作者：蒋迅 来源： NASA: Wan Hoo and His Space Vehicle 万虎 (Wan Hoo, Wan Hu ) 是一个传说中的人物。第一位写到他的是美国人Herbert S. Zim在他于1945年所写的书“Rockets and Jets”中。因为是在英文中首次出现这个名字，我们中国人到现在也没有弄清楚到底是万虎还是万户还是其他什么名字。没有任何中国的古代文献中提到过他。 这也可以说明科技在中国历史上的地位吧。不过，从此以后，万虎就成了世界公认的第一位宇航员了。最近，我发现了一个关于万虎的比较详细的描述。事实上，这 个描述似乎是出自 钱学森 ( Tsien Hsue-shen )之口。这篇文章的标题是：“ 大漠荒原与航天城堡 钱学森轶事1956-1976 年 ”。这个故事说，万虎不但是第一为宇航员，而且是第一位设计并制造了两级火箭的人。这是在1465年明朝的事情了。 下面是钱学森从他的导师王士倬那里听来的“万虎的故事”。 故事发生在公元十五世纪的中国。 那是明朝宪宗皇帝成化十九年。有一位富有人家的子弟叫万虎。他熟读诗书，但不去投考。因为他不爱官位，爱科学。他最感兴趣的，是中国古人发明的火药和火箭。想利用这两种具有巨大推力的东西，将人送上蓝天，去亲眼观察高空的景象。为此，他做了充分的准备。 这一天，他手持两个大风筝，坐在一辆捆绑著四十七支火箭的蛇形飞车上。然后，他命令他的仆人点燃第一排火箭。 只见一位仆人手举火把，来到万户的面前，心情非常沉痛地说道：“主人，我心里好怕。” 万户问道：“怕什么？” 那仆人说：“倘若飞天不成，主人的性命怕是难保。” 万户仰天大笑，说道：“飞天，乃是我中华千年之夙愿。今天，我纵然粉身碎骨，血溅天疆，也要为后世闯出一条探天的道路来。你等不必害怕，快来点火！” 仆人们只好服从万虎的命令，举起了熊熊燃烧的火把。 只听“轰！”的一声巨响，飞车周围浓烟滚滚，烈焰翻腾。顷刻间，飞车已经离开地面，徐徐升向半空。 正当地面的人群发出欢呼的时候，第二排火箭自行点燃了。突然，横空一声爆响。只见蓝天上万虎乘坐的飞车变成了一团火，万虎从燃烧著的飞车上跌落下来，手中还紧紧握著两支著了火的巨大风筝，摔在万家山上。 钱学森讲到这里停了一下。有一个青年人问道：“后来呢？” “后来？”钱学森神情惋惜地说道，“万虎长眠在鲜花盛开的万家 山。当然，他进行的飞天事业停止了。明朝以后，特别是到了近代，我国的科技事业日趋落后，以至倍受列强的欺凌。但是，万虎开创的飞天事业，得到了世界的公 认。美国一位叫詹姆斯·麦克唐纳的火箭专家，称中国的万虎为青年火箭专家，是人类第一位进行载人火箭飞行尝试的先驱。他研制的蛇形飞车，也是人类有史以来 了不起的发明。” “实际上，早在明代我国便发明了二级火箭。多级火箭为我国首创，是人类火箭技术方面的重大突破，是现代多级火箭的先河。” 来源： NASA: Virtual Aeronautics, 13th Through 16th Centuries 来源： Wan Hu Is In the Stars A Picture Book by Jennifer Armstrong 来源： Evidence of Wan Hu Rocket 万虎能不能算是世界上第一位宇航员，中国能不能算是世界上设计并制造两级火箭的国家，这是一 个见仁见智的问题。严格地说当然 万虎 不能算 是世界上第一位宇航员 ，因为国际上对宇航员的定义是已经进入外太空的人。不过，古代中国人确实有许多发明创造。火药的发明就是其中之一。 万虎的功绩在於他是第一位从概念上产生了火箭发射的思路并在实际中制造了火箭。可惜他缺少了理论计算和一定的试验，这两点导致了他的失败。看现在国的航天 业，可以说基本是模仿俄国的和美国的技术。要想走到领先的地位，还必须加大力度进行基础研究，在概念性设计上走出自己的路。
clutchfans：火箭球员的中文外号 由 wombat 发表在 HoopChina 火箭区畅言版 http://bbs.hoopchina.com/cyb 在clutchfans上看到在讨论火箭球员的中文外号，十分有趣，转过来给大家看看。他们对这些中文外号评价挺高，认为比他们起的外号有意思，有想象力，尤其喜欢斯科拉，兰德里的外号。 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=179589 Brooks is called The Little Bu, or the Little Black Bean, as his size is not that big. 布鲁克斯叫小布，或小黑豆。 Scola is called Si Karat, as his skill set is as valuable as a four-karat diamond. Si is four in Chinese. 斯科拉叫四克拉，或四克拉钻石。 Lowry is called The little tank, because even though he is not big, he is really strong. 罗瑞叫小坦克。因为他小而壮。 Von Wafer used to be called Weifu King. Weifu is what Wafer sounds like in Chinese. Weifu King is also a kongfu master in a popular Chinese martial novel. 韦弗叫韦蝠王，是中国著名武打小说中的功夫大师。 Landry is called God Bird, as he always flies high to get a slam dunk. 兰德里叫神鸟，因为他总是能飞得很高扣篮。 Almost every Rockets player has a Chinese nickname. But on other NBA teams, only superstars have Chinese nicknames. Its very interesting that these Chinese nicknames are only shared by the Chinese fans. The players maybe dont even know they are called in such way in China. 中国球迷往往会给NBA的明星球员取外号，但是对火箭的所有球员都有外号。这一点也可以看出来中国球迷对火箭队的热爱。这些外号仅在中国球迷间流通，往往那些NBA球员自己都不知道他们的中文外号。 For example, Chris Paul is called The Bee King, as Hornets are translated into some kind of bees in Chinese. Tim Duncan is called The Stone Buddha, as he is solid all the time. 比如保罗叫蜂王，邓肯叫石佛，等等。 Usually, only superstars on other NBA teams get their Chinese nicknames, but Rockets players do have the privilege to get one even if they are not superstars. What matters is that they are Rockets, definitely the most popular NBA team in China. 还有： Budinger is called Buding ge which is Brother buding in English and Buding means Patch... 布丁格叫补丁哥。 Battier is called Bat man 巴蒂尔叫蝙蝠侠。 cook is called chu zi 库克叫厨子。 Dorsey is called something like big mouth 多西叫大嘴。 Ariza is called iron zha Iron is from the chinese word forge iron because Ariza's poor shooting performence 阿里扎叫铁扎，因为他惨不忍睹的投篮命中率。 