India Launches Lander, Rover to the Moon

An Indian spacecraft traveled to the far side of the moon Friday.

周五，一艘印度航天器飞抵月球背面。

India’s space agency said it is a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago. The mission was to land a space vehicle, called a rover, on the moon’s surface.

印度航天局表示，这是近四年前失败努力的后续任务。 该任务是将一辆名为“漫游者”的太空飞行器降落在月球表面。

Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, took off from Sriharikota in southern India. It included an orbiter, a lander, and a rover in a demonstration of India’s growing space technology. The spacecraft will take a little more than a month before landing on the moon’s surface later in August.

Chandrayaan-3在梵语中是“月球飞船”的意思，从印度南部的斯里哈里科塔起飞。 它包括一个轨道飞行器、一个着陆器和一个漫游车，展示了印度不断发展的太空技术。 该航天器将需要一个多月的时间才能在八月晚些时候登陆月球表面。

Engineers and scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) celebrated as they watched the launch of the spacecraft at mission control at Satish Dhawan Space Center. Thousands of Indians cheered outside the center and waved the national flag as they watched the spacecraft rise into the sky.

印度空间研究组织 (ISRO) 的工程师和科学家在萨蒂什·达万航天中心的任务控制中心观看航天器的发射，庆祝航天器的发射。 数千名印度人在中心外欢呼雀跃，并挥舞着国旗，看着宇宙飞船升入天空。

“Congratulations India. Chandrayaan-3 has started its journey towards the moon,” ISRO Director Sreedhara Panicker Somanath said shortly after the launch.

“恭喜印度。 “月船 3 号已经开始了它的月球之旅”，ISRO 主任 Sreedhara Panicker Somanath 在发射后不久说道。

A successful landing would make India the fourth country – after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China – to do so.

成功登陆将使印度成为继美国、前苏联和中国之后第四个实现这一目标的国家。

Dr. Jitendra Singh is an Indian official for Science and Technology. He said part of Chandrayaan-3 has equipment that would provide data to the scientific community on the scientific makeup of moon soil and rocks.

Jitendra Singh 博士是印度科学技术官员。 他说，月船三号的部分设备可以向科学界提供有关月球土壤和岩石科学构成的数据。

Several countries and private companies are in a race to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon’s surface. In April, a Japanese company’s spacecraft is thought to have crashed while attempting to land on the moon. An Israeli organization tried to do something similar in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on hitting the moon.

一些国家和私营公司正在竞相将航天器成功降落在月球表面。 四月份，一家日本公司的航天器被认为在试图登陆月球时坠毁。 一个以色列组织曾在 2019 年尝试做类似的事情，但其航天器在撞击月球时被摧毁。

With India becoming the world’s fifth-largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is ready to show off the country’s strength in security and technology.

随着印度成为世界第五大经济体，总理纳伦德拉·莫迪政府已准备好展示该国在安全和技术方面的实力。

India is using research from space and elsewhere to solve problems at home. Its space program has already helped develop satellite, communication and remote-sensing technologies. And it has been used to measure underground water levels and predict weather in the country.

印度正在利用太空和其他地方的研究来解决国内问题。 其太空计划已经帮助开发卫星、通信和遥感技术。 它已被用来测量地下水位并预测该国的天气。

“This is a very critical mission,” said Pallava Bagla. He is a science writer and co-writer of books on India’s space exploration. He added that India will require soft landing technology if it wants to attempt more missions to the moon.

“这是一项非常关键的任务，”帕拉瓦·巴格拉说。 他是一位科普作家，也是印度太空探索书籍的合著者。 他补充说，如果印度想尝试更多登月任务，就需要软着陆技术。

India is also looking forward to its first mission to the International Space Station next year. It will be working with the United States as part of agreements reached between Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House last month.

印度也期待明年首次执行国际空间站任务。 作为莫迪和美国总统乔·拜登上个月在白宫达成的协议的一部分，它将与美国合作。

Bagla said the visit by an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station will not slow down India’s own program. The program aims to launch an Indian astronaut from Indian soil on an Indian rocket in late 2024.

巴格拉表示，印度宇航员访问国际空间站不会放慢印度自己的计划。 该计划的目标是在 2024 年底用印度火箭从印度本土发射一名印度宇航员。

As part of its space program, active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014.

作为自 20 世纪 60 年代以来积极开展的太空计划的一部分，印度为自己和其他国家发射了卫星，并于 2014 年成功将一颗卫星送入火星轨道。

Singh said that based on the current path of growth, India’s space industry could be a trillion-dollar economy in the coming years.

辛格表示，根据目前的增长路径，印度航天工业在未来几年可能成为万亿美元的经济体。