問題詳情

In sci-fi movies, space habitats are huge structures with maze arrangements. However, Hollywood doesn’t have to deal with the issues real aerospace engineers face when deliberating future space homes, such as gravity and financial constraints.

NASA reckons that the International Space Station cost up to $100 billion in the 1990s and required more than 115 space flights. That’s why scientists are endeavoring to develop expandable and flexible space habitats. Instead of rigid metal structures, they can be sent into space when they are deflated. With reduced weight and volume, these types of habitats would be easier and cheaper to launch. Bigelow’s Expandable
Activity Module, or BEAM, is designed to start out small and expand to four times its size in space. The company recently attached a prototype to the International Space Station. It only took one launch with a price tag of $17.8 million. Once inflated, BEAM will add a space — about the size of a bedroom — to the orbiting research lab. The module will stay attached to the space station for two years to see how it withstands the harsh environment of space.

During the test period, NASA will be paying close attention to the structural integrity of the BEAM module. Bigelow is tight-lipped about the proprietary material from which the modules are made, but he reveals that it is a multiple-layered structure. When it hits the first outer layer, it fractures and breaks up.

Astronauts will enter BEAM every few months to evaluate and monitor things such as temperature, pressure and radiation sensors. If the module performs well, inflatables could play a critical role in the future of space exploration. Bigelow hopes they would like to be part of the process of establishing a lunar station and other kinds of space outposts and helping to support Mars ambitions someday.

【題組】34. According to the passage, why are scientists working on the expandable space habitats?
(A)To deal with Hollywood.
(B)Todeal with financial issues.
(C)To deal with the maze.
(D)Todeal with engineers.

參考答案

答案：B
難度：適中0.625
統計：A(1),B(10),C(2),D(2),E(0)