13.

Scientists at NASA are to build a spacecraft to probe Mercury, the most mysterious and least-explored planet in the inner solar system. One objective of the US$286 million mission is to find out if deep craters at the poles of Mercury are filled with ice, despite surface temperatures elsewhere on the planet of up to 450 degrees Celsius.

A NASA spokesman said that construction of the Messenger space probe would begin immediately, to meet a scheduled launch date of March 2004. Five years will be needed after that for the probe to reach its final destination in orbit above Mercury. The only other spacecraft to have made investigations of Mercury was Mariner 10, which flew past the planet three times in 1974 and 1975. However, Mariner 10 was only able to take photographs of half the surface area of the sun’s nearest planet. This time, the Messenger probe will stay in orbit for at least a year, to make detailed maps of Mercury’s topography as well as measure its magnetic field and other geophysical features. A special shield will be attached to protect Messenger from the intense heat of the sun.

The deepest parts of Mercury’s craters are in continual shadow, and temperatures there never rise above minus—200 degrees. Radar experiments in 1991 indicated that the craters could contain water deposited there when comets crashed into Mercury over billions of years.

Jay Bergstralh, chief scientist at NASA’s Solar System Exploration Division in Washington D.C., said that the Messenger spacecraft is the seventh in NASA’s Discovery program, which is aimed at exploring the solar system using small and relatively cheap probes. He noted that Messenger is the program’s “most complex and challenging” mission, aimed at revealing more about a planet that is too close to the sun for the Hubble space telescope to photograph.



Questions 1—11
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in the reading passage? In boxes 1—11 on your answer sheet, write:

T if the statement reflects the writer ‘s claim
F if the statement contradicts the writer
NG if there is no information about this in the passage

1. Mercury lies outside the solar system.
2. The spas alreadce probe will look for ice on the surface of Mercury.
3. It will take Messenger five years to reach Mercury.
4. Messenger will make the first close-up investigation of Mercury.
5. Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun.
6. Messenger will conduct experiments in space.
7. The sun’s rays cannot reach the bottom of Mercury’s craters.
8. Ice on Mercury could have been formed by ancient rivers.
9. Messenger is part of a series of probes being conducted by Nasa.
10. The Messenger mission will be followed by a landing on Mercury.
11. Mercury hay been photographed by the Hubble space telescope.

Answer: 1-F, 2-F, 3-T, 4-F, 5-T, 6-NG, 7-T, 8-NG, 9-T, 10-NG, 11-F

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