarin achieved the first piloted spaceflight in 1961.
G. Her experience in parachute jumping led to her being selected as a cosmonaut by the Russian government.
