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You roll out of bed and leap eight meters across your underground habitat.
你翻身下床，跳跃八米，横穿你的地下栖息地。
The greywater from your sink drains into a small greenhouse where your vegetables grow.
水池里的洗涤水流入一间小温室，在这里，你的蔬菜正在生长。
After suiting up, you head through a transport chute to inspect the generator.
着完装后，你通过一道运输滑槽去检查发动器。
Outside, it's pitch black -- just as it's been for the last 12 days.
窗外依然是漆黑的，在过去的十二天每一天都是这样的。
This isn't some post-apocalyptic scenario; it's just another day of life on the moon.
这不是世界末日后的废墟，而是月球生活的普通一天。
And with the European Space Agency's idea to establish a functioning "moon camp" by the 2020s, that day may be closer than we think.
如果你考虑到欧洲航天局的2020年代“月亮营地”计划，其实这一天的实现也许比我们想象中的要快。
Of course, living on the moon won't be easy.
当然，在月球上生活不是什么容易的事。
The camp envisioned is not so much a village as an inhabited research base similar to those in places like Antarctica.
想象中的月球营比起小镇更像是在南极洲的可居住的研究基地。
But there are far greater obstacles to living on the moon than just cold weather.
但是在月亮居住的难度远大于在寒冷的地方居住。
The biggest is cosmic radiation. Unlike the Earth, the moon has no atmosphere and no magnetic field.
最大的问题是宇宙辐射。不像地球，月亮没有大气层，也没有磁场。
A person on its surface can receive over 400 times the maximum safe dosage of heavy ion radiation,
人类在月亮表面会受到超过400倍的重离子辐射安全值的影响，
enough to be fatal within ten hours, even in a spacesuit.
尽管在航天服里，这个量足够在十个小时内致命。
The first step would likely involve robots and 3D printers constructing covered habitats from lunar soil,
建造月亮居住地的第一步可能要依靠机器人和3D打印器，它们可以用月亮的土建造居住地，
or building shelters inside caves formed by lava tubes from the moon's volcanic past.
或者在洞里建造居住地，这些洞是熔岩洞，是从以前的月亮火山形成的。
But what would the inhabitants live on? Supplies would need to be transported from Earth at first.
但居民要以什么为食呢？一开始得从地球运送补给品。
Growing plants requires greenhouse soil and air rich in carbon dioxide,
若要种植物，则需要温室土壤以及富含二氧化碳的空气。
a gas that's rare on the moon, but could be synthesized from recycled materials.
在月球上二氧化碳是很稀有的，但可以用回收材料来合成。
A water treatment plant could be supplied by ice mined from the polar regions
水可以由极地冰矿供给，
using a specialized drill that can bore two meters beneath the lunar surface.
这要用到专门的钻头，钻入月球表面下2米才能得到水。
Friendly bacteria and viruses necessary to the human microbiome and immune system would also have to be imported or synthesized on site.
人类微生物群系和免疫系统所需要的良性细菌和病毒也得要从地球进口，或是在当地合成。
And lunar inhabitants would have to exercise for hours a day to maintain bone and muscle mass.
此外，月球居民必须每天运动数小时来维持骨头和肌肉的质量。
That's because the moon's gravity is just one-sixth that of the Earth,
那是因为月球的引力只有地球的六分之一，
and the everyday strain of working against gravity is part of what keeps our bodies healthy.
每天花力气来对抗引力，是维持身体健康所必要的。
It might seem strange to go to all this trouble to build a base on a dead rock we've already visited.
你可能会觉得奇怪，为什么要大费周章在我们已经造访过的没有生命的岩石上建立一个基地。
But NASA's Apollo missions only explored small portions of the moon.
其实美国太空总署的阿波罗任务只探索了月球的小部分。
We've made many discoveries since then, such as ice near the poles and particles of solar wind gases that date back billions of years.
从那以后，我们又有许多的新发现，比如在两极附近的冰，以及太阳风气体的粒子，这些粒子有着数十亿年的历史。
They collectively show that the moon has much more to teach us about the history of our solar system.
这告诉我们，太阳系的历史还有许多秘密隐藏在月球里，等着被我们探测。
A radio telescope on its far side could observe the cosmos, shielded from the Earth's electromagnetic interference.
架设在月球远端的无线电波望远镜能够观察到宇宙，因为月球的屏障，望远镜不会被地球的电磁波干扰。
And the lunar surface is rich in minerals, like silicon, aluminum, and magnesium, creating great economic potential for mining.
而且月球表面的矿物质丰富，比如说硅、铝以及镁等等，使得月球在采矿业上有很大的经济潜力。
But the biggest benefit of the moon camp may not lie on the moon but beyond it.
但月球营地最大的收益可能不在月球上，而在月球外。
With the nearest possibly habitable world light-years away, and the International Space Station to be retired in about a decade,
其他有可能的宜居星球，最近的也在数光年之外，但是国际太空站大约还有十年左右就要退休了，
a moon base would be our first foothold towards becoming an interplanetary species.
月球基地也许会是我们成为星际物种的第一个立足点。
And proposals such as the Deep Space Gateway envision launching future missions from lunar orbit.
“深空闸道”这类的提案，立志运用月球轨道发射火箭。
The smaller gravitational pull would require less fuel to overcome, allowing for larger ships and more cargo.
因为月球相对较小的引力，火箭不需要浪废过多燃料来克服，所以我们可以发射更大，运量更多的飞船。
Meanwhile, the base on the surface could serve as a testing ground
同时，在月亮表面的基地也能够当作试验场，
for future space operations, a refueling station, and a supply depot all in one.
供未来太空行动、航天加油站以及供应仓库三合一使用。
With Europe, Russia, China, and the US expressing interest in the project,
目前欧洲、俄罗斯、中国以及美国都对这个计划感兴趣，
the moon camp may come to involve the space agencies of all major nations, as well as private companies.
月球营地有可能会成为所有主要国家以及私人公司的太空办事处。
Within a few decades, the moon may be bustling with mining operations, research stations,
在几十年内，月球可能就会变得很忙碌，充斥着采矿活动、研究站
and tourist routes alongside a construction yard under an orbiting space port.
以及旅游路线，还有在正在建造的太空港口。
We may have already visited the moon, but now we're closer than ever to making it part of humanity's home.
我们已经拜访过月球了，但现在，是我们史上最接近将月球变成“家”的时候。
