A research team in Spain has the enviable job of testing out new electromechanical（电动机械的） gear for potential use in future missions to the Red Planet. They do it within their Mars environmental simulation chamber1, which is specially2 designed to mimic3 conditions on the fourth planet from the sun -- right down to its infamous4 Martian dust. Mars is a key target for future space exploration, thanks to indications that the planet may have either been capable of supporting life in the past or is possibly even supporting it right now within its subsurface.To answer the many questions about the habitability of Mars, its critical to first develop new sensors5 and instruments capable of detecting the planets atmospheric6 and surface characteristics. In the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, which is produced by 人工智能P Publishing, researchers from Centro de Astrobiologa, INTA-CSIC, and Instituto de Ciencias de Materials de Madrid describe their work mimicking7 conditions on Mars.Mars is a good place to learn about planets similar to ours and, as such, is the target of many NASA and European Space Agency missions, explained Jose Angel Martn-Gago, a research professor at the Instituto de Ciencias de Materials de Madrid. Our group is primarily involved in the Mars Science Laboratory mission to construct a meteorological station（气象站） intended for future use on a rover to further explore Mars surface.By building here on Earth state-of-the-art vacuum chambers8 capable of reproducing the physical conditions of Mars -- including temperature, pressure, gas composition, and radiation -- the researchers can experimentally mimic these conditions to test instrumentation in real environmental operation conditions.Vacuum chambers have already enabled the researchers to test some of the meteorological sensors currently used onboard the Curiosity rover, which is exploring the surface of Mars. But they are now turning their attention to other challenges, such as Martian dust.Were simulating the effect of the Martian dust -- one of the primary problems for planetary exploration -- to gain a better understanding of how instruments behave when covered in dust, said Jesus Sobrado, the scientist in charge of the machines technical development.As part of its research effort, the team has designed and built vacuum chambers devoted9 to simulating spatial10 environments, such as the surface of other planets like Mars surface or even Jupiters icy moon Europa, the interstellar medium, and interplanetary regions.Vacuum chambers can answer many questions about Mars or other related planetary bodies -- both from scientific and technology points of view, he added.Martn-Gago and colleagues are currently collaborating11 with NASA on its mission to test the new meteorological station Temperature and Wind for Insight, associated with the Insight mission, and are also expected to test the Mars Environmental Dynamics12 Analyzer and Sign of Life Detector13 instruments proposed for the next mission to Mars in 2020.
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1 chamber n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 参考例句： For many,the dentists surgery remains a torture chamber.对很多人来讲，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。 The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
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