First private Moon lander touches down on lunar surface to make history
第一个私人月球着陆器降落在月球表面创造历史
After a nailbiting descent, the Odysseus spacecraft lands near the lunar south pole and prepares to kick off a week of data-gathering.
经过紧张的下降，奥德修斯飞船降落在月球南极附近，准备开始为期一周的数据收集。
The spacecraft Odysseus passes over the Moon on 21 February on its way a successful landing on 22 February.Credit: Intuitive Machines/NASA CLPS
2月21日，宇宙飞船奥德修斯在2月22日成功着陆的途中经过月球。图片来源：Intuitive Machines/NASA CLPS
In a historic lunar accomplishment, the first private spacecraft to land successfully on the Moon touched down on 22 February. The spacecraft, named Odysseus and built by Intuitive Machines in Houston, Texas, also became the first US lunar lander since 1972, when the last crew of Apollo astronauts visited the Moon.
在一项历史性的月球成就中，第一艘成功登陆月球的私人航天器于2月22日着陆。这艘名为奥德修斯的宇宙飞船由德克萨斯州休斯顿的直觉机器公司建造，也成为自1972年阿波罗宇航员最后一批访问月球以来的第一个美国月球着陆器。
Odysseus offered up some nail-biting moments in the hours before landing, such as the malfunction of the laser rangefinders that were supposed to help guide its autonomous journey down to the lunar surface. Mission engineers had to upload a software patch to jury-rig it to use a secondary laser provided by NASA instead.
奥德修斯在着陆前的几个小时里提供了一些令人紧张的时刻，例如激光测距仪的故障，这些测距仪本应帮助引导其自主前往月球表面。使命工程师不得不上传一个软件补丁，以使用美国宇航局提供的二级激光来代替。
The exact state of the spacecraft remained unclear immediately after its landing, which occurred at 5:23 p.m. Houston time. But it was sending a faint signal back to mission control in Houston, indicating that at least some portion of it had survived the touchdown. “Odysseus has found its new home,” said mission director Tim Crain as the control room burst into cheers.
航天器在休斯顿时间下午5点23分着陆后的确切状态仍不清楚。但它向休斯顿的使命控制中心发回了一个微弱的信号，表明它至少有一部分在着陆时幸存了下来。“奥德修斯已经找到了它的新家，”使命主任蒂姆克莱恩说，控制室爆发出欢呼声。
Lunar return 月球返回
Regardless of how operational the spacecraft might be going forward, the landing is a major shot in the arm for US and commercial efforts to return to the Moon. NASA paid for much of the private mission and is counting on companies such as Intuitive Machines to help ferry equipment and scientific instruments to the Moon in preparation for returning astronauts there.
无论航天器的运行情况如何，这次着陆都是美国和商业重返月球努力的一剂强心针。美国宇航局支付了大部分的私人使命，并指望公司，如直观的机器，以帮助渡轮设备和科学仪器到月球，准备返回宇航员那里。
“The US has returned to the Moon,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “Today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA’s commercial partnerships.”
美国宇航局局长比尔纳尔逊说：“美国已经重返月球。”“今天是展示NASA商业伙伴关系的力量和承诺的一天。”
The first images from the lunar surface are expected within a few hours of the landing, depending on how communications with the spacecraft go. If Odysseus’s scientific payloads check out successfully, they could collect data for up to seven days, until night falls at the landing site and there is no more solar power left for operations.
第一批来自月球表面的图像预计将在着陆后几个小时内发布，这取决于与航天器的通信情况。如果奥德修斯的科学有效载荷检查成功，他们可以收集数据长达七天，直到晚上福尔斯在着陆点，没有更多的太阳能剩下的操作。
Five of the last nine Moon landing attempts have failed. Among the failures is a mission launched last month by Astrobotic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which ran out of fuel within hours of launch due to a valve malfunction. But also last month, the Japanese space agency succeeded in putting its SLIM lander near Shioli crater near the Moon’s equator, although the spacecraft landed upside down.
