印度宇宙飛船歷史性登月

印度宇宙飛船歷史性登月

India’s dream of landing on the moon is getting closer to reality as its Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft split in two on Monday, with one half set to land on the lunar surface later this week.

本周一，印度的“月船2號”宇宙飛船一分為二，其中一半將于本周晚些時候在月球表面著陸。

First launched in July, the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft broke into two pieces as expected. “The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter at 1315 Hrs IST today,” Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) officials said in a statement Monday.

月船2號宇宙飛船于7月首次發(fā)射，按預期分裂成兩部分。印度空間研究組織(ISRO)官員周一在一份聲明中說：“維克拉姆著陸器今天在1315個小時的時間里,成功地與月船2號軌道飛行器分離。”

The orbiter will circle the moon’s poles for roughly one year and the Vikram Lander is expected to land between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. GMT Sept. 7 if all goes according to plan. Following that, a rover is expected to leave the Vikram Lander between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.

軌道飛行器將繞月球兩極運行大約一年，如果一切按計劃進行的話，維克拉姆登陸器預計將在格林尼治標準時間9月7日凌晨1:30至2:30著陸。之后，月球車將在早上5:30到6:30離開維克拉姆著陸器。

ISRO officials added that the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter “continues to orbit the moon in its existing orbit” and the health of both the orbiter and the lander are being monitored by the Mission Operations Complex at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bengaluru.

ISRO官員補充說，月船2號軌道飛行器“繼續(xù)在其現(xiàn)有軌道上繞月球運行”，軌道飛行器和著陸器的健康狀況正在由位于孟加拉魯?shù)腎SRO遙測、跟蹤和指揮網(wǎng)絡的任務運行綜合設施進行監(jiān)測。

“All the systems of Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and Lander are healthy,” ISRO continued.

“月船2號軌道飛行器和著陸器的所有系統(tǒng)都是健康的，”ISRO繼續(xù)說。

The Chandrayaan-2 craft entered lunar orbit last month after it launched from Sriharikotain southern India on July 22. The mission is on track even though a technical glitch delayed the launch for a week.

月船2號在7月22日從印度南部的斯里哈里克坦發(fā)射后，于上月進入月球軌道。盡管技術故障使發(fā)射推遲了一周，但任務仍在按計劃進行。

The mission’s next maneuver will come tomorrow between 8:45 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. IST, Space.com reported.

據(jù)Space.com報道，該任務的下一次演習將于明天上午8:45至9:45進行。

The landing zone for the Vikram Lander is on a plateau between two craters and will be the farthest south of any moon landing to date. Vikram contains equipment for three experiments: one to study the moon’s ionosphere, one to study the temperature of the top 4 inches of the lunar surface and the other to study moonquakes.

維克拉姆著陸器的著陸點位于兩個環(huán)形山之間的高原上，將是迄今為止月球著陸點最南端的著陸點。維克拉姆擁有三個實驗設備:一個是研究月球電離層，一個是研究月球表面頂部4英寸的溫度，另一個是研究月球地震。

The rover, known as Pragyan, has instruments to help identify elements near the landing site.

這輛名為“Pragyan”的月球車擁有幫助識別著陸地點附近元素的儀器。

If Chandrayaan-2 is successful, it adds to India’s space legacy. Indian hardware has reached the moon before, with Chandrayaan-1 orbiting the moon in 2008. However, it launched an impact probe that intentionally crashed into the moon and has yet to achieve a “soft landing” on the lunar surface.

如果“月船2號”成功的話，它將增加印度的太空遺產(chǎn)。印度的探月設備月船1號，曾在2008年到達月球。然而，它發(fā)射了一個撞擊探測器，故意撞到月球上，至今尚未在月球表面實現(xiàn)“軟著陸”。

So far, only the US, Russia and China have successfully soft-landed on the moon.

到目前為止，只有美國、俄羅斯和中國成功實現(xiàn)了月球軟著陸。