#大學英語聽力#

European Space Agency (ESA) scientists say they’ve found a way to produce oxygen from lunar dust.

歐洲航天局(ESA)的科學家表示，他們已經找到了一種從月球塵埃中生產氧氣的方法。

Samples of real lunar dust have been found to be 40 to 45 percent oxygen by weight, according to the ESA.

根據歐空局的說法，真實月球塵埃的樣本被發現是40%到45%的重量氧。

The team just opened a “prototype oxygen plant” inside a European Space Research and Technology Center lab in the Netherlands.

該團隊剛剛在荷蘭的歐洲空間研究和技術中心實驗室內開設了一個“原型氧氣工廠”。

“Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the Moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers, both for breathing and in the local production of rocket fuel,” said Beth Lomax of the University of Glasgow in a statement.

格拉斯哥大學(University Of Glasgow)的貝思·洛馬克斯(Beth Lomax)在一份宣告中表示：“能夠從月球上發現的資源中獲取氧氣，顯然對未來的月球定居者非常有用，無論是在呼吸方面，還是在當地生產火箭燃料方面。”

Their prototype system mixes simulated lunar regolith — they have yet to try it with the real thing — with molten calcium chloride salt.

他們的原型系統混合了模擬的月球風化層-他們還沒有用真正的東西試過-與熔融的氯化鈣鹽混合。

The scientists then heat the mixture up to 950 degrees Celsius and run a current through it, releasing oxygen — a process called molten salt electrolysis.

然後，科學家將混合物加熱到950攝氏度，並通過電流釋放氧氣-這一過程稱為熔融鹽電解。

The electrolysis process has another useful byproduct: metal alloys.

電解過程還有另一個有用的副產品：金屬合金。

The scientists are also investigating applications to make best use of these alloys on the Moon.

科學家們還在研究如何在月球上充分利用這些合金的應用。

The team is looking to design a “pilot plant” that could be operated on the Moon by the mid-2020s.

該團隊正在尋求設計一個“試點工廠”，可以在20世紀20年代中期在月球上執行。