【108-110】American Businesses Look to Space
【108】AS IT IS
American Businesses Look to Space
Space X facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
The United States government is trying to help private companies in their efforts to use space for business purposes.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed a space policy directive aimed at easing rules on commercial use of space.
Trump signed the directive just days after Space X launched another rocket carrying satellites into Earth orbit.
The launch and several others planned for June are examples of private industries' growing interest in space for commercial and scientific research.
Will Marshall is chief executive officer of Planet, a leading provider of geospatial information. He told VOA business leaders’ interest in space “is starting to come back and do some really interesting things."
Planet has put up about 200 satellites in orbit around the Earth. They make images of its complete land mass each day.
Marshall said that before his company, satellite imagery was only taken every year or several years. He told VOA that many industries can use the now orderly, regularimages from space.
"You can use that data to improve crop yields so farmers can use it to decide when to add fertilizer, or when to add water because we can tell crop yield from orbit…Or it could be used by governments for a wide range of things from border security to disaster response."
Satellites also orbit our planet for purposes of national security.
Steve Isakowitz is president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Corporation, a company that works with the U.S. Air Force and intelligence community. He said, "We just launched a few months ago a satellite that was just like this, but also had laser communication. We were able to send at 200 megabitsper second high data rates down to the ground and the ability for satellites to actually talk to each other. The same satellites that are put up to look at the Earth could be looking around the neighborhood and doing neighborhood watch for…national security and space situational awareness."
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Also orbiting the Earth is the International Space Station (ISS), a place of great interest to some major companies and research centers. The ISS National Laboratory and astronauts inside perform experiments that would not be possible on Earth.
The lack of gravity affects the experiments, noted Jennifer Lopez of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which directs the ISS National Laboratory.Also, the space station orbits the Earth 16 times a day, experiencing extreme temperatures and radiation, providing a one-of-a-kind environment for experiments.Some experiments may help life on Earth; however, the findings can also help with future human exploration into deep space.
"There is so much opportunity right now in space; Mars is one of those opportunities," said Chad Anderson, chief executive officer of Space Angels, which invests in the space industry.
While NASA, the U.S. space agency, works on sending humans to the moon and Mars, the space near Earth will become busier as businesses explore this final frontier.
I'm Susan Shand.
Elizabeth Lee wrote this story for VOANews.com. Susan Shand adapted her story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
commercial – adj. related to the buying and selling of services or goods
executive – adj. related to the directing of people or things
geospatial – adj. the part of space near the earth
regular – adj. happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way
data – n. information that is collected for understanding something.
yield – n. the amount of product or crop that is produced
megabits – n. one million bits
opportunity – n. a good chance for improvement or progress
frontier – n. a distant area where few people live
【109】AS IT IS
Indian Inventors Turn Pollution into Ink
A view of a device created by company Chakr Innovation to remove soot from diesel general exhaust, to clean the air and to allow ink to be created from soot, on a building in Gurgaon, a satellite city of New Delhi, India, March 19, 2018.
Workers at an Indian start-up company are busy cutting up pieces of metal and using them to make unusual devices.
Company officials say these devices will capture smoke from diesel generators and turn it into ink.
Young engineers believe the technology will help to clean up the air in New Delhi, India’s capital. Its air quality is among the dirtiest in the world.
People often blame the millions of cars on the streets of New Delhi for the air pollution. But another big reason is the city’s diesel generators. Industries and buildings use the huge machines to light up homes and offices during power outages. These outages often strike in the summer months.
Arpit Dhupar is one of three engineers who set up the start-up company Chakr Innovation. He says that pollution from cars and other vehicles get all the media attention, but adds that “the silent polluters are the diesel generators.”
Dhupar decided to find a way to fight air pollution three years ago. At the time, he saw a wall blackened from the smoke coming from a diesel generator.
This sight led to the creation of Chakr Innovation. Dhupar had personally experienced the effect of the air pollution. He developed breathing problems while growing up in Delhi.
As the dirty air becomes a serious health issue for many Indians, business leaders are looking at ways to improve air quality.
Experts estimate that motor vehicles are responsible for 22 percent of particulate matter emissions in Delhi. Experts say that diesel generators are responsible for about 15 percent of those emissions. That air pollution travels deep into the lungs and can cause many kinds of breathing problems.
After over two years of research and development, Chakr Innovation has begun selling devices to capture pollution from diesel engines. To date, the devices have been set up in 50 places, including private businesses.
The technology involves cooling the air pollution in a “heat exchanger” where the dirty particles come together. These are then moved into another area that captures 70 to 90 percent of the particulate matter. The carbon is isolated from the emissions and turned into ink.
One of the first businesses to work with Chakr was the law office of Jyoti Sagar. Sagar’s daughter has long suffered from the harmful effects of Delhi’s deadly air. He said the technology “is very impactful, but is beautifully simple.”
