中欧共商"月球村"计划
China talking with European Space Agency about moon outpost
Representatives of China and the European Space Agency are discussing potential collaboration on a human outpost on the moon and other possible joint endeavors, according to a spokesman for the European agency and Chinese media reports.
据欧洲航天局一位发言人和中国媒体的消息,来自中方和欧洲航天局的代表正在探讨合作建立月球基地的计划,以及其他可能的合作项目.
The secretary general for China's space agency, Tian Yulong, first disclosed the talks about the envisioned lunar base in Chinese state media. They were confirmed Wednesday by Pal Hvistendahl, a spokesman for the European Space Agency, or ESA.
中国国家航天局秘书长田玉龙最先在中国官方媒体披露了有关建立月球基地的探讨.4月26日,欧洲航天局发言人赫韦斯滕达证实了这一消息.
"The Chinese have a very ambitious moon program already in place," Hvistendahl said. "Space has changed since the space race of the '60s. We recognize that to explore space for peaceful purposes, we do international cooperation."
赫韦斯滕达说:"中方已经有雄心勃勃的月球计划.上世纪60年代太空竞赛以来,航天领域已经发生了变化.我们认识到,为了以和平目的探索太空,我们要进行国际合作."
The director general of the 22-member ESA, Johann-Dietrich Woerner, has described its proposed "Moon Village" as a potential international launching pad for future missions to Mars and a chance to develop space tourism or even lunar mining.
欧洲航天局局长沃尔纳称,除了作为将来可能用作火星任务的国际发射台,计划中的"月球村"还将为开发太空旅游、甚至月球采矿提供机遇.欧洲航天局共有22个成员国.
China arrived relatively late to space travel but has ramped up its program since its first manned spaceflight in 2003, more than 42 years after a Soviet cosmonaut became the first to reach orbit.
虽然中国的太空之旅开展相对较晚,但自2003年首次实现载人航天飞行以来,中国加快了太空项目的步伐.1961年,前苏联一位宇航员成为第一个进入太空的人.
Last week the China National Space Administration launched an unmanned spacecraft on a mission to dock with its space station. It plans to launch a mission to collect samples from the moon by the end of this year and next year conduct the first mission to the moon's far side and bring back mineral samples.
上周,中国国家航天局发射一艘无人货运飞船,并将与空间实验室对接.今年年底,中国计划发射航天器前往月球取样,明年将发射探测器登陆月球背面,并带回矿物样本,这将系人类首次.
The ESA hopes to conduct a mission analysis on samples brought back by this year's Chinese mission, known as Chang'e 5, and also have a European flying on the Chinese space station at some future date, Hvistendahl said.
赫韦斯滕达表示,欧洲航天局希望对"嫦娥五号"今年将带回的样本进行分析,并在将来派宇航员前往中国的空间站.
英文来源:美联社