The Apollo Moon landings (1969–1972) brought magnetic field sensors and temperature probes to the Moon and produced large amounts of data, much of which was stored on technologies that are now obsolete. A data-transfer project is working to _____ these data so that the information is available to researcher Seiichi Nagihara, who is investigating temperature changes on the Moon.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Explanation
Context: Apollo-era lunar readings survive only on storage technologies that are now obsolete, and a project is working to make them usable for a current researcher.
Answer: C) salvage
Why? The sentence establishes that the data sits on media no one can read anymore and is therefore in danger of being lost. "Salvage" means to rescue something from loss or destruction, which is precisely what a data-transfer project does when it pulls the sensor and probe readings off dead formats so Nagihara can work with them.
Traps:
- A) "simplify" → the obstacle is inaccessible storage, not data that is too complicated.
- B) "amend" → implies correcting or revising the readings; nothing suggests they are wrong.
- D) "improve" → the aim is to preserve and deliver the original measurements, not to make them better.