Days away from landing attempt, Blue Ghost spacecraft shares stunning close-ups of the moon
距离着陆尝试还有数日，蓝幽灵航天器分享令人惊叹的月球特写照片
The Blue Ghost lunar lander has been sharing dazzling visuals of our celestial neighbor since it successfully entered the moon’s orbit on February 13.
蓝幽灵月球着陆器自 2 月 13 日成功进入月球轨道以来，一直在分享我们天体邻居的迷人视觉画面。
The new footage features a close-up of the moon’s far side, an area that is not visible from Earth, taken after the lander transitioned from a high elliptical orbit to a lower elliptical orbit — about 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) above the surface — the Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace announced last week.
新视频展示了月球背面近距离画面，这是从地球上无法看到的区域，拍摄于着陆器从高椭圆轨道过渡到低椭圆轨道之后——大约在表面上方 120 公里（74.6 英里）处——德克萨斯州的公司 Firefly Aerospace 上周宣布。
Along with the flyby footage that shows off the moon’s rocky surface dotted with impact craters, the spacecraft also captured stunning imagery of an area of the lunar south pole.
随着展示月球表面布满撞击坑的飞行经过画面，航天器还捕捉到了月球南极区域的惊人影像。
“The latest Moon footage captured by Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is completely surreal,” said Joseph Marlin, deputy chief engineer for Blue Ghost, in an email.
“由Firefly的蓝幽灵登月器拍摄的最新月球画面简直是超现实的，”蓝幽灵项目副总工程师Joseph Marlin在一封电子邮件中说道。
“Of course, we had an idea of how the imagery would look, but seeing the real-life footage of the Moon’s craters and boulders from our very own spacecraft is such an inspiration, and really hits home how close we are to our final destination after all the hard work we’ve put into this mission.”
当然，我们已经有了一个关于这些图像将如何呈现的想法，但看到我们自己的航天器拍摄的月球陨石坑和岩石的真实影像，这真是太鼓舞人心了，真正让人感受到在投入了所有努力之后，我们离最终目的地有多么近。
The private US spacecraft left Earth’s orbit on February 8 before making a dayslong journey to reach the moon. (Earth’s distance from the moon averages about 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away, according to NASA). Now, Blue Ghost is about halfway through its 16-day orbit of the moon and will attempt a descent to the lunar surface on March 2.
美国私营航天器于 2 月 8 日离开地球轨道，开始了为期数天的月球之旅。（根据 NASA 的数据，地球与月球之间的平均距离约为 238,855 英里（384,400 公里）。现在，“蓝幽灵”号正进行其 16 天的月球轨道之旅的一半，并将于 3 月 2 日尝试降落到月球表面。）
The lander carries 10 NASA science and technology instruments aboard as part of the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative. CLPS is part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. After Blue Ghost lands on the moon, the instruments will operate for more than two weeks to collect data primarily on the moon’s subsurface, such as lunar dust and regolith, the loose rocks and mineral fragments that cover the lunar surface.
探测器搭载了 10 台 NASA 科学和技术仪器，作为太空机构商业月球有效载荷服务（或称 CLPS）计划的一部分。CLPS 是 NASA 更广泛的Artemis计划的一部分，该计划旨在在 50 多年后首次将宇航员送上月球。在蓝幽灵号着陆月球后，这些仪器将运行超过两周，主要收集有关月球地下数据，如月球尘埃和月壤，这些是覆盖月球表面的松散岩石和矿物碎片。
“Robotic deliveries like the Blue Ghost mission perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities on and around the Moon to prepare for astronaut missions to the lunar surface, and ultimately crewed missions to Mars,” NASA’s Artemis program said in a recent Instagram post.
“像蓝幽灵任务这样的机器人配送执行科学实验、测试技术，并在月球及其周围展示能力，为宇航员前往月球表面任务以及最终载人火星任务做准备，”NASA 的Artemis计划在最近的 Instagram 帖子中表示。