有确凿证据表明月球上有水，人类未来有望在月球建立基地 (二) | 经济学人精讲第812期

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本文选自《经济学人》11月7日刊文章。月球是被人类研究最多的星球，现在有确凿证据表明，月球上有水，以冰的形式存在，而且储量比我们想象的要大，这为人类未来在月球建立基地带来新的希望。大部分水储存在月球南北两极的“冷阱”中，这些地区常年处于阴暗区，温度极低，水在月球储存的具体形式和可开发利用的途径有待于进一步研究，但这已经给了人类巨大的惊喜，有水意味着可以产生能源和食物，未来的月球基地有可能实现自给自足。

选文精讲

Lunar exploration 月球探索

There is now cast-iron evidence for water on the Moon

现在有确凿的证据表明月球上有水

• cast-iron:  有力的、确实的

And it may be more widespread than previously suspected

而且它的分布可能比之前想象的更广

Oct 26th 2020 |

The other investigation, led by Casey Honniball of the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, a branch of NASA, America’s space agency, confirms the presence of water molecules (H2O) on the Moon’s surface. Previous evidence could not distinguish such molecules from hydroxyl radicals (OH), which are subunits of water that are normally chemically bonded to other substances. Intriguingly, these water molecules are on sunlit parts of the surface, away from any cold traps.

另一项由马里兰州戈达德太空飞行中心的Casey Honniball领导的调查证实了月球表面存在水分子，戈达德太空飞行中心是美国宇航局的一个分支机构。以前的证据无法区分这种分子和羟基自由基，羟基自由基是水的亚基，通常与其他物质通过化学方式结合。有趣的是，这些水分子位于月球表面受到阳光照射的区域，远离任何冷阱。

Sea of showers

水域

Despite the Moon being Earth’s closest and most studied celestial neighbour, the presence of water there was confirmed only recently, by a gradual accumulation of evidence. In 1999 a NASA craft called Cassini detected hints of the stuff as it flew past on its way to Saturn. The hints became stronger a decade later when Chandrayaan 1, an Indian probe, flew to the Moon. An American instrument on board, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), employed a spectrometer to examine sunlight reflected back from the lunar surface. M3 found that infrared light of a specific wavelength—three microns—was being absorbed by the surface. This is an absorption pattern shown by water, but also by hydroxyl.

• infrared light：红外光

尽管月球是离地球最近、也是被研究最多的天体，但月球上存在水的说法直到最近才被逐渐积聚的证据证实。1999年，美国宇航局的一艘名为“卡西尼号”的飞船在飞往土星的途中飞过月球时发现了这些物质的迹象。10年后，当印度探测器“月船一号”飞向月球时，这种迹象变得更加明显，其搭载的美国仪器——月球矿物制图仪使用了光谱仪来检测从月球表面反射回来的太阳光。月球矿物制图仪发现波长为3微米的红外光被月球表面吸收。该波段的光谱可以被水吸收，也可以被羟基吸收。

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