阅读理解①China published the world's first highly clear lunar geologic (地质的) atlas (地图集) on April 21. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), it will provide up-to-date information for future lunar research and exploration.
②"These maps will help choose locations for future lunar research stations," Ouyang Ziyuan, a well-known lunar scientist, said. "They can also help us better know about the Earth and other planets in the solar system, like Mars."
③The world has seen great progress in the field of lunar science over the past half a century. However, the lunar geologic atlas that was developed during the Apollo Program remained unchanged. "As lunar geologic studies develop, those old maps can no longer satisfy future needs," said Liu Jianzhong, a CAS researcher.
④Since 2012, Ouyang and Liu have led a team of scientists from several research centers in compiling (编制) this atlas. Their work was mainly built on information gained from China's Chang'e Program. Information from other research projects and international tasks was also used.
⑤The new geologic atlas, which is published in both Chinese and English, presents a scale (比例尺) of 1: 2.5 million. Compared with the 1:5 million scale lunar maps from the US in 2020, these larger scale maps show more details. As well as the geologic history of the moon, they provide information on its 14 types of structures (结构) and 17 types of rocks. A total of 12,341 impact craters (撞击坑) and 81 impact basins have also been marked.
⑥This atlas is set to serve many useful purposes, such as lunar resources research and science education. Liu said the upcoming Chang'e-6 task would also use the atlas. "Our maps can help the research by providing scientific support," he explained.
⑦"Compiling the atlas was a huge task, which included years of effort from a large number of researchers," said Gregory Michael, a German scientist. "It will be a starting point for every new question of lunar geology."