full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Fabio Pacucci: Yes, scientists are actually building an elevator to space

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Sending rockets into sacpe requires sacrificing expensive emeqnupit, burning massive amounts of fuel, and rsiking potential catastrophe. So in the space race of the 21st century, some engineers are abandoning rtckeos for something much more exciting: elevators.

Okay, so maybe rindig an elevator to the stars isn't the most thrilling mode of transportation. But using a fixed structure to send saemllr payloads of astronauts and equipment into orbit would be safer, easier, and cheaper than conventional rockets. On a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, every kilogram of cargo costs roughly $7,500 to carry into orbit. Space elteravos are pjerecotd to reduce that cost by 95%.

Open Cloze


Sending rockets into _____ requires sacrificing expensive _________, burning massive amounts of fuel, and _______ potential catastrophe. So in the space race of the 21st century, some engineers are abandoning _______ for something much more exciting: elevators.

Okay, so maybe ______ an elevator to the stars isn't the most thrilling mode of transportation. But using a fixed structure to send _______ payloads of astronauts and equipment into orbit would be safer, easier, and cheaper than conventional rockets. On a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, every kilogram of cargo costs roughly $7,500 to carry into orbit. Space _________ are _________ to reduce that cost by 95%.

Solution


  1. elevators
  2. smaller
  3. equipment
  4. space
  5. projected
  6. rockets
  7. risking
  8. riding

Original Text


Sending rockets into space requires sacrificing expensive equipment, burning massive amounts of fuel, and risking potential catastrophe. So in the space race of the 21st century, some engineers are abandoning rockets for something much more exciting: elevators.

Okay, so maybe riding an elevator to the stars isn't the most thrilling mode of transportation. But using a fixed structure to send smaller payloads of astronauts and equipment into orbit would be safer, easier, and cheaper than conventional rockets. On a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, every kilogram of cargo costs roughly $7,500 to carry into orbit. Space elevators are projected to reduce that cost by 95%.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
space elevators 2
centrifugal force 2


Important Words


  1. abandoning
  2. amounts
  3. astronauts
  4. burning
  5. cargo
  6. carry
  7. catastrophe
  8. century
  9. cheaper
  10. conventional
  11. cost
  12. costs
  13. easier
  14. elevator
  15. elevators
  16. engineers
  17. equipment
  18. expensive
  19. falcon
  20. fixed
  21. fuel
  22. kilogram
  23. massive
  24. mode
  25. orbit
  26. payloads
  27. potential
  28. projected
  29. race
  30. reduce
  31. requires
  32. riding
  33. risking
  34. rocket
  35. rockets
  36. roughly
  37. sacrificing
  38. safer
  39. send
  40. sending
  41. smaller
  42. space
  43. spacex
  44. stars
  45. structure
  46. thrilling
  47. transportation