NASA 往地下找首座月球基地的落腳處
Where should the first people to live on the Moon make their home? NASA thinks part of the answer may lie beneath the surface.
The space agency has chosen three new scientific projects to help prepare for a permanent base near the Moon's south pole. The instruments will be carried to the Moon by commercial landers.
The first project will set up a monitoring station that keeps track of moonquakes and tiny space rocks, called micrometeoroids, hitting the surface. Because the Moon has almost no atmosphere, there is nothing to burn up this debris before it lands.
The second will investigate a huge hole in the lunar surface that may lead to an underground lava tube – a tunnel formed long ago by flowing lava. Caves like this could provide natural shelter from radiation and extreme temperatures, so astronauts would not have to build everything above ground.
The third project will search for ice hidden in tiny, permanently shadowed craters. Water found on the Moon could be used for drinking, or split into oxygen and hydrogen, saving the huge cost of carrying supplies from Earth.
NASA says the goal is to give future crews the information they need to stay safe before they arrive – and, eventually, to help humans travel on to Mars.
第一批在月球上生活的人，該把家安在哪裡？NASA 認為，答案有一部分可能藏在月球表面底下。
NASA 選出三項新的科學計畫，為在月球南極附近建立永久基地做準備。相關儀器將由民間的登陸器送上月球。
第一項計畫要建立一座監測站，記錄月震，以及撞擊月面的微小太空岩石，也就是微隕石。月球幾乎沒有大氣層，這些碎片在落地前不會被燒毀。
第二項計畫要調查月面上一個巨大的坑洞。它可能通往一條地下熔岩管，也就是很久以前熔岩流動時形成的隧道。這類洞穴能自然擋住輻射和極端溫度，太空人就不必把所有設施都蓋在地面上。
第三項計畫要尋找藏在終年照不到陽光的小隕石坑裡的冰。月球上的水可以拿來喝，也能分解成氧氣和氫氣，省下從地球運送補給的龐大費用。
NASA 表示，目標是讓太空人在出發前就掌握確保安全所需的資訊，未來也能幫助人類繼續前往火星。