STEM与日常科技·英语30篇（2）

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引力弹弓如何加速探测器

A gravity slingshot uses a planet’s motion and gravity to boost a spacecraft’s speed without burning extra fuel.
As the probe approaches a moving planet, it gains momentum from the planet’s orbital velocity around the Sun.
This effect works like bouncing a ball off a moving train — the ball leaves faster than it arrived.
Mission planners carefully calculate the flyby angle, distance, and timing to maximize the energy gain.
Voyager 2 used slingshots at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to visit all four outer planets.
Without this technique, such long-distance missions would require much larger rockets or decades more travel time.
The probe’s path bends due to gravity, but its speed relative to the Sun increases significantly after departure.
Importantly, the planet loses a tiny, immeasurable amount of orbital energy in the process — conservation holds.
Engineers simulate thousands of trajectories using physics-based software before selecting the final flight plan.
Today, slingshots remain essential for deep-space exploration, enabling missions that would otherwise be impossible.