How Much Trash Is on the Moon?

月球上有多少垃圾？

The moon has a lot of junk on it, including a gold olive branch, a flag kit, several lunar orbiters, and a hammer and a falcon feather — the components of a 1971 experiment used to demonstrate that objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass.

月球上有很多垃圾，包括一個(gè)金橄欖樹(shù)枝, 一個(gè)旗幟包，幾個(gè)月人造月球衛(wèi)星，一把錘子和一根獵鷹羽毛 — 這些是1971所做的一個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)的組成部分。這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)是用來(lái)證明物體，不管其質(zhì)量如何，都會(huì)以同樣的速度下落。

There are dozens more pieces of lunar debris. But how much garbage, exactly, have humans left or sent to the moon?

除了這些，月球上還有幾十件垃圾。但確切的說(shuō)，人類到底向月球發(fā)射了、或留下了多少垃圾呢？

It's challenging to say, but the trash on the moon likely weighs upward of 400,000 lbs. (181,000 kilograms) on Earth. This weight is taken from Wikipedia, but it sounds about right considering that quite a few heavy artifacts, such as five moon rangers, are still there, said William Barry, NASA chief historian.

說(shuō)起這個(gè)來(lái)，其實(shí)很難，但是月球上的垃圾約在地球上重達(dá)40萬(wàn)磅 (18.1萬(wàn)公斤)。這個(gè)重量是從維基百科而來(lái)。美國(guó)宇航局首席史學(xué)家威廉巴里說(shuō)，要知道那里還有幾件相當(dāng)重的物件。比如說(shuō)5個(gè)月球車，這個(gè)數(shù)字聽(tīng)起來(lái)應(yīng)該是差不多。

Much of this moon litter was left by NASA astronauts who landed on the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972 during the Apollo program. The other rubbish comes from crewless missions from space-exploring agencies, including those from the United States, Russia, Japan, India and Europe, Barry said.

這些垃圾的大部分，是1969年-1972年阿波羅計(jì)劃期間，美國(guó)航天局宇航員在登陸月球時(shí)留下的。巴里說(shuō)，其他的垃圾來(lái)自太空探索機(jī)構(gòu)的其它無(wú)人探索使命，其中包括來(lái)自美國(guó)、俄羅斯、日本、印度和歐洲。

Many of the older pieces are lunar probes that were sent to the moon to learn about it, such as whether spaceships could land on its surface. In the 1960s, some scientists thought that the moon might have a quicksand-like exterior because so many space rocks had pummeled and pulverized it over the years. These robotic probes, which stayed on the moon after their missions ended, showed that this idea was wrong, and that human-made gear could land on the moon's surface, Barry said.

更舊一些的碎片有很多是來(lái)自于被送往月球的月球探測(cè)器，它們被用來(lái)了解諸如太空飛船是否能在月球表面著陸等問(wèn)題。在二十世紀(jì)六十年代, 一些科學(xué)家認(rèn)為月球可能有像流沙一樣的外部, 因?yàn)檫@么多的太空巖石在過(guò)去的多少年里都受到了重創(chuàng)和分隨性的撞擊。巴里說(shuō), 這些在任務(wù)結(jié)束后就留在月球上的機(jī)器人探測(cè)器證明這個(gè)看法是錯(cuò)誤的，并且人造的機(jī)械可以降落在月球表面上。

The moon is also home to lunar orbiters that mapped its terrain before they crashed into its surface, adding to the garbage heap.

月球也是人造月球衛(wèi)星的最終歸宿，這些衛(wèi)星被用來(lái)測(cè)繪月球的表面地形，最終會(huì)墜毀到月球表面，變成垃圾的一部分。

Other gear in the growing landfill has helped scientists learn about the moon. For instance, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was sent to the moon to study the hydrogen there and to confirm the existence of water. Its mission was successful, and LCROSS is still hanging out on the moon's surface, Barry said.

