China lands on moon, kicks off next lunar space race

本文翻译自新科学家http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24759-china-lands-on-moon-kicks-off-next-lunar-space-race.html#.UrG_R10W0Zg

China lands on moon, kicks off next lunar space race
中国着陆月球——开启下一个月球探测竞赛

Let the modern moon rush begin. China has successfully placed a lander and rover on the lunar surface, the first time any nation has touched down there in almost four decades.
China’s first moon landing, which took place on Saturday afternoon (GMT) marks the rekindling of humanity’s love affair with our only natural satellite. About a dozen robotic landers and rovers are on the drawing board for launch between now and 2020, many from burgeoning space powers or private ventures that would also be making their first attempts.
让现代的月球探测竞争开始吧。中国已经成功地将着陆器和探测车送上了月球表面，这是几乎40年来世界上首次登录月球表面。中国的第一次登陆月球发生在星期六下午（GMT），标志着重新点燃了人类对自己唯一的天然卫星的探索激情。从现在到2020年将大约有12个着陆器和探测车登陆，其中大部分来自空间技术急速增长的国家或私人企业，这也或许是他们的首次尝试。

This flotilla of 21st-century moon explorers should arrive bristling with technologies that will help them map the moon’s uncharted regions and prospect for resources that could one day sustain lunar outposts and missions further afield.
这支21世纪的月球探测大军应该大力发展那些将会帮助他们填补月球地图的空白和勘探有朝一日能支持月球前哨基地和远距离任务的能源的科技。

Space island
宇宙中的小岛

The crew of the final Apollo mission lifted off from the moon’s Sea of Serenity on 14 December 1972. After that, three robotic Soviet spacecraft made it to the surface, the final one in 1976. For the next few decades, the moon’s only visitors were a dozen or so orbiters and deliberate crashes, such as NASA’s LCROSS mission in 2009, which created plumes of dust for analysis by orbiters.
阿波罗最后一次任务的机组人员于1972年12月14号在月球静谧海起飞。在那之后，三个苏联的太空飞船着陆月球，最后一个是在1976年。在接下来的几十年中，月球唯一的拜访者就是数量巨大的环绕探测器和撞击探测器，例如美国宇航局2009年的LCROSS任务，它撞击产生了大量的尘埃用于轨道飞行器的分析。