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As many of us broil in August heat, the Mars Rover Spirit is ___1___ to survive a far more brutal season—a Martian winter. Spirit’s been on Mars since January 2004 and already survived previous winters, which run from May through November. With sunlight reaching Spirit ___2___, the rover hibernates and uses the scant solar power to recharge batteries and heat itself to –40 degrees [Fahrenheit].
At least, that’s what’s happened in previous winters. This winter, the game little unit just doesn’t have enough juice to keep its heaters on, so temperatures inside the rover will ___3___ a frigid –67 degrees Fahrenheit.
When NASA scientists began signaling Spirit on July 26, they hoped to receive a communications beep back—but so far there’s only silence.
The researchers say that in about two months sunlight will start to increase again through March 2011. If we haven’t heard from Spirit ___4___, then the likelihood is that we never will. The rover was designed to work on Mars for three months, but was mobile for more than five years. Now mission scientists wait through the Martian winter to see if this ET will ___5___.
hunkered down at a weak angle plunge to by that point phone home
正当我们被八月的骄阳炙烤之时，“勇气号”火星探测器却蜷成一团抵御气候更为恶劣的火星寒冬。火星冬季从5月份开始，到11月份结束。2004年1月以来，“勇气号”已经在火星上安然度过了一个又一个寒冬。由于太阳光照射角度太小，“勇气号”只好休眠，用它能接收到的微弱太阳能来充电，将自身温度维持在华氏40度。 至少，在前几个冬天是这样的。今年冬天，可怜的小家伙的燃料不足以维持加热器正常运转了，于是它内部温度将骤降到华氏零下67度。 7月26日，美国宇航局的科学家们开始向“勇气号”发射信号，期望收到它的通信反馈，不过到目前为止，尚未接收到任何回音。 研究人员表示，在大约两个月之内，太阳光将开始逐渐增多，并持续到2011年3月。假如到那个时候还没有接收到“勇气号”的任何信号，那我们可能就永远都接收不到了。最初设计“勇气号”探测器在火星上工作3个月，但它至今已经工作了5年多了。现在科学家们只好盼望着火星漫漫寒冬里“勇气号”能挂个电话回家。