印度准备在全球太空竞赛中登月

印度准备在全球太空竞赛中登月

India is looking to take a giant leap in its space program and solidify its place among the world's spacefaring nations with its second unmanned mission to the moon, this one aimed at landing a rover near the unexplored south pole.

印度正寻求在其太空计划上迈出一大步，并通过其第二次无人登月任务巩固其在世界航天国家中的地位。这次无人登月任务的目标是在尚未探索的南极附近着陆一艘月球车。

The Indian Space Research Organisation plans to launch a spacecraft using homegrown technology on Monday, and it is scheduled to touch down on the moon September 6 or 7.

印度空间研究组织计划周一发射一艘使用国产技术的航天器，并计划于9月6日或7日登陆月球。

The NZ$211 million Chandrayaan-2 mission will analyse minerals, map the moon's surface and search for water.

耗资2.11亿新西兰元的“月船二号”任务将分析月球矿物，绘制月球表面地图，并寻找水源。

It will "boldly go where no country has ever gone before," ISRO said in a statement.

ISRO在一份声明中说，它将“勇敢地走向一个从未有过的国家”。

With India poised to become the world's fifth-largest economy, the ardently nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to show off the country's prowess in security and technology.

随着印度即将成为世界第五大经济体，由纳伦德拉莫迪(Narendra Modi)总理领导的民族主义政府热衷于展示该国在安全和技术方面的实力。

India successfully test-fired an anti-satellite weapon in March, which Modi said demonstrated the country's capacity as a space power alongside the United States, Russia and China. India also plans to send humans into space by 2022, becoming only the fourth nation to do so.

今年3月，印度成功试射了一枚反卫星武器。莫迪说，这表明印度有能力与美国、俄罗斯和中国比肩成为太空强国。印度还计划在2022年前将人类送入太空，成为世界上第四个将人类送入太空的国家。

The country's ambitions are playing out amid a resurgent space race.

该国的雄心壮志在一场复苏的太空竞赛中得到了体现。

The US — which is marking the 50th anniversary this month of the Apollo 11 mission that made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin the first humans on the moon — is working to send a manned spacecraft to the lunar south pole by 2024.

美国将于本月庆祝阿波罗11号登月计划50周年，该计划使尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和巴兹·奥尔德林成为登上月球的第一人。美国计划在2024年之前向月球南极发射载人飞船。

In April, an unmanned Israeli craft crashed into the moon in a failed attempt at the first privately funded lunar landing.

今年4月，一艘以色列无人驾驶飞船在首次私人资助的登月尝试中撞向月球，但以失败告终。

Decades of space research have allowed India to develop satellite, communications and remote sensing technologies that are helping solve everyday problems at home, from forecasting fish migration to predicting storms and floods.

数十年的太空研究使印度得以发展卫星、通讯和遥感技术，帮助解决从预测鱼类迁徙到预测风暴和洪水等国内日常问题。

India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, whose name is Sanskrit for "moon craft," orbited the moon in 2008 and helped confirm the presence of water.

印度的第一次探月任务“月船一号”(Chandrayaan-1)于2008年绕月飞行，帮助证实了月球上存在水。

In 2013-14, India put a satellite into orbit around Mars in the nation's first interplanetary mission.

2013年至2014年，印度将一颗卫星送入火星轨道，这是该国首次执行星际任务。

Some have questioned the expense in a country of 1.3 billion people with widespread poverty and one of the world's highest child mortality rates.

一些人质疑，在这个有着13亿人口、普遍贫困、儿童死亡率居世界前列的国家，这么做是否值得。

But author and economic commentator Gurcharan Das said that the cost of the second moonshot is small compared with India's overall budget and that the project could have a multiplier effect on the economy.

但作家兼经济评论员Gurcharan Das表示，与印度的总体预算相比，第二次探月计划的成本很小，而且该项目可能对经济产生乘数效应。

He called on India to get the country's private sector more involved in research and development, which he said could yield "huge benefits" beyond the realm of space travel.

他呼吁印度让该国的私营企业更多地参与研发，他表示，研发可能带来超出太空旅行领域的“巨大利益”。

The spacecraft will have a lunar orbiter, lander and a rover. The lander will carry a camera, a seismometer, a thermal instrument and a NASA-supplied laser retroreflector that will help calculate the distance between the Earth and the moon.

太空船将有一个月球轨道器，着陆器和一个月球车。着陆器将携带一个照相机、一个地震仪、一个热仪器和一个由美国宇航局提供的激光反射镜，这将有助于计算地球和月球之间的距离。

The lunar south pole is especially interesting because a much larger portion of it is in shadow than the north pole, presenting a greater possibility of water. Water is an essential ingredient for life, and finding it is part of science's broader goal of determining whether there is life elsewhere in our solar system.

月球南极特别有趣，因为它的阴影部分比北极大得多，更有可能存在水。水是生命的基本成分，发现水是科学确定太阳系其他地方是否有生命这一更广泛目标的一部分。

This will be the first rover to look for water at the south pole.

这将是第一个在南极寻找水源的月球车。