在过去的9次登月尝试中，有5次失败。失败之一是上个月由宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡的Astrobotic发射的一次使命，由于阀门故障，该任务在发射后几个小时内耗尽了燃料。但也是在上个月，日本航天局成功地将其SLIM着陆器放置在月球赤道附近的Shioli陨石坑附近，尽管航天器是倒着着陆的。
Speedy traveller 快速旅行者
Odysseus launched on 15 February from Cape Canaveral in Florida, and headed directly for the Moon. Along the way, it fired its engine several times to set itself on the correct trajectory and transmitted images of the Earth and the Moon. It entered lunar orbit on 21 February, initially circling 92 kilometres above the surface before making its landing attempt.
2月15日，奥德修斯号从佛罗里达的卡纳维拉尔角发射升空，直接飞往月球。沿着，它多次启动发动机，使自己处于正确的轨道上，并传输了地球和月球的图像。它于2月21日进入月球轨道，最初在表面上空92公里处盘旋，然后尝试着陆。
The spacecraft fired its engines to descend to a lower altitude, then moved into an autonomous series of maneouvres in which it re-oriented itself and began assessing the craters and boulders beneath. It navigated towards its intended landing site and fired its engines again to slow its descent, ultimately touching down on the surface.
航天器启动发动机，下降到较低的高度，然后进入一系列自主的机动，重新调整方向，开始评估下面的陨石坑和巨石。它朝着预定的着陆点航行，并再次点燃引擎以减缓下降速度，最终降落在地面上。
The six-legged, phone-booth-sized spacecraft landed near the Malapert A crater, around 300 kilometres from the lunar south pole. NASA is interested in the Moon’s south pole because the region’s dirt and shadowy craters might contain ice that could provide fuel and other resources for future lunar explorers. Most lunar landers have visited the Moon’s equatorial regions; the only mission that has landed near the south pole is India’s Chandrayaan-3, which touched down last August.
这艘六条腿、电话亭大小的航天器降落在距月球南极约300公里的马拉佩特A陨石坑附近。美国宇航局对月球南极很感兴趣，因为该地区的泥土和阴暗的陨石坑可能含有冰，可以为未来的月球探险家提供燃料和其他资源。大多数月球登陆器都访问过月球的赤道地区;唯一一个在南极附近着陆的使命是印度的月船3号，它于去年8月着陆。
Bargain missions 廉价特派团
Odysseus is the second launch, after Astrobotic’s attempt, in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, which aims to incentivize small aerospace companies to fly payloads for NASA and others to the Moon at low cost. NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to develop Odysseus, which is a fraction of the cost of a typical interplanetary mission.
Odysseus是Astrobotic尝试之后的第二次发射，在NASA的商业月球有效载荷服务（CLPS）计划中，该计划旨在激励小型航空航天公司以低成本为NASA和其他人提供有效载荷。美国宇航局向直觉机器公司支付了1.18亿美元来开发奥德修斯，这只是典型的行星际使命成本的一小部分。
NASA has six payloads on board Odysseus, including a set of cameras to study how rocket exhaust interacts with the lunar surface. The space agency wants to use CLPS flights to test technologies for its own return to the Moon, including plans to send astronauts to the lunar south pole as soon as 2026. A second Intuitive Machines Moon mission is slated to carry an ice drill to the south polar region, perhaps by the end of this year.
美国宇航局在奥德赛号上有六个有效载荷，包括一组相机，用于研究火箭废气如何与月球表面相互作用。美国宇航局希望利用CLPS飞行来测试自己重返月球的技术，包括计划最早在2026年将宇航员送往月球南极。第二个直观机器月球使命计划携带冰钻到南极地区，可能在今年年底。
Odysseus is the first craft to burn a methane-based rocket fuel in space. Methane-based propellants are more efficient and environmentally friendlier than conventional rocket propellants such as those including kerosene. But they can also be more difficult to work with because they need to remain at ultra-cold temperatures. Several other aerospace companies are planning to use methane fuels in the future.
奥德修斯是第一艘在太空中燃烧甲烷火箭燃料的飞船。甲烷基推进剂比常规火箭推进剂（如包括煤油的推进剂）更有效，更环保。但它们也可能更难使用，因为它们需要保持在超低温下。其他几家航空航天公司也计划在未来使用甲烷燃料。
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