Space Taxis On The Rise

 

Hello sunshine. Welcome to CNN 10. I'm Coy Wire here with your 10 minutes of news for Wednesday, April 16th. We are halfway through the week. Let's aim to be a little better today than we were yesterday.

 

And if we can keep on having days like that, it's going to be all good. Today is #yourwordWednesday. Listen to see if the vocab word you submitted helped us write today's show. Now let's get to your news.

 

We start today with the intensifying economic showdown between China and the United States. After US President Donald Trump's administration imposed 145% tariffs on its superpower rival, Chinese President Xi Jinping is so far refusing to back down.

 

back down 放棄, 打退堂鼓

 

He's vowed to fight the tariffs and give US officials what he likely feels is their comeuppance.

 

comeuppance [kʌmˋʌpəns] n.【口】報應，罪有應得

 

He's declining to negotiate a tariff deal and has imposed reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the US on April 10th.

 

The US's economic conflict with China is a real-world showdown with high stakes that will likely affect many of us.

 

Both economies are deeply intertwined.

 

intertwine [͵ɪntɚˋtwaɪn] v. 纠缠

 

The US relies on China for consumer electronics and rare earth minerals used to make electric vehicles, military applications, and robotics.

 

But even basic staples of daily life like medicines, clothing, shoes—uh, they're all widely imported from China.

 

Meanwhile, the US exports produce like soybeans to China, which are vital to the livelihoods of many American farmers.

 

Now the tariffs imposed by both sides are so high that trade could effectively grind to a halt.

 

Both sides could suffer terribly in a long-feared, full-blown trade war.

 

full-blown 充分发展的

 

Stock markets could once again be rocked globally, and US consumers could be hit by shortages and surging prices.

 

CNN's Ivan Watson shows us how China is reacting to what could be a defining economic struggle with the US.

 

From the beginning, the Chinese government has said it does not want a trade war with the US. But if one is coming, it is prepared to respond. One of the measures it appears to have adopted was announced back on April 4th, which was almost a lifetime ago in this tariff war.

 

It wasn't a tariff. It was a suspension of the export of seven out of 17 rare earth metals. It turns out, according to the International Energy Agency, that China has a near monopoly on the production and refinement of rare earth metals.

 

And they are not coming to the US right now. Why is that important? Well, these items, these materials, and compounds show up in your phone, in the touch-screen, in the microphone, and in the vibration element here in your phone.

 

They're also used in things like defense systems, like the F35 stealth fighter jet, where the Department of Defense says hundreds of pounds of rare earth metals are used in that, thousands of pounds of rare earth metals used in US warships and submarines.

 

Uh, so this measure by China uh creates a challenge for the US to find these types of materials from a small number of other potential suppliers around the world. Uh, and China, the Chinese government, also is not sitting still.

 

The president, Xi Jinping, arrived in the Vietnamese capital on Monday uh, and he's on a tour through Southeast Asia. He'll also be traveling to Cambodia and Malaysia. Guess what? All three countries were hit by President Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs, which he paused, announced a temporary suspension.

 

Uh, those tariffs were to the tune of 46%, 49%, and 24%.

 

In Hanoi, President Xi told his Vietnamese counterpart, quote, "Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment."

 

resolutely [ˋrɛzə͵lutlɪ] adv. 坚决地；毅然地

 

Reports that the two governments could sign up to 40 trade deals. President Xi clearly trying to portray China as a reliable and rational trading partner at a time when the US government is determined to blow up the system of international trade.

 

Pop quiz hot shot.

 

Most satellites are floating at what orbital altitude or distance from the Earth's surface:

 

Low Earth orbit,

Geostationary orbit,

Sun-synchronous orbit,

Polar orbit?

 

geostationary [͵dʒioˋsteʃə͵nɛrɪ]  adj.（人造衛星）與地球旋轉同步的

synchronous [ˋsɪŋkrənəs]  adj.【物】【电】同周期的；同步的

 

If you said low Earth orbit, let's go. That's where a vast majority of satellites are found, like SpaceX's Starlink and the International Space Station. It extends up to 1,200 miles above Earth, making it the most energy-efficient orbit to reach.

 

Let's go now to Glasgow, Scotland, where the development of a new generation of rockets aims to transform the business of transporting satellites to their orbits in space.

 

Glasgow-based rocket manufacturer Skyrora says this nimble rocket service can save satellite companies up to six months of time maneuvering satellites to space compared to the larger rockets currently used today.

