NASA has discovered a double crater made when a rocket of unknown origin hit the Moon
美国国家航空航天局发现了一个不明原因的火箭撞击月球时形成的双陨石坑
A rocket of unknown origin crashed into the Moon, leaving an unusual crater, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently revealed. Astronomers noted the rocket body heading toward the Moon late last year, and it finally hit Earth’s satellite on March 4, creating an unusual double-crater formation.
美国国家航空航天局的月球勘测轨道飞行器最近透露，一枚来历不明的火箭撞向月球，留下了一个不寻常的陨石坑。天文学家在去年年底注意到这个火箭体朝月球飞去，并最终在3月4日撞击了地球的卫星，形成了一个不同寻常的双陨石坑。
The double crater suggests the rocket body “had large masses at each end,” according to a press release NASA published on Friday. It consists of an eastern crater about 18 meters in diameter (19.5 yards) on top of a western crater of about 16 meters in diameter (17.5 yards).
美国国家航空航天局周五发布的新闻稿称，这两个陨石坑表明，火箭体“两端质量很大”。它由一个直径约18米(19.5码)的东部陨石坑和一个直径约16米(17.5码)的西部陨石坑组成。
The crater is so unusual precisely because no previous rocket body impact on the Moon has created a double crater. Four Apollo SIV-B craters were larger than the recent impact in maximum width, ranging from 35 to 40 meters (about 38 yards), though the maximum width of the new crater – 29 meters (about 31.7 yards) was similar to that of the Apollo rockets.
这个陨石坑之所以如此不寻常，正是因为之前没有火箭弹体撞击月球造成了双陨石坑。阿波罗号的四个SIV-B陨石坑的最大宽度比最近的撞击更大，从35米到40米(约38码)，尽管新陨石坑的最大宽度有29米(约31.7码)与阿波罗火箭的相似。
NASA did not mention whose rocket its orbiter had spotted in the press release, though American astronomer Bill Gray suggested in February that it was a booster stage from China’s Chang’e 5-T1 lunar mission, launched in October 2014. Gray initially misidentified the rocket as a stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9.
尽管美国天文学家比尔·格雷(Bill Gray)在2月份表示，这是中国2014年10月发射的嫦娥5-T1月球任务的助推器阶段，但美国宇航局在新闻稿中并未提及其轨道飞行器发现了谁的火箭。格雷最初误以为这枚火箭是太空探索公司猎鹰9号的一级火箭。
The Chang’e-5 probe, which landed on the Moon in December 2020, gathered a number of rocks for testing back on Earth, revealing water molecules were present at rates of up to 180 parts per million in some areas of the satellite.
嫦娥五号探测器于2020年12月在月球着陆，收集了一些岩石，用于返回地球进行测试，显示在卫星的某些区域存在着高达百万分之180的水分子。
Several nations have been landing or planning Moon missions in recent months. Russia has scheduled its Luna-25 Moon lander mission for September, according to an announcement last month by Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, while the US is aiming to launch its Artemis manned Moon mission by 2024.
近几个月来，几个国家已经开始登陆或计划月球任务。根据俄罗斯航天局局长德米特里·罗戈津上个月的一份声明，俄罗斯已计划于9月发射“月球-25”登月探测器，而美国则计划在2024年之前发射“阿尔特弥斯”载人登月任务。
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has warned that increasing collaboration between Russia and China in space poses a risk to its own supposed dominance of the domain. The US is competing with the two nations to build the first Moon base, with dreams of exploiting the potential mineral resources of Earth’s only satellite and potentially even building nuclear reactors on it.
与此同时，五角大楼警告称，俄罗斯和中国在太空领域日益加强的合作，对美国在该领域的主导地位构成了威胁。美国正与中美两国竞争建造首个月球基地，梦想着开发地球唯一一颗卫星上的潜在矿产资源，甚至可能在卫星上建造核反应堆。
