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Space Debris - Listening Practice: Part A

Space debris orbiting Earth poses a threat to future space exploration. There is a large amount of debris concentrated in low-Earth orbit, including pieces left from old satellites and spent rocket stages. Scientists have detected over 170 million pieces of debris, some as small as 1 cm wide, weighing over 7,500 tons in total. A mission being prepared at Surrey University aims to test debris removal techniques by capturing junk using a net and sail. Cleaning up space debris is urgent to avoid a "vicious circle" of collisions that produce even more debris.

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Maëva Capaï
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126 views2 pages

Space Debris - Listening Practice: Part A

Space debris orbiting Earth poses a threat to future space exploration. There is a large amount of debris concentrated in low-Earth orbit, including pieces left from old satellites and spent rocket stages. Scientists have detected over 170 million pieces of debris, some as small as 1 cm wide, weighing over 7,500 tons in total. A mission being prepared at Surrey University aims to test debris removal techniques by capturing junk using a net and sail. Cleaning up space debris is urgent to avoid a "vicious circle" of collisions that produce even more debris.

Uploaded by

Maëva Capaï
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SPACE DEBRIS - LISTENING PRACTICE

Part A.
1. Complete the following transcript of the beginning of the video :

“The __________________ around our __________________ is so full of __________________,

orbiting at menacingly high _______________ . It’s seen as a ___________________ to future

________________ .”

2. Select the assertions that correspond to what Dr Hugh Lewis explains.


q Space debris has already caused quite a few serious accidents.
q Space debris can come from satellites or space rockets but not only.
q Not everyone believes that the present quantity of space debris is a major threat.
q Many scientists agree that future space ships will have the capacity to destroy dangerous space debris.
q A collision with space debris can destroy a spaceship.

3. What is the name of the area in space where all the debris is concentrated? Reorder the letters below to
write the three words.

 O/O/A/B/H/E/I/L/R/W/T/R/T = ___ _____ _____

4. Where are the headquarters of Clyde Space situated?  “____________________________”

5. What word does the reporter use to emphasize the importance of the technology Clyde Space is
developing?  “____________________________”

6. How big are the “Cube Sats” the reporter shows us?  ____________________________
7. Explain what their major advantages are, according to the reporter.

Part B.
8. Complete the transcript of this extract from the report.
“We’ve been ___________ space for more than ________ a ___________ . Now, though, the brightest

minds are trying to work out how we can ___________ up our act. But who’s gonna be the first big

__________ in this special __________ and who’s gonna be willing to stump up enough ______________?”

9. How many pieces of debris have been detected by scientists? __________________________

10. How big are they?  _____________________________________

11. How much does all this trash weigh?  _____________________________________

12. What adjective does the reporter use to qualify the mission that is being prepared at Surrey University’s
Space centre?
ð “____________________”
13. When will the mission take place?  _____________________________________

14. What is the aim of this mission according to the scientist?

15. What kind of junk will they do their experiment on?

16. What two items will they be using to catch the pieces of junk?

 a“____________________” and a “______________________”

17. What is the use of the “sail” (=voile) the spacecraft will be equipped with?

Part C.
18. What does the scientist compare space junk with? Explain why he’s using that image, giving details from
what he says.

19. Say whether the following assertions are TRUE or FALSE and justify quoting from the video.
Space junk can be seen as a vicious circle T / F

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The piece of debris that caused the impact on the ISS was probably quite a big one T / F

 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

20. Why is it so urgent to clean up space junk according to the end of the video? Give details.

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