 

nimble [ˋnɪmb!] adj. 灵活的，灵巧的，敏捷的

 

Our Max Foster shows us why the company calls their rockets a space taxi service.

 

Space, the final frontier. It's a conversation that has picked up again with plans to return people to the moon in 2027 and even walk on Mars in the 2030s.

 

But alongside the super heavy rockets we see on the news there's a race to create more nimble craft.

 

And there are few places that race is more clearly evident than the old ship building city of Glasgow.

 

Around the central belt of Scotland there's more satellites made anywhere in the world outside of Silicon Valley.

 

We can have that more bespoke service for them and take them exactly where we want to go.

 

bespoke [bɪˋspok] adj.【英】预定的；定制的

 

So while the larger companies out there at the moment they're really more of a sort of bus service for the clients out there.

 

They're a little bit cheaper depending on the payloads that you're taking but you then need to get from where they let you go to your actual destination. For us we're more that taxi ride for them. So we can take our clients to exactly where they need to much quicker.

 

It can save them up to 6 months in time.

 

At the moment Skyrora is test launching its 11 meter Skyllark L rocket, gaining valuable data for the development of its main rocket, the 23 meter Skyrora XL.

 

The XL Rocket is divided into three stages. The first stage is the most powerful, using nine of Skyroar's Sky Force 70 kilo newton engines to lift the rocket 60 km (37 miles) into the sky.

 

stage [stedʒ] n.（火箭的）節

 

The second stage, with just one Sky Force engine, takes the craft the final distance into space, leaving the final stage to drop off its payloads.

 

This third stage is unique in that it can go and conduct secondary missions.

 

So it could go and refuel another satellite or do some de-orbiting of old space junk or old, unused satellites as well.

 

The UK holds the lonely title of being the only country to have had the ability to put a satellite into space and give it up.

 

So back in the 1970s, in the late 60s, there was actually a space program in the UK.

 

It went from Australia and a place called Woomera, and it put up one single satellite called Prospero. Our commercial work that we're doing now is trying to bring that back.

 

Skyroar's designs lean heavily on the Black Arrow and later Blue Steel rocket designs but at a fraction of the price, thanks to one key technological development.

 

The engines on Black Arrow and Blue Steel, they are manufactured using traditional manufacturing techniques, whereas our engines are manufactured using 3D printing, which helps to save a lot of money and a lot of time.

 

Basically, it's a bit of a dreamer's world at the moment, and what you can do and what you can test out really is what I expect in the next few years from the company.

 

Today's story getting a 10 out of 10: The newly crowned champions of Major League Table Tennis.

 

It was an action-packed weekend in Philadelphia, host of the 2025 Major League Table Tennis Championships, where four teams faced off for their place as the best in the country.

 

action-packed [͵ækʃənˋpækt] adj.（电影、故事、活动等）内容丰富有趣的

 

The Chicago Wind went head-to-head with the Bay Area Blasters for third place.

 

head-to-head [ˋhɛdtəˋhɛd] adv. 正面对决地

 

And the Carolina Gold Rush defeated the Texas Smash in the championship match for the $50,000 prize and the title.

 

Here's a look at some of how it all went down.

 

A very competitive sport. We're going to have a packed, standing-room-only crowd today.

 

standing room（体育场、剧院、公交车等中，尤指座位已满时的）站立空间，站立位置

 

It's the Major League Championship Finals here in Philadelphia, our home crowd, the number one major league table tennis league in the entire USA.

 

Table tennis is an incredibly athletic and thoughtful sport.

 

thoughtful [ˋθɔtfəl] adj. 富有思想的；经认真推敲的

 

Not only do you need to be in great shape to move around, you're constantly calculating what to do with an opponent's shot.

I don't think any sport can compare.

 

All right, congratulations to our Your Word Wednesday winner, Miss Baker, and all of our chargers at Dundy Crown High School in Carpentersville, Illinois, for "comeuppins," a noun meaning a punishment or fate that someone deserves.

 

Well done, and thanks to you and everyone for following and submitting an abundance of enticing words.

 

Our shout-out of the day goes to the Panthers of Quabbin Regional Middle School in Barre, Massachusetts.

 

Rise up! Thank you for making us part of your day. It's a privilege and a pleasure, our favorite thing we do. See you tomorrow. I'm Coy Wire, and we are

CNN 10.