China launched its first x-ray telescope Thursday morning, a significant step in the country’s race to develop a space program that can rival that of the US or Russia.

周四早上，中国发射了首个X射线太空望远镜。在中国发展可与美俄匹敌的太空计划的征程中，此举是迈出了重要一步。

The Hard X-ray Modulation¹ Telescope (HXMT) took off from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the country’s first satellite launch site, located in Inner Mongolia via a domestically-developed Long March-4B rocket, writes Emily Feng in Beijing.

这一“硬X射线调制望远镜”（Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope，简称HXMT）由一枚在国内研制的长征四号乙(Long March-4B)运载火箭从酒泉卫星发射中心发射升空。酒泉卫星发射中心位于内蒙古，是中国第一个卫星发射场地。

Once in orbit, the telescope will be used to observe high-energy entities² like black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts in order to understand more about their energy sources.

一旦进入轨道，该望远镜将被用于观测诸如黑洞、脉冲星和伽马射线暴等高能实体，以更好地理解它们的能量来源。

Work on the telescope began in 2000 as a joint collaboration³ between China’s Ministry⁴ of Science and Technology of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

2000年，作为中国科技部(Ministry of Science and Technology)、中科院(CAS)和清华大学(Tsinghua University)的合作项目，围绕该望远镜的研制工作在北京启动。

China has poured enormous resources into developing its ambitious space program, which has sought to emulate⁵ many of the achievements of its American and Russian counterparts such as putting a man on the moon. In April, China successfully launched its first cargo⁶ spacecraft⁷, the Tianzhou-1, to support its fledgling space lab.

中国在发展其雄心勃勃的空间计划方面投入了大量资源。这一空间计划试图赶超美国和俄罗斯同类计划的许多成就——比如把人类送上月球。今年4月，中国成功发射了首个货运飞船天舟一号(Tianzhou-1)，以支持其刚刚建成的太空实验室。