As a way to better traverse the lunar landscape, NASA has shared that it intends to build the first railway system on the moon, as the space agency looks to use it as a means to travel further into space than ever before.
The news of NASA’s intentions was shared by Ethan Schaler, a robotics expert with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“We want to build the first lunar railway system, which will provide reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transport on the Moon,” Schaler said.
However, the railway isn’t like those of the transcontinental railroad or Japan’s bullet trains, as the system being proposed would instead use unpowered magnetic robots that levitate over a film track.
The system is called the “Flexible Levitation on a Track,” or FLOAT, and is going to be crucial for a sustainable lunar base.
“A durable, long-life robotic transport system will be critical to the daily operations of a sustainable lunar base in the 2030s,” Schaler explained.
The railway will be used to transport payloads around the base and