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On August 6th a flimsy-looking pilotless aircraft, the Zephyr S, came slowly in to land at an undisclosed location in Arizona,
8月6日，一架薄得像紙一般的無人駕駛飛機(jī)Zephyr S在美國亞利桑那州的一個未知地點(diǎn)緩慢著陸，
and was caught by a group of people jogging along beside it.
在該地附近慢跑的人發(fā)現(xiàn)了這架無人機(jī)。
The reception committee was needed because the craft, which weighs less than 75kg, lacks an undercarriage
由于這架重量不足75公斤的航空器沒有著陸裝置，因此需要接待委員會的介入
—or, indeed, anything else that would add unnecessary weight.
—確實(shí)，任何其他裝置都會給這架無人機(jī)增加不必要的重量。
The touchdown meant the Zephyr S had set a new flight-endurance record for a drone, of 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes.
此次著陸意味著Zephyr S創(chuàng)下了無人機(jī)飛行耐力的新紀(jì)錄—25天23小時57分鐘。
The point of doing so was to show that solar-powered aircraft of this sort
此次飛行的意義在于展現(xiàn)這種太陽能航空器
can compete with satellites in the markets for Earth observation and telecommunications.
可以與市場上用于地球觀測和通訊的人造衛(wèi)星相競爭。
This has led some people to dub them "pseudo-satellites". The idea is that eventually they will stay aloft for months.
這讓一些人將它們稱為“偽衛(wèi)星”。他們的想法是，最終讓它們在空中待上幾個月。
The previous endurance record for drones, of just over14 days, was set in 2010 by the Zephyr 7, an earlier version of this aircraft.
早前的無人機(jī)耐力記錄是14天，創(chuàng)造該紀(jì)錄的是2010年的Zephyr 7，Zephyr S的初期版本。
The Zephyr 7 was developed by QinetiQ, a British defence company.
Zephyr 7的發(fā)開者是一家英國防御公司—奎奈蒂克。
In 2013 QinetiQ sold the Zephyr programme to Airbus, a European aerospace firm.
2013年，奎奈蒂克將Zephyr項(xiàng)目賣給了一家歐洲航空航天公司—空中客車公司。
Airbus has now built, at Farnborough, in Britain, a factory to make them.
空中客車公司現(xiàn)在在英國法恩伯勒建了一家制造該航天器的工廠。
The model S, with a wingspan of 25 metres, will soon be joined by a bigger, more advanced version, the model T.
模型S的翼幅為25米，很快將推出一個更大更先進(jìn)的版本—模型T。
Zephyrs fly in the stratosphere. During daylight hours they cruise at an altitude of about 21km.
Zephyrs在平流層飛行。在白天，它們在海拔約21千米的地方巡航。
At night, when solar energy is unavailable and they must rely solely on their batteries,
夜間沒有太陽能可用的時候，它們必須也只能依靠電池，
they make a slow but powered and controlled descent to 16.7 km.
它們緩慢地通過有力控制將高度降至16.7千米。
That, though, is still well above troublesome weather, and also clear of commercial aircraft.
盡管如此，這樣的高度仍然可以避免麻煩的天氣情況，還能避免碰到商用飛機(jī)。
They are powered by a pair of propellers driven by electric motors.
它們由一對螺旋槳提供動力，螺旋槳由電動裝置驅(qū)動。
Airbus says the craft are fitted with batteries which use an "advanced chemistry" and are recharged by "novel" solar cells that cover their wings.
空中客車公司表示這種航天器所配備的電池使用的是一種“高級化學(xué)成分”，通過覆蓋在機(jī)翼上的“新型”太陽能電池充電。
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