NASA Details Plan To Build A Levitating Robot Train On The Moon

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NASA eyes levitating robot train for the moon | Digital Trends

NASA is exploring the idea of building a railway on the lunar surface that uses levitating robots to provide ⁘reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transport on the moon.⁘

The space agency said the Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT) system would play a key role in the daily operations of an astronaut-inhabited lunar base, which NASA is hoping to build in the 2030s as part of the Artemis program.

FLOAT would be used to move regolith mined for construction or to transport payloads around the lunar base, as well as to and from landing zones or other locations like exploration sites.

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NASA Announces Plans To Build First Railway System On Moon

As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) readies to return astronauts to the moon, it has announced its plans to build a levitating robot train on the lunar surface. In a blog post , the American space agency provided details about the project called "Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT)", which aims to provide a "robotic transport system" to support future lunar activities of astroinauts visiting the moon. The transport system will be critical to the daily operation of a sustainable lunar base in the 2030s, NASA said in a statement.

According to NASA's initial design, FLOAT will be for machines only. It will consist of magnetic robots levitating over a three-layer film track to reduce abrasion from dust on the lunar surface. Carts will be mounted on these robots and will move at roughly 1.61 kilometres per hour. They could transport roughly 100 tons of material a day to and from NASA's future lunar base.

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Does a levitating robot train on the moon sound far-fetched? NASA doesn⁘t seem to think so, as the agency has just greenlit further funding for a study looking into the concept.

The project, called "Flexible Levitation on a Track" (FLOAT), has been moved to phase two of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) , which aims to develop "science fiction-like" projects for future space exploration.

The FLOAT project could result in materials being transported across the moon 's surface as soon as the 2030s, according to the agency.

According to NASA's initial design, FLOAT will consist of magnetic robots levitating over a three-layer film track to reduce abrasion from dust on the lunar surface. Carts will be mounted on these robots and will move at roughly 1 mph (1.61 km/h). They could transport roughly 100 tons (90 metric tons) of material a day to and from NASA's future lunar base.

NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moon as early as 2026 as part of the agency's Artemis mission, and aims to eventually set up a permanent lunar base to aid future space exploration.

Other "science fiction-like" NIAC plans that have advanced to the next development phase include fluid-based telescopes and a rocket propelled by plasma.

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