“Let’s be responsible and let’s at least not leave behind a larger footprint of carbon. And if we can afford to control it, why not? In the end, it’s good for all of us.”
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about improving Delhi’s air by reducing vehicular pollution and enacting stronger rules for vehicle manufacturers. But the same has not happened for diesel generators. There are efforts to punish businesses that dirty the air, but this often leads to them finding ways to get around the rules.
Tushar Mathur works at Chakr Innovation. He feels that turning smoke into ink is a useful solution. He calls the technology “a win-win between businesses and the environment.”
I’m Jonathan Evans.
Anjana Pasricha reported this story for VOA News. Jonathan Evans adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
diesel – n. a type of fuel that is used in vehicles with diesel engines
emissions – n. something sent out or given off
generator – n. a machine that produces electricity
ink – n. a colored material used for writing and printing
isolate – v. to set apart from others; to separate
impactful – adj. having a forceful effect
【110】AS IT IS
Activists: Human Trafficking a Danger in Nigeria
Activists from the "Up Against Trafficking" campaign gather in the neighborhood of Madinatu in Maiduguri, Borno State, to talk to people about the dangers of human trafficking.
Activists are worried about human trafficking in Nigeria’s camps for internallydisplaced persons.
Mitika Ali works for Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency, known as NAPTIP. He confirmed that human trafficking is taking place at camps in Maiduguri, the largest city in Borno State.
“People come there in the evening for recruiting, I can say, taking young girls, going away with them. I see it as they are going there for sexual exploitation,” said Ali.
Ali says many women and girls living in the camps will be taken away from Borno state because of human trafficking.
Philip Obaji Jr. and Yusuf Mohammed Ciroma are activists. They started a campaign called “Up Against Trafficking” in April. The two men want the Nigerian government to know how big the problem is. They also want camps for the internally displaced to warn about the dangers of traffickers who make false promises of employment.
Ciroma told VOA, “So they will carry them out, and they will not even give them jobs. Then they will start selling them like slaves.”
He said a woman named Ya Batu Bukar told him about her experience. She said she was taken from Maiduguri to Niger, where she was left with no food or money.
Bukar told him, “I don’t want another woman here to pass through the same pain, and that is why I am part of this campaign.”
The extremist group Boko Haram formed in Maiduguri in 2002. Seven years later the group launched a war against the government. An estimated 30,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
In addition, more than two million people have left their homes to escape from Boko Haram forces. Many have come to Maiduguri to live in crowded camps.
Ali told VOA that NAPTIP’s leadership has not received official reports of trafficking in the camps. But, he said, it is done secretly.
At least 200 women have joined “Up Against Trafficking.”
Nana Abdullahi is one of them. She is an orphan. She left the city of Bama in Borno State after Boko Haram fighters entered the area.
As a 15-year-old, she sold goods on the streets of Maiduguri to earn money. One day a man said he could help her.
She thought that she would be going to a place like Kano, in northern Nigeria, to get a job. But, she told VOA, he took her to Niger.
Nigeria’s long history of human trafficking
Human trafficking is common in Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation. Those familiar with the issue say that traffickers have tried to lure Nigerians to other countries for many years. Thousands of these people end up in European or American cities in detention centers.
In recent months, there have been reports of poor treatment of Nigerians trafficked to Libya.
Many people accuse the Nigerian government of not doing enough to stop the problem.
In 2017, a U.S. State Department report said Nigeria must do more on the issue. It said, “The government of Nigeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”
Ali told VOA that his team is working hard.
NAPTIP officers give out information to people living in the camps, but unofficial camps are often missed.
Maryam Haruna lives in a one of the unofficial camps in Maiduguri.
The 35-year-old mother said she gave birth to two children a few years ago but did not have enough money. She said then a man offered her a job. She immediately accepted the position, although she did not know where it was.
She was then smuggled into Saudi Arabia and worked there for two years as a housekeeper. She had to pay back her smuggler for the trip to Saudi Arabia.
She grew used to the work and was unhappy when it ended.
“Unfortunately, one day when I was coming back from work, I got caught and deported back home,” she said.
Haruna said she wants to go back because life there as an illegal immigrant was better than life living as a displaced person in Nigeria.
I’m Mario Ritter.
Chika Oduah reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
recruit – v. to persuade on get someone to join some activity
exploitation – n. to use someone or something in a way the helps you unfairly
orphan – n. a child whose parents are dead
lure – v. to get someone to go somewhere or do something by offering something that they want
deport – v. to expel
smuggle – v. to secretly transport
significant – adj. major
minimum – adj. the lowest amount or number permitted
elimination – n. the act of ending something
internally – adj. involving the inside of something
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