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User_gary Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
Sealed pouches, java, up
Future space travelers may be drinking their own urine, thanks to the International Space Station's new water recycler, but they can now do so with a touch of class.
Endeavour astronaut Don Pettit, a self-described tinkerer who served as the space station's flight engineer in 2003, invented a zero-gravity cup that wicks liquids along the sides of a piece of folded plastic, eliminating the need for a straw.
Because liquids typically form spherical blobs in weightlessness, astronauts drink from sealed pouches using straws. Pettit, a huge coffee fan, didn't like sipping his java, and created the cup from a sheet of transparent plastic used in overhead projectors by folding it into the shape of an airplane wing and taping it in place.
"The way this works is the cross-section of this cup looks like an airplane wing. The narrow angle here will wick the coffee up," Pettit explained in a video radioed to NASA's Mission Control Centre in Houston and broadcast on NASA TV.
Could you please explain to me the emboldened parts?
Source : http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/zerogravity-cup-means-no-more-straws/2008/11/28/1227491791137.html
As far as I know, "pouch" means "a kind of bag" but here the meaning doesn't fit here.
Endeavour astronaut Don Pettit, a self-described tinkerer who served as the space station's flight engineer in 2003, invented a zero-gravity cup that wicks liquids along the sides of a piece of folded plastic, eliminating the need for a straw.
Because liquids typically form spherical blobs in weightlessness, astronauts drink from sealed pouches using straws. Pettit, a huge coffee fan, didn't like sipping his java, and created the cup from a sheet of transparent plastic used in overhead projectors by folding it into the shape of an airplane wing and taping it in place.
"The way this works is the cross-section of this cup looks like an airplane wing. The narrow angle here will wick the coffee up," Pettit explained in a video radioed to NASA's Mission Control Centre in Houston and broadcast on NASA TV.
Could you please explain to me the emboldened parts?
Source : http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/zerogravity-cup-means-no-more-straws/2008/11/28/1227491791137.html
As far as I know, "pouch" means "a kind of bag" but here the meaning doesn't fit here.
Top answer
"pouch" = small bag. Why do you think the meaning doesn't fit? In space, all food and drink has to be in sealed bags, otherwise it would float around all over the place and make a horrible mess.
- "pouch" = small bag.
- Why do you think the meaning doesn't fit?
- In space, all food and drink has to be in sealed bags, otherwise it would float around all over the place and make a horrible mess.
- "java" = coffee (from the island of Java, where it's produced).
- "up" = up and away from the reservoir of liquid, and towards the drinker's mouth (presumably)
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1 Answers
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"pouch" = small bag. Why do you think the meaning doesn't fit? In space, all food and drink has to be in sealed bags, otherwise it would float around all over the place and make a horrible mess.
"java" = coffee (from the island of Java, where it's produced).
"up" = up and away from the reservoir of liquid, and towards the drinker's mouth (presumably)
"java" = coffee (from the island of Java, where it's produced).
"up" = up and away from the reservoir of liquid, and towards the drinker's mouth (presumably)
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