常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

thruster

金星探査機「あかつき」の周回軌道投入への再試行をめぐって、中村正人教授が記者会見にのぞみました。教授は「期待は大変持てる」と述べました。

Japan makes second attempt to put probe into Venus' orbit

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency carried out its second attempt Monday morning to put a probe into orbit around Venus to observe its atmosphere, five years after the first try failed due to problems with the main engine.

"It is very much expected to enter the planned orbit," JAXA professor Masato Nakamura, who is in charge of the program, told a press conference after the agency confirmed the proper functioning of the probe Akatsuki, including communications, following the burning of its remaining four thrusters as planned.

With the main engine's nozzle apparently wrecked, JAXA has programmed the probe to use altitude-control thrusters to enter an elliptical orbit up to 300,000 kilometers in altitude and eight to nine days around Venus, giving it two years to observe meteorological phenomena of the planet.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/12/387509.html

thrustはおなじみの単語ですが,-erが付いたthrusterはロケット関連では「スラスター」,すなわち,「姿勢制御に使用する補助的な推進装置」のことを指すそうです。(Chris)