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Words
- Terms - Phrases
Apollo
The series of U.S. space missions that took the first
people to the moon in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Astronomer
A scientist who studies the stars and planets.
Atmosphere
A blanket of gases that surrounds a planet.
Biosphere
A sealed transparent dome, containing breathable gases,
that is completely cut off from the outside world.
Plants and animals can thrive in a biosphere, as they can on
Earth.
Comet
An object with a long tail that orbits around the sun.
Cosmonaut
A Russian space traveler
Deep Space
The regions that lie beyond our own solar system (the
group of planets, moons, and other bodies, including the
earth, that orbit the sun.)
Dock
to join together
Ecosystem
A group of plants and animals that thrive together,
exchanging nutrients and gases with each other. Life
on Earth forms a natural ecosystem.
Electromagnetic
Waves
Waves of energy that travel at 188,000 miles per second
- faster than anything else in the universe - and can move
through empty space. Light, radio waves, and X rays
are all types of electromagnetic waves.
Genetic Engineering
Using technology to alter the "genes" of
a living thing. Genes are the chemical instructions at
the heart of every one of its cells that determine how it
lives and develops.
Geologist
A scientist who studies rocks, minerals, and landforms.
Gravitons
Particles that are supposed to create gravity, just as
photons create light. Scientist are still searching
for gravitons.\
Gravity
The force that exists between any two masses,
pulling them together. Gravity between yourself
and Earth pulls you toward the ground.
Hologram
An apparently three-dimensional image produced on a
photographic plate or film.
International Space
Station (ISS)
Due for completion in 2001, this will be the
largest-ever space station, built by the space agencies of
the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Europe, and other
nation.
Internet
A vast network of computers that we can use to send
words, pictures, sounds, and moving images to each other
around the world.
Jupiter
The largest planet in our solar system (the planets,
moons, and other bodies that orbit the sun). Jupiter
is the fifth planet from the sun and is made mainly of gas.
Lunar Rover
A battery-powered lightweight two-seater buggy that
Apollo astronauts drove across the moon in 1972.
Mars
The closest planet to Earth, and a likely destination
for a future space colony. Mars is the fourth planet
from the sun.
Microbes
Very simple life forms. Some microbes can survive
in hostile environments - they have even been known to
survive on the moon for two and a half years.
Microchip
A sliver of silicon, about the size of a postage stamp,
that can have millions of simple electronic circuits etched
onto its surface. There are microchips at the heart of
every modern computer.
MIR
The space station launched by the former U.S.S.R. in
1986 and now being used by International Space Station (ISS)
astronauts for training.
Mission
A goal for spacecraft or astronauts to accomplish
Nanotube
An extremely strong, fine thread made of a special type
of carbon called a fullerine. Nanotubes could be used
to tether space stations to Earth.
Orbit
The path a spacecraft travels around the earth.
Particle
Accelerator
A tube that accelerates (speeds up) particles inside it
to almost the speed of light. Scientists smash
particles together in this machine to investigate the tiny
particles of the universe.
Photons
Tiny particles that make up light.
Quarantine
A place where people or other living things are isolated
from the outside world to prevent them from spreading
diseases.
Radar
A system that bounces radio waves off objects to find
out where they are. Radar is used to detect pieces of
space junk that orbit the earth.
Rocket
A powerful vehicle that launches spacecraft into space.
Skylab
An early American space station, built in the 1970's,
which used an old rocket case as the living area.
Soyuz
A Russian spacecraft that ferries cosmonauts (Russian
astronauts) to and from the Mir space station.
It will also be used to ferry people to and from the
International Space Station.
Space Elevator
A tether that could connect a space station to Earth,
enabling people and equipment to move up and down it just
like an elevator.
Space Junk
Scrapped satellites and burnt-out rocket boosters that
orbit the earth. This junk may damage spacecraft,
including the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle
A reusable space plane that is used to launch
satellites, send experiments into spaces, and ferry
astronauts to and from space stations.
Speed of Light
Light travels at 188,000 miles per second through empty
space. Radio messages also travel through space at
this speed.
Telemedicine
A system that uses communication links to let a doctor
or surgeon threat patients remotely, even millions of miles
away.
Terraforming
Changing the conditions on a planet, such as the gases
in its atmosphere, to make it more like Earth.
Weightlessness
The appearance of astronauts and objects floating in
space.
Zero Gravity
A term used to describe a place, such as in empty space
or in orbit around a planet, where people feel no force of
gravity. This makes them feel weightless.
Sipiera,
Diane M. and Paul P., Space Stations, 1197 Children's
Press, Grolier Publishing Co, Inc. 46.
Angliss,
Sarah and Uttley, Colin, Future Files Cities In The Sky -
A Beginner's Guide to Living In Space, Copper Beach
Books, 1998, 30 - 31.
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