Yao Ming: The little giant or Big Yao 姚明叫小巨人。 YI jianlian: Air Yi or Ah Lian 易建联叫天空易或阿联。 Let me tell you nikenames of houston rockets players in china YAO--Squirrel（in chinese called song shu）or Big YAO(in chinese called da yao) 姚明叫松鼠，或大姚。 SCOLA--a movie king（in chinese called ying di）or four carat(in chinese called si ke la) or Diamond（zuan shi） 斯科拉叫影帝或四克拉或钻石。 BATTIER--President（in chinese called zong tong）or Batman（in chinese called bian fu xia） 巴蒂尔叫总统或蝙蝠侠。 Ariza--za za or God of Blacksmith（in Chinese called tie shen） 阿里扎叫铁匠或铁神。 Brooks--little bu or little black legumes（in Chinese called xiao bu or xiao hei dou） 布鲁克斯叫小黑豆。 Landry--great wild chicken（in Chinese called da tu ji）or miraculous bird（shen niao） 兰德里叫大土鸡或神鸟。 Lowry--Loli （luo li or luo rui） 罗瑞叫萝莉。 Hayes--grandpa whose Surname is SEA（hai ye） 海耶斯叫海爷。 Budinger--brother of Patch（bu ding ge） 布丁格叫补丁哥。 Andersen--David AN（an da wei） 安德森叫安大卫或袋鼠。 Taylor--tailor（cai feng） 泰勒叫裁缝。 Cook--Cook or the man who guard drinking machine（chu zi or kan yin shui ji de） 库克叫厨子或看饮水机的。 Dorsey--the man who guard drinking machine（kan yin shui ji de） 多西也是个看饮水机的。 Harris--NONE（but when he played CBA in China , named MILES） 哈里斯还没有外号。 McGrady--MAI DI （abbreviation in China）or T-MAC (Usage as same as USA) or called his first name --Tracy 麦迪叫麦迪，T-MAC或崔西。
（ http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/aug/HQ_09-194_ALICE.html ） NASA, AFOSR Test Environmentally-Friendly Rocket Propellant WASHINGTON -- NASA and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, or AFOSR, have successfully launched a small rocket using an environmentally-friendly, safe propellant comprised of aluminum powder and water ice, called ALICE. This collaboration has been an opportunity for graduate students to work on an environmentally-friendly propellant that can be used for flight on Earth and used in long distance space missions, said NASA Chief Engineer Mike Ryschkewitsch at NASA Headquarters in Washington. These sorts of university-led experimental projects encourage a new generation of aerospace engineers to think outside of the box and look at new ways for NASA to meet our exploration goals. Using ALICE as fuel, a nine-foot rocket soared to a height of 1,300 feet over Purdue University's Scholer farms in Indiana earlier this month. ALICE is generating excitement among researchers because this energetic propellant has the potential to replace some liquid or solid propellants. When it is optimized, it could have a higher performance than conventional propellants. By funding this collaborative research with NASA, Purdue University and the Pennsylvania State University, AFOSR continues to promote basic research breakthroughs for the future of the Air Force, said Dr. Brendan Godfrey, director of AFOSR. ALICE has the consistency of toothpaste when made. It can be fit into molds and then cooled to -30 C 24 hours before flight. The propellant has a high burn rate and achieved a maximum thrust of 650 pounds during this test. A sustained collaborative research effort on the fundamentals of the combustion of nanoscale aluminum and water over the last few years led to the success of this flight, said Dr. Steven F. Son, a research team member from Purdue. ALICE can be improved with the addition of oxidizers and become a potential solid rocket propellant on Earth. Theoretically, ALICE can be manufactured in distant places like the moon or Mars, instead of being transported to distant locations at high cost.
标签: 火箭
