NASA has unveiled its ambitious project to install a levitating train on the lunar surface, an initiative that falls under the agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. This program seeks to promote ideas aimed at facilitating future space exploration.
The proposal for a levitating train on the moon is being taken very seriously by NASA, which recently approved an increase in funding to further explore this idea. The project, called “Flexible Levitation on a Track” (FLOAT), has advanced to the second phase of NIAC, with an eye on revolutionizing the transport of materials on the moon by the next decade.
FLOAT project contemplates a levitating train
Engineer Ethan Schaler, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and leader of the project, said in a NASA blog that the goal is to establish the first lunar rail system to provide efficient, autonomous cargo transportation. This system would be essential for the daily operation of a future lunar base. sustainable lunar base projected for the 2030s.
According to NASA’s preliminary plans, FLOAT would operate by means of magnetic robots levitating on a track composed of a three-layer film. This configuration would help minimize abrasion caused by lunar dust. These robots would be equipped with trolleys capable of moving at a speed of about 1.61 km/h, with the capacity to transport up to 100 tons of material daily to and from the planned lunar base.
In addition to FLOAT, NASA has plans to send astronauts back to the moon starting in 2026 as part of the Artemis mission, with the long-term goal of establishing a permanent lunar base to support space exploration beyond Earth orbit.
Other NIAC projects that have progressed to the next phase include innovations such as telescopes that operate based on fluidics and a plasma-powered rocket all aimed at expanding the frontiers of space technology.
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Source: space.com
Photo: shutterstock
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