Science test questions and answers

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2: In 1970, a Zambian nun wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, associate director of science at the NASA Flight Center, asking the same question. Stuhlinger responded quickly.

In 1970, Zambian nun Mary Jucunda wrote a letter to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger. Due to his original research on the Mars journey project, Stüllinger became the deputy director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In the letter, Sister Mary Yokenda asked: How can he be willing to spend billions of dollars on a project as far away as Mars when there are so many children on earth who do not have enough to eat.

Stullinger quickly wrote back to Sister Yokenda, along with a photo titled "The Rising Earth," an iconic photo of astronaut William Photographed by Anders in 1968 from lunar orbit (the lunar surface can be seen in the photo). His sincere reply was later published by NASA under the title "Why Explore the Universe".

May 6, 1970

Dear Sister Mary Yokenda:

Every day, I receive many similar letters, but this one It touched me the most because it came from a compassionate heart full of inquiry. I'll do my best to answer your question.

First of all, please allow me to express my deep respect for you and your brave sisters who devote themselves to the most noble cause of mankind: helping our fellow citizens in need.

In your letter, you asked me why I would spend billions of dollars on a voyage to Mars when there are still children on Earth who are dying from starvation. I know you don't want the answer to be: "Oh, I didn't know there were children starving to death. Well, from now on, all space programs will be suspended until these children are fed." Facts. , long before I knew about the technology for a trip to Mars, I knew something about child starvation. And, like many of my friends, I believe that this is the time for us to begin our great adventures to the moon, Mars, and even other planets. In the long run, compared to various aid plans that either only have debates and quarrels year after year, or have been delayed in implementation even after compromise, I even think that the project of exploring space is more conducive to solving human problems. various crises currently faced.

Before I go into detail about how our space program helps solve crises on the ground, I want to briefly tell a true story. That was 400 years ago, and there was a count in a small town in Germany. He was a kind-hearted man who donated a large portion of his income to the poor in the town. This was admirable because there were many poor people in the Middle Ages and there were frequent plagues that swept the country. One day, the count met a strange man. He had a workbench and a small laboratory in his home. He worked hard during the day and devoted himself to research for a few hours every night. He ground small pieces of glass into lenses, and then installed the ground lenses into the lens barrel to observe small objects. The count was fascinated by this unprecedented little invention that could magnify things and observe them. He invited the eccentric to live in his castle, where he could devote all his time to the study of these optics as the count's guest.

However, the people in the town were very angry when they learned that the count had spent money on such a weirdo and his useless gadgets. "We are still suffering from the plague," they complained, "And he spends money for that idler and his useless hobbies!" The count was unmoved after hearing this. "I will help everyone as much as possible," he said, "but I will continue to support this man and his I am sure that his work will pay off one day.”

Sure enough, his work has paid off handsomely: a microscope. The invention of the microscope brought unprecedented development to medicine, and the resulting research and results eliminated plague and other infectious diseases that were raging in most parts of the world.

The final result of the money spent by the Earl to support this research and invention has greatly alleviated the suffering of mankind. This return is far more than simply using the money to relieve those suffering from the plague.

We are currently facing a similar problem. The annual budget of the President of the United States is $200 billion, which will be used for health care, education, welfare, urban construction, highways, transportation, overseas aid, national defense, environmental protection, science and technology, agriculture, and many other domestic and foreign projects. project. This year, 1.6% of the budget will be used to explore the universe. These expenditures will be used for the Apollo program and other small projects covering astrophysics, deep space astronomy, space biology, planetary exploration engineering, and earth resources engineering. and space engineering technology. In order to pay for these space projects, the average American taxpayer earning $10,000 per year needs to pay about $30 for space, and the remaining $9,970 can be used for general living expenses, leisure and entertainment, savings, other taxes, etc. pin.

Maybe you’re asking, “Why not use $5 or $3 or $1 of the $30 taxpayers pay for space to help starving children?” To answer this question, I need to first Let me briefly explain how our country's economy works. It is a similar situation in other countries. The government consists of several departments (such as the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Defense, etc.) and several agencies (National Science Foundation, NASA, etc.), which and agencies develop corresponding annual budgets based on their own functions and strictly implement them to cope with the supervision of the Council of State, while also coping with pressure from the budget department and the President on their economic effectiveness. When funds are finally appropriated by Congress, they will be used strictly for projects in the budget-approved program.

Obviously, the projects included in NASA's budget are all related to aerospace. Budget items that are not approved by Congress will not be funded and will not be taxed unless other departmental budgets cover the item to spend funds not allocated to space programs. It can be seen from this brief explanation that if you want to aid hungry children or increase the amount of aid to existing foreign aid programs in the United States, you need to first propose a budget by the relevant departments and then approve it by Congress.

As to whether I agree with the government implementing similar policies, my personal opinion is absolutely in favor. I have absolutely no problem paying a little extra in tax dollars every year to help hungry children, no matter where they are.

I believe my friends will have the same attitude. However, things will not be easy to achieve simply by canceling the plan to sail to Mars. On the contrary, I even think that space projects can contribute to alleviating and even ultimately solving the problems of poverty and hunger on earth. The key to solving hunger has two parts: food production and food distribution. Agriculture, livestock, fisheries and other large-scale production activities involved in food production are efficient and productive in some areas of the world, while in other areas they are severely under-produced. Through high-tech means, such as irrigation management, fertilizer use, weather forecast, yield assessment, programmed planting, farmland selection, crop habits and cultivation time selection, crop survey and harvest planning, the production efficiency of the land can be significantly improved.

