Reading
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Presence
Explorer
Recent
Land
Surface
Rocky
WILD WEST ON MARS
Mars could look like the Wild West if private businessmen get there before governments, a leading British astronomer said.
There could be a permanent human presence on the Red Planet within a century, Sir Martin Rees of the Institute of Astronomy told a science conference.
"If the explorers are private businessmen with a little anarchic disposition, there will probably be the Wild West model on Mars," he said this week.
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, was first photographed from space in 1965. More recent missions landed on the surface of the rocky, cold planet and discovered the possible presence of water.
Amateur astronauts have already paid millions for trips into space. More efficient systems and machines will make trips much easier and cheaper. Rees envisions a type of "space elevator" which could lift people from the ground to a satellite. "The rest of the journey could be made by a small, perhaps nuclear, rocket," he told the British Association science conference.
Questions
Are the following statements about the text correct?
1. "There could be a permanent human presence on the Red Planet within a century" means people can live on Mars in about 2100.
2. The space travel will be easier in the future.
3. There is no water on Mars.
4. "Space elevator" will be a kind of a lift coming from the our planet to Mars.
5. If private businessmen are on Mars before governments, the situation on the planet will be very hard.
6. Martin Rees seems to be an enthusiastic space traveler.
7. "Businessmen with a little anarchic disposition" are people who could be called "criminals".
8. Mars is like the Wild West.
9. Mars is the 5th planet from the Sun.
10. "Amateur astronauts have already paid millions for trips into space" means that a lot of people would like to travel by spaceships.