[NEW WORDS]
♧ spacecraft : n. 우주선
♧ Saturn : n. 토성
♧ unmanned : a. 무인의, 사람이 타지 않은
♧ close in on : ~에 가까이 다가가다
♧ burn : v. 분사하다, 점화하다
♧ one way or the other : 어떻게든, 이럭저럭
♧ swirl : v. 소용돌이 치다, 빙빙 돌다
♧ eerie : a. 무시무시한, 오싹한, 기분나쁜
♧ hiss : n. 쉿 소리
♧ radio wave : n. 전자파, 전파
♧ spin : v. 돌다, 공전하다
♧ axis : n. 축, 주축, 중심선
♧ probe : n. 탐침, 소식자, 탐사용 로켓
♧ mankind : n. 인류, 인간
♧ autopilot : n. 자동조정장치
And significant space news tonight involving the fascinating planet, Saturn. Hundreds of millions of miles into space, an unmanned craft, called Cassini, may be about to go into orbit around Saturn. Cassini was launched seven years ago, traveling ever since, and tonight is the critical night in its mission.
Nine hundred million miles out in space, Cassini is closing in on its beautiful, ringed target. Tonight, if all goes well, it will fire its engine for an hour and a half, gently slowing itself into orbit around Saturn.
"I have full faith in this spacecraft that it's going to, it's going to make this burn one way or the other."
Saturn is a giant ball of swirling gas, with temperatures 200 degrees below zero. And winds of a thousand miles an hour. There's no way for a ship to land there, but already, it is close enough to hear. That eerie hiss is the sound of radio waves, created by Saturn, as it spins on its axis.
"And if we were on the spacecraft right now, we would see Saturn getting really big, really quickly."
Kevin Grazier has given six years of his life to Cassini, which makes him one of the junior members of the team. The ship was launched in 1997. 5,000 scientists and engineers have worked on it.
They have a million questions about Saturn. What's beneath all those clouds? They're not even sure there's a solid surface. They wonder how the rings formed. And they're especially curious about the largest moon, called Titan, where they hope to land a probe in January. But first, they have to get into orbit around the planet.
"We are working on something that I can easily convince myself is one of the greatest achievements mankind's ever done."
Already, Cassini is on autopilot. So what will the engineers do tonight while they wait for signals? "Chew our nails," said one.