中国在月球背面发现神秘的“发光凝胶”

中国在月球背面发现神秘的“发光凝胶”

China’s Chang’e-4 lunar rover, which successfully landed on the moon in January, has found something rather strange and perplexing — an oddly colored “gel-like” substance that can’t yet be explained.

今年1月成功登陆月球的中国“嫦娥四号”月球车发现了一些相当奇怪和令人困惑的东西——一种颜色奇特的“凝胶状”物质，目前还无法解释。

According to Our Space, a Chinese government-sanctioned publication that focuses on space and exploration, the substance is described as a “gel with a mysterious luster.”

据中国政府批准的专注于太空和探索的出版物《我们的太空》(Our Space)称，这种物质被描述为“具有神秘光泽的凝胶”。

The Yutu-2 rover made the discovery on lunar day 8 (July 25) and so far, the Chinese space agency has not yet said what it is. Outside researchers have suggested that the gel is “melt glass” that has been created from meteorites hitting the far side of Earth’s natural satellite, according to Space.com.

玉兔2号月球车是在月球8日(7月25日)被发现的，到目前为止，中国航天局还没有说明它是什么。据Space.com报道，外部研究人员认为这种凝胶是“熔融玻璃”，是由撞击地球自然卫星远端的陨石形成的。

On July 28, the team operating Chang’e-4 was preparing to power down the Yutu-2 rover for daily maintenance when someone from the team looked at the images from the main camera and found a crater with oddly colored material.

7月28日，执行嫦娥四号任务的团队正准备给玉兔2号火星车供电，以进行日常维护，这时，团队中的一名成员从主摄像头上看了照片，发现了一个陨石坑，里面有奇怪颜色的物质。

From there, the operating team spoke with lunar scientists and they decided to keep the rover on and investigate the oddity.

从那时开始，操作团队与月球科学家进行了讨论，他们决定让月球车继续运行，并调查这一奇怪现象。

The Chinese Space Agency has not released any official photos of the gel yet, but it has been described in the rover’s drive diary. Photos of the Yutu-2 rover and the tracks it has made on the moon have been published on the official QQ China Lunar Exploration Project blog.

中国航天局还没有发布任何关于这种凝胶的官方照片，但它在月球车的驾驶日志中有描述。玉兔2号月球车的照片和它在月球上的轨迹已经在QQ中国探月工程官方博客上发布。

Only three countries, the US, China and Russia, have successfully “soft-landed” on the moon.

只有美国、中国和俄罗斯三个国家成功实现了月球的“软着陆”。