在日益增長(zhǎng)的垃圾堆中的其他器械幫助科學(xué)家了解月球。例如，月球火山口觀測(cè)和傳感衛(wèi)星 (LCROSS) 被送往月球，研究那里的氫氣并確認(rèn)水的存在。巴里說(shuō)，它成功的完成了任務(wù)，但 LCROSS 卻滯留在月球表面上。

As for the objects left by the Apollo astronauts, there wasn't a lot of thought put into bringing back unneeded equipment, Barry said. Moreover, doing so would have used up precious resources, such as fuel, he added.

至于阿波羅號(hào)宇航員遺留下來(lái)的物體，巴里說(shuō)，當(dāng)時(shí)對(duì)于是不是把不必要的設(shè)備帶回來(lái)沒(méi)有太多的考慮。此外，他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，這樣做同樣也會(huì)消耗像燃料這樣的寶貴資源。

"On any engineering project, like landing on the moon, you design the mission to do what you need it to do and not a whole lot more," Barry told Live Science. "The real concern was: Can we get the crew safely to the moon, can they get the samples they need and can we get them back in one piece?”

“任何一個(gè)工程項(xiàng)目，如登月，你按照需要來(lái)設(shè)計(jì)工程的任務(wù)，除了完成你所需要的，就沒(méi)有什么其它的考慮了” 巴里告訴“聲色科學(xué)“?！闭嬲档藐P(guān)注的是: 我們能否把宇航員安全地送上月球，他們能否得到所需要的樣品，然后能否把他們安全無(wú)恙的帶回來(lái)?”

But, as the saying goes — one person's trash is another's treasure. Although many people might call the odds and ends humans have left on the moon "garbage" (what else would you call a used urine-collection assembly?), NASA takes a kinder view.

Researchers can study these objects to see how their materials weathered the radiation and vacuum of space over time, Barry said. Moreover, some of the objects on the moon are still being used, including a laser-range reflector left by the Apollo 11 crew.

但是，俗話說(shuō) —— 對(duì)于一些人來(lái)說(shuō)是垃圾，但是對(duì)于他人來(lái)說(shuō)可能是財(cái)富。雖然許多人可能會(huì)把人類在月球上留下的亂七八糟稱為 “垃圾” (如果不管那些使用過(guò)的廢尿收集組件叫垃圾，還能叫什么？)，美國(guó)宇航局的看法并不是那么負(fù)面。巴里說(shuō)，研究人員可以研究這些物體，看看它們的材料是如何經(jīng)受住長(zhǎng)期的時(shí)空的輻射和真空的環(huán)境。此外，月球上的一些物體仍在使用，包括阿波羅11號(hào)機(jī)組留下的激光測(cè)距反射器。

Researchers on Earth can ping this reflector with lasers, which allows them to measure the distance between Earth and the moon, according to NASA. These experiments helped scientists realize that the moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) a year, NASA reported.

根據(jù)美國(guó)宇航局說(shuō)，地球上的研究人員可以用激光向這個(gè)反射器發(fā)射脈沖信號(hào)，這能讓他們測(cè)量地球和月球之間的距離。美國(guó)宇航局報(bào)道說(shuō)，就是這些實(shí)驗(yàn)幫助科學(xué)家們認(rèn)識(shí)到，月球正以每年1.5 英寸 (3.8 厘米) 的速度從地球上移開(kāi)。

The so-called trash left on the moon also has archaeological merit, Barry said. Future lunar visitors may want to view the old Apollo sites and see gear from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian space agency Roscosmos and other countries, Barry said.

巴里說(shuō)，在月球上留下的所謂垃圾也具有考古價(jià)值。他還說(shuō)，未來(lái)的月球訪客可能希望查看舊的阿波羅遺址，并看到美國(guó)航天局、歐洲航天局、俄羅斯航天局等國(guó)家的裝備。

However, the list hasn't been updated since 2012, Barry noted, and is missing more recent objects, such as Ebb and Flow, two NASA lunar probes that helped researchers analyze the moon's gravitational field.

但是，自從2012年以來(lái)，這份名單就再?zèng)]有再更新了，巴里指出，最近的物體，如Ebb和Flow，兩個(gè)美國(guó)航天局的月球探測(cè)器并沒(méi)有被記錄在案，這兩個(gè)探測(cè)器幫助過(guò)研究人員分析月球的引力場(chǎng)。