美国有线新闻 CNN 中国计划首登月球暗面 将创太空历史（在线收听）

There are three countries that have sent space craft to the moon, the U.S., Russia and the third which soft landed a rover there back in 2013 is China. But China hopes to become the first country to explore the dark side of the moon or the far side. The part that never faces Earth. China has a mission plan this year. Though a launch date hasn't been announced yet.

世界上有三个国家将宇宙飞船送上过月球，分别是美国、俄罗斯以及2013年发射月球探测器并实现软着陆的中国。现在中国希望成为第一个探索月球暗面（又称之为远面）的国家。月球暗面从未面向过地球。中国于今年展开月球任务计划。不过具体的登陆日期还未宣布。

One problem with exploring the dark side of the moon is that there's no easy way to communicate with whatever kind of vehicle people put there.

探索月球暗面面临的其中一个问题是，无论将何种月球车发射到那里，都没有可以和月球车进行交流的简单方法。

The moon itself would block any signals coming from Earth. So to address that, China launched a satellite earlier this year that will hang out in the moon's orbit acting like a relay station between the Earth and the new rover that China's planning to send to the moon later this year. The country is a relatively late entry into space exploration. China didn't sent it's first satellite into orbit until 1970. But over recent decades, it's funneled billions of dollars into space research.

月球自身会屏蔽所有来自地球的信号。为了解决这一问题，中国在今年年初发射了一颗卫星，该卫星将环绕月球轨道运行，作为地球和中国计划在今年晚些时候发射的月球车之间的中继站。中国进入太空探索的时间相对较晚。中国直到1970年才发射了首颗环绕地球轨道运行的卫星。但是最近几十年来，中国在太空研究上投入了数十亿美元。

It's hoping to ultimately set up a base on the moon that's run by robots. And it's also setting it's sights on Mars. China's hoping to send some spacecraft there starting in 2020.

中国的最终目标是在月球建造一个由机器人控制的基地。另外，中国还着眼于火星探测。中国计划从2020年开始向火星发射宇宙飞船。