主题：【原创翻译】科学家发现月球上存在水 -- 王二狗

刚才看到某些中文网站里说近日发现月球被水覆盖，还可以多到支撑生命和拿来做燃料：

外链出处），

基于这段中文叙述，天涯又有人开始批判三哥：外链出处

关于月球水可以支撑生命的言论，我感到有点惊讶，搜索了几篇英文的消息，翻译其中一篇如下：

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Scientists discover water on the moon

科学家发现月球上存在水

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2009/09/26

WATER is widespread on the surface of the moon – even in the hottest areas, scientists said yesterday.

科学家昨天说水广泛存在于月球表面——即便是最热的区域。

Separate analyses using data from India’s Chandrayaan-1 satellite and two US spacecraft, Cassini and the Deep Impact probe, found evidence of water in the moon’s soil and showed it was widespread across its entire surface, according to a series of articles to be published in the journal Science.

对来自印度Chandrayaan-1卫星和两个美国航天器，Cassini和DeepImpact，的数据所进行的相互独立的分析发现，有证据表明月球土壤有水存在，而且水的存在遍布整个月球的表面。这一消息的来源是即将发表在Science刊物上的系列文章。

Carle Pieters, lead scientist for the instrument used on the Indian spacecraft to make the finding, admitted: “This is not what any of us expected a decade ago.” The finding blows away accepted beliefs that water could not exist on the moon’s surface, especially in very hot areas near the equator. In fact, trace amounts of water found in rocks brought back by the Apollo astronauts were dismissed as contamination once back on Earth.

负责印度航天器上所用相关仪器的科学家Carle Pieters承认：“这可不是我们中的任何人10年前预想到的。”这个发现推翻了一向被接受的关于月球表面，特别是那些近赤道的炎热区域，不可能存在水的观点。实际上，阿波罗航天员带回的岩石样本上发现的痕量水曾经被当作地球上水的污染而忽视了。

A Nasa instrument called the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan used the data from light reflecting off the lunar surface to determine the make-up of the soil and found the water as well as hydroxyl, composed of one hydrogen and one oxygen atom against water’s two hydrogen atoms to one of oxygen.

Chandrayaan上一个叫做“月球矿物学作图”的NASA设备使用月球表面反射的光的数据来测定土壤的组成，结果发现其中存在水和羟基。羟基是一个氢原子和一个氧原子组成的，水则是二个氢原子和一个氧原子组成的。

When the initial data showed evidence of water, the scientists tried to dismiss it as water residue on the spacecraft that had been picked up on Earth, Pieters said. But the Chandrayaan data was then compared with decade-old data from Cassini’s 1999 fly-by and recent data from Deep Impact. “It’s completely conclusive; there’s no question whatsoever,” she said.

Pieters说，当初始的数据显示了水的存在时，科学家们还企图将其解释为航天器表面从地球带去的水。但是当把Chandrayaan的数据和1999年Cassini飞掠月球时发回的数据以及最近的Deep Impact数据进行对比时，“结果完全是肯定性的，没有疑问”，她说。

The Cassini data was never examined to check for water on the moon, in part because it took years to calibrate its instruments to counteract the effects of Earth water on the spacecraft.

Cassini的数据从来没有被拿来分析月球上是否存在水，部分原因是校正了它上面的仪器花了好几年的时间，以排除航天器沾染的地球水的干扰。

The moon’s water is located within two millimetres of the surface, but the moon is still quite dry, with about a litre of water for every ton of soil. “Even the driest deserts in the Earth have more water than are at the poles and surfaces of the moon,” Nasa scientist Jim Green said.

月面下2毫米的深度即存在水，但是月球还是相当干燥的，1吨月球土里大概含1升水（此处不同出处说法不同，有的说一个棒球场的区域才一杯水,但是没说深度）。“就算地球上最干燥的沙漠也比月球两极的含水程度要高，”NASA科学家Jim Green说。

The US space agency Nasa is in the midst of another year-long look at the lunar surface to prepare the way for a planned return of humans to the moon.

美国航天机构NASA正在进行另一项为期一年的月球表面观测项目，以便为计划中的人类重返月球作准备。

Yesterday’s announcement is seen as complementing the ongoing mission, which next month will crash a satellite into the moon to look for water further beneath the surface. Astronomers had hoped to determine whether water could be hidden in the shadowy craters of the moon near its poles, where a lack of sunlight would prevent ice from evaporating.

昨日的消息发布被视作此进行中项目的补充。该项目计划下月将一个卫星撞向月球，来寻找月面下更深层处的水。天文学家希望能够搞清在月球两极环形山阴影下的地方是否可能存在水，因为那里缺乏阳光，冰也许不会生华。

Water was first confirmed on Mars by the Phoenix lander last year. — Sapa-DPA

Phoenix号着陆器去年第一次证实火星上存在水。——Sapa-DPA