美國宇航局終于發(fā)現了印度丟失的登月器殘骸

美國宇航局終于發(fā)現了印度丟失的登月器殘骸

NASA announced Monday that it had finally found the crash site of India's lost lunar lander, Vikram. Images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera show the lander's crash site about 600 km (372 miles) from the Moon's south pole, shown below, including an impact point and field of debris surrounding it.

美國宇航局星期一宣布，終于找到了印度失蹤的月球著陸器維克拉姆的墜毀地點。月球勘測軌道飛行器照相機拍攝的圖像顯示，著陸器的墜毀地點距離月球南極約600公里(372英里)，如下圖所示，包括撞擊點和周圍的碎片。

Vikram was part of India's Chandrayaan-2 mission to send an orbiter, lander, and rover to the Moon's surface. Those ambitions were cut short when the Indian Space Research Organization lost touch with the lander as it was approaching the lunar surface on September 7 after being released by the orbiter.

維克拉姆是印度“月船2號”任務的一部分，該任務是向月球表面發(fā)射軌道飛行器、著陸器和漫游者。印度空間研究組織在9月7日登月器被釋放后，在接近月球表面時失去了與登月器的聯(lián)系，這讓他們的雄心壯志戛然而止。

Two and a half months after the agency lost contact, the ISRO finally admitted the lander crashed - a week before NASA discovered the lander's crash site.

在失去聯(lián)系兩個半月后，ISRO終于承認了著陸器的墜毀——在NASA發(fā)現著陸器墜毀地點的前一周。

The lander, with an orbiter and a rover called Pragyaan in tow, launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 15. The orbiter is currently in full operation.

7月15日，這艘載有軌道飛行器和名為“布拉格揚”的探測器的著陸器，從位于安得拉邦的薩提什達旺航天中心發(fā)射升空。軌道飛行器目前正在全面運行。

The lander was set to make India only the fourth country after the US, the USSR, and China to softly land a manmade object on the Moon.

該著陸器將使印度成為繼美國、蘇聯(lián)和中國之后，第四個將人造物體軟著陸月球的國家。

"Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement," reads NASA's statement.

美國宇航局在聲明中說:“盡管損失慘重，但能如此接近月球表面仍是一項了不起的成就。”