Artificial earth satellites are undoubtedly the most powerful tool for improving these two critical issues. In orbit far away from the ground, satellites can scan large areas of land in a very short time, and can simultaneously observe and calculate multiple indicators needed for crop growth, such as soil, drought, rain and snow, etc., and can broadcast this information. to the ground receiving station for further processing. It turns out that even the simplest satellite systems equipped with land resource sensors and corresponding agricultural programs can increase annual crop yields by billions of dollars.

How to distribute food to people in need is another brand-new problem. The key lies not in the capacity of the ship, but in international cooperation. It is difficult for the rulers of small countries to make accurate judgments about the import of large amounts of food from large countries. They are afraid that the food will come with the influence of foreign forces on their ruling status. I am afraid that the hunger problem cannot be effectively solved until the barriers between countries are eliminated. I don't think the space program can create miracles overnight, however, exploring the universe can help change things for the better.

Take the recent Apollo 13 accident as an example. When the astronauts were in the critical atmospheric re-entry period, in order to ensure smooth communication, the Soviet Union shut down all broadcast communications in the same frequency band used by the Apollo spacecraft. At the same time, ships were dispatched to the Pacific and Atlantic waters to prepare for immediate search and rescue operations. If the astronauts’ rescue capsules land near a Russian ship, Russian personnel will rescue them just like they do for domestic astronauts returning from space. Similarly, if the Russian spacecraft encounters a similar emergency, the United States will not hesitate to provide assistance.

Increasing food production through monitoring and analysis through satellites, and improving the efficiency of food distribution through improving international relations are just two aspects of improving the quality of human life through space programs. Next I would like to introduce two other important roles: promoting the development of science and technology and improving the scientific literacy of a generation.

The moon landing project requires unprecedented high precision and reliability in history. Faced with such stringent requirements, we need to find new materials and new methods; develop better engineering systems; use more reliable manufacturing processes; extend the working life of instruments; and even explore new laws of nature.

These new technologies invented for the moon landing can also be used in engineering projects on the ground. Every year, about a thousand new technologies developed from the space program are used in everyday life, creating better kitchen appliances and farm equipment, better sewing machines and radios, better ships and airplanes. , more accurate weather forecasts and storm warnings, better communication facilities, better medical equipment, and even better daily gadgets. You may ask why we designed the life-support system for the astronauts' lunar module first, instead of building an audio reading device for the hearing-impaired.

The answer is simple: when solving engineering problems, important technological breakthroughs are often not obtained directly step by step, but from the ability to inspire a strong innovative spirit, ignite imagination and firm action, and to integrate all resources. Challenging goals.

Space travel is undoubtedly a challenging undertaking. A voyage to Mars would not directly solve the problem of famine by providing food. However, it brings with it a host of new technologies and methods that could be used beyond the Mars project, which would yield benefits many times the original cost.

If we want human beings to live better and better lives, in addition to new technologies, we also need continuous new progress in basic science. Including physics and chemistry, biology and physiology, and especially medicine, are used to look after human health and deal with problems such as hunger, disease, food and water contamination, and environmental pollution.

We need more young people to devote themselves to science, and we need to give more help to talented scientists who are devoted to scientific research. There should be challenging research projects at all times, and sufficient resource support should be ensured for the projects. I would like to reiterate here that the space program is a catalyst for scientific and technological progress and provides excellent and practical opportunities for academic research work, including eyes on the moon and other planets, physics and astronomy, biology and medical sciences, etc. Through it, exciting research topics are constantly emerging in the scientific community, and humans are able to glimpse the incomparably magnificent scenery of the universe; for it, new technologies and new methods are constantly emerging.

Of all the activities controlled and funded by the U.S. government, the space program is undoubtedly the most eye-catching and most controversial, although it accounts for only 1.6% of the entire budget, less than 1% of the gross national product. Three thousandths. As a driver and catalyst for new technologies, the space program conducts a number of basic scientific studies, and its status is destined to be different from other activities. In a sense, the impact of the space project on society is equivalent to that of war activities 3-4 thousand years ago.

If countries no longer compete with bombers and long-range missiles, but instead compete with each other on the performance of lunar spacecraft, how many wars will be avoided! The smart winner will be full of hope, and the loser will no longer have to suffer, sow the seeds of hatred, and bring about revenge wars.

Although the space projects we carry out study things that are far away from the earth and have extended human vision to the moon, the sun, the planets, and even the distant stars, astronomers pay attention to the earth. It exceeds all the above-mentioned extraterrestrial things. The space project brings not only the improvement of the quality of life provided by new technologies, but as the study of the universe deepens, our gratitude to the earth, life, and humanity itself will become deeper. Space exploration makes the earth a better place.

The photo sent with the letter is a view of the Earth taken by Apollo 8 in orbit around the moon on Christmas Day 1968. Of all the consequences that can come from a space program, this photo is perhaps the most valuable. It broadens human vision and allows us to intuitively feel that the earth is such a beautiful and precious island in the vast universe. At the same time, it makes us realize that the earth is our only home. Leaving the earth is the desolate and cold outer space. . No matter how limited people's understanding of the earth was before this, their understanding of the serious consequences of destroying the ecological balance was insufficient. After the public release of this photo, in the face of various severe situations currently faced by mankind, such as environmental pollution, hunger, poverty, over-urbanization, food problems, water resources problems, population problems, etc., everyone is called on to face up to these serious problems. The calls grew louder and louder. People's sudden concern about their own problems cannot be said to have nothing to do with the initial space exploration projects currently underway and the new perspective on mankind's own home that it brings.

Space exploration not only provides humans with a mirror to look at themselves, it can also bring us new technologies, new challenges and enterprising spirit, as well as an optimistic and confident attitude when facing severe practical problems. . I believe that what mankind has learned from the universe fully confirms Albert Schweitzer's famous saying: "I look at the future with great concern, but still with good hope."

To you and yours My sincerest respect to the children.

Yours sincerely

Ernst Stülinger