CNN News: 月亮也有阴暗面 并不是坏事

Which of these moons is smallest?

以下哪个卫星是最小的?

Earth’s moon, Saturn’s Titan, Jupiter’s Callisto, or Jupiter’s Ganymede?

地球的卫星，土星的土卫六，木星的木卫四，还是木星的木卫三?

Earth’s Moon is not the smallest in our solar system, but it is the smallest on this list, with a diameter of around 2,000 miles.

地球的月亮不是太阳系中最小的，但是它是上述名单中最小的，直径大约2000英里。

AZUZ: Of course, our moon has a dark side, that’s not a bad thing. It’s just the part we never see. And China is planning to send a spacecraft to it later this year.

当然，我们的月亮也有阴暗面，这并不是坏事。这只是我们从未见过的部分。中国计划在今年晚些时候发射一艘宇宙飞船。

There’s a big challenge to that, though. There’d be no way to communicate with the craft. The rest of the moon would be in the way, cutting off any signals from earth.

但这是一个巨大的挑战。没有办法和飞船沟通。月球的其余部分将会挡住地球的任何信号。

So, China took a step toward addressing that this week. It launched a satellite that has a unique mission. It will hang out in the moon’s orbit, if all goes according to plan, and act like a relay station that would allow scientists on earth to communicate with the spacecraft on the far side of the moon.

因此，中国本周朝着解决这一问题迈出了一步。它发射了一颗具有独特使命的卫星。如果一切按计划进行，它将在月球轨道上运行，就像一个中继站，让地球上的科学家能够与月球远端的宇宙飞船交流。

Of course, the satellite has to find its sweet spot first and then the actual lunar lander has to go there afterwards. So, while this is a step toward accomplishing the goal, the mission’s project manager says a number of challenges remain.

当然，卫星必须先找到它的最佳位置，然后真正的月球着陆器必须随后到达那里。因此，尽管这是朝着实现目标迈出的一步，但该任务的项目经理表示，仍存在许多挑战。

The ultimate aim, according to an official with the China National Space Administration, is to set up a permanent base on the moon that’s run by robots.

中国国家航天局的一位官员表示，最终目标是在月球上建立一个由机器人控制的永久基地。