Chinese spacecraft blasts off in bid to be the first to land on the dark side of the moon (and show it can keep up with the US)

航天器发射升空，旨在成为首个在月球背面登陆的探测器(同时表明能与美国匹敌)

China is today sending a probe to uncharted territory on the dark side of the moon.

今日，向月球背面的未知区域发射了探测器（嫦娥四号）。

Chang'e-4 will target our natural satellites South Pole-Aitken basin's Von Karman crater, the largest in the entire solar system at 15,000 miles (24,000km) across and eight miles deep.

嫦娥四号将在南极-艾特肯盆地的冯卡门陨石坑着陆，这是整个太阳系最大的陨石坑，直径为1.5万英里(合2.4万公里)，深达8英里。（注：此处有误，冯卡门陨石坑直径约为2490公里）

It took off from the ichang satellite launch centre in Sichuan, south-west China at 6:30 GMT, with the launch declared a success.

It will take Chang'e 4 about three days to travel to the moon, where it will spend about three weeks in orbit.

格林尼治时间6点30分，“嫦娥四号”从四川西昌卫星发射中心成功发射，大约三天后到达月球，在那里它将在轨道上停留大约三周。

It is expected to perform a 'soft-landing' and land on the moon after a 27 day journey through space.

经过27天的太空之旅，“嫦娥四号”有望实现在月球背面软着陆。

Exploring the huge divot on the surface of the moon may shed new light on its history and geology by collecting rocks that have never been seen before.

通过探索月球表面巨大的陨石坑和收集从未见过的岩石，或能会为了解月球的历史和地质提供新的线索。

Researchers hope the huge depth of the crater will allow them to study the moon's mantle, the layer underneath the surface, of the moon.

研究人员希望通过陨石深坑研究月球表面下的地幔层。

Chang'e-4 has been described as 'hugely ambitious' and heralded as a sign of China's growing intentions to rival the space exploration prowess of the US, Russia and the EU.

“嫦娥四号”被形容为“雄心勃勃”的计划，并被视为越来越有意与美国、俄罗斯和欧盟的太空探索实力相媲美的迹象。

It hopes to restore its reputation with the Chang'e-4 mission and become the first country to ever successfully undertake such a mission.

中希望凭借“嫦娥四号”恢复声誉，成为第一个成功执行此类任务的国家。

The moon's far side is also known as the dark side because it faces away from Earth and remains comparatively unknown.

It has a different composition to sites on the near side of the moon where several previous missions have landed and explored.

月球的背面也被称为暗面，因为它背对地球，相对来说还不为人知。它与月球正面的构成不同，之前的几次任务都是在月球正面着陆，进行探索的。

英国每日邮报读者评论：

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/46647.html   译者：Jessica.Wu

外文：https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6470405/China-prepares-mission-land-spacecraft-moons-far-side.html

haradin, surfers paradise, Australia, 33 minutes ago

China will find out why NASA never went back.

将会发现为什么NASA从来没返回。

Robert.Hunter, London, United Kingdom, 41 minutes ago

china has very strict privacy laws and do not like to share info with anyone so cannot seem them sharing data if they do goto the moon

有非常严格的隐私法，不喜欢分享信息。如果他们真的去了月球，也不大可能会分享数据

Robert.Hunter, London, United Kingdom, 41 minutes ago

nasa should be exploring the moon and creating a base on that as it has so much to find out about it instead of spending billions on mars which no one can goto

NASA有很多关于月球的发现，他们应该去探索月球并在那建立一个基地，而不是花数十亿美元在火星上，没人能去到哪里。

Elroy Samuel, Wyong, Australia, 1 hour ago

That's where the crashed transformer ship is, hope they send some pics back

坠毁的飞船就在那里，希望他们能发回一些照片。

Linda, Dewsbury, 1 hour ago

It's not the dark side, but the hidden side: DM dumbos again. The moon circles the earth, once a month. It keeps the same face turned towards us, which means it rotates once a month on its axs.

这不叫阴暗面，而是不为人知的一面。月亮每月绕地球一周，始终面朝我们，每个月绕轴旋转一次。

WLMToo, Sandbanks, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

Why the dark side?

为什么是在背面着陆？

Whitestones, Le Thor, 3 hours ago

The only way China can keep up with the US is by stealing and copying its ideas, technology and inventions.

要想赶上美国，唯一的办法就是窃取和复制美国的创意、技术和发明。

Monobaz, Sydney, Australia, 4 hours ago

They will most certainly only find Swiss cheese.

他们肯定只能发现一些像“瑞士奶酪”一样的坑洞。

Directanddirect, Mumbai, India, 4 hours ago

Could have sent the royals in it.

本可以派皇室成员跟他们一起去的。

derekcolman, Norwich, 5 hours ago

I'm afraid the mission will fail. The aliens who live on the dark side of the moon will destroy it, probably before it even lands.

恐怕这次任务会失败，居住在月球背面的外星人将摧毁它，甚至可能在它着陆之前。