Monday, April 17 th 2023

Part I -Mars exploration - Michio Kaku

The document is about Michio Kaku an American theoretical physicist, futurist, and author. He
continues Einstein's search and is famous/ notorious/well-known for that. Such as other physicists
he is totally fascinated by Mars. This futurist thinks that we have to terraform Mars in order to become
immortal. As a consequence / because of that/ thereupon other physicists want to discover if living
on mars would be possible and continue space conquest. Thanks to technological
advance/breakthrough a project of honeymoon on the moon has been discussed despite the
problems of weightlessness. To go to the red planet, it takes about 2 years rather than/ whereas to
go on the moon it only takes 3 days. It is a hazardous/dangerous/risky journey with radiations and
meteorites. However different proposal for human missions to mars have come from the NASA,
Roscosmos or Space X. Elon Musk created a special rocket/spacecraft called “Starship” to colonize
mars. In 2023 only robotic landers have been on Mars. The idea of the physicist is to see if we could
build habitable cities on Mars but there are some problems with life on this planet. Mars need to be
terraformed due to its weather condition and temperature (about - 65 degrees) so we must raise the
temperature to induce a greenhouse effect. Moreover, it cannot support life as we know, as there is
no oxygen. In addition, there are no plants so we have to create bio-engineered plants that would
grow thanks to carbon dioxide. Satellites will orbit around the planet to reflect sunlight and melt the
icecaps to have water. We also need mining operations to extract ice and purify water, get oxygen
and hydrogen for drinking water and fuel. The main problem would be that all those operations are
very expensive/overpriced/ high priced so it would have to be a self-sustaining economy. We need
to have our own mining, agriculture and industries.
Vocabulary : /weɪt.ləs.nə/ weightlessness :apesanteur icecap: calotte glacière
greenhouse effect : effet de serre self-sustaining: autonome /fjuː.tʃɚ.ɪst/ futurist: futurologue
/ðer.əˈpɑːn/thereupon= so /hæz.ɚ.dəs/ hazardous /endʒɪˈnɪəd/ engineered
VIR : melt melt melt : fondre despite: malgré/independent
/miː.ti.ər.aɪt/ meteorites / hʌn.i.muːn/ honeymoon

Friday, April 21 st 2023

Part II- Colonizing Mars- Stepehn Hawking
The document is an extract/excerpt of the last book written by Stephen Hawking entitled “Brief
Answers to the Big question” published just before his death in 2018. Stephen Hawking was a British
physicist well-known/famous/renowned for his research about black holes, AI and colonizing space.
The document is about/ deals with/ tackles the issue of space colonization. The first paragraph is
about the need to explore the solar system in order to improve our day-to-day lives. The second
paragraph put in the limelight great discoveries and their impact. Christopher Columbus’s discovery
was a hazardous/uncertain/ risky attempt at finding a new world, and yet it
completely/totally/thoroughly changed the face of the world. Although Columbus’ mission was very
unlikely to succeed. After that/then the third paragraph deals with mankind’s future space missions.
Skeptical/ doubtful/ dubious people said it would have been better to focus on actual problems on
earth such as pollution or climate change rather than wasting money and fruitless efforts in space
travel. Finally, the last paragraph emphasizes the idea that financial issues shouldn’t be an
obstacle/disincentive/constraint to promote space travel compared to all the benefits that space
conquest can bring to humankind. Stephen Hawking thinks that resource depletion or future
catastrophe may compel/force us to abandon earth. For S.H Colonizing space is the only means of
survival for the human species. The dangers exist and knowledge can allow us to survive. To
conclude without the ability to reach out across space the chance to save mankind might not exist.
Put in the limelight : mettre en avant Black hole: trou noir Depletion : Epuisement des ressources
Extract : extrait /ɪnˈtaɪ.t̬ əld/entitled : s’intitule ˈkɑː.lə.naɪz/ colonize fruitless: vain/inutile