自從阿波羅登月後，在月球建立基地一直是人類的夢想。然而要想在月球居住，人們首先得解決飲水的問題。科學家最近終於在月球兩極附近發現了水冰的直接證據，有朝一日這些水冰或可為人類提供水源。
Astronomers have found patches of frost scattered around the moon’s north and south poles which could one day provide a source of water for human visitors.
天文學家發現，一片片冰霜區零星分佈在月球的北極和南極周邊。將來，它們可以為人類訪客提供水源。
The scientists spotted the telltale signature of frozen water in infrared measurements taken by Nasa’s moon mineralogy mapper, an instrument that flew on India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon a decade ago.
科學家們在美國航天局的月球礦物繪圖儀取得的紅外測量結果中發現了這些冰凍水的痕跡。這個月球礦物繪圖儀於10年前搭乘印度的“月船1號”探測器飛抵月球。
The freshly-analysed data show that water ice lurks on the ground in a number of spots near the moon’s polar regions that are permanently in shade and so sheltered from the heat of the sun’s rays.
對有關數據的最新分析顯示，月球兩極地區附近的多數地表分佈著水冰。月球的兩極地區常年處於陰暗中，終年不見陽光。
Most of the ice was found near the moon’s south pole around a cluster of craters named after scientists and explorers, including Haworth, Shoemaker, Sverdrup and Shackleton. In the north, the patches of ice appeared to be more isolated, according to Shuai Li at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in Honolulu.
大部分的冰是在月球南極附近一系列環形山的周邊發現的。這些環形山都以科學家和探險家的名字命名，包括霍沃思、休梅克、斯韋德魯普和沙克爾頓。夏威夷檀香山地球物理與行星學研究所的李帥（音）說，月球北極的水冰似乎分散一些。
Follow-up measurements of the ice patches found that they tended to form where the surface temperature never crept above -163C, but temperature alone was not enough to guarantee frozen water: only 3.5% of the shadowy areas the scientists checked for water revealed notable signs of ice.
對這些冰霜區的後續測量發現，在表面氣溫從不超過零下163攝氏度的地方最可能形成冰。但溫度本身不足以保證出現冰凍的水：科學家探測水源經過的陰暗地區中只有3.5%的區域顯示出明顯的水冰跡象。
The images are the first “direct and definitive evidence” of water ice that is exposed on the surface of the moon, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “These ice deposits might be utilised as an in-situ resource in future exploration of the moon,” the authors write.
美國《國家科學院學報》期刊發表的一篇報告說，這些圖片是月球表面存在水冰的首個“直接和明確證據”。作者們寫道：“在未來的探月活動中，這些冰或許能作為一種當地資源加以利用。”
The Indian Space Agency launched its Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon in 2008 and was swiftly rewarded with evidence of frozen water on the lunar surface a year later. Rather than sheets of ice on the surface, the water is thought to exist as water molecules bound to grains of moon dust.
印度航天局2008年發射了“月船1號”探月器。一年後，該探月器就找到了月球表面存在冰凍水的證據。人們認為，月球上的水以水分子的形式存在，它們同月球灰塵結合在一起，而不是以月球表面的冰層形式存在。
Soon after the Indian feat, Nasa crashed a spacecraft into the 100km-wide Cabeus crater which is in permanent shade on the moon’s south pole. The intentional act of lunar violence threw up a plume of debris from which scientists were able to confirm the presence of water on the moon.
印度的這項發現之後不久，美國航天局將一個航天器撞向位於月球南極永久陰影區、直徑100公里的卡貝烏斯環形山。這次有意為之的撞擊揚起了許多碎屑，科學家們由此才能確認月球上水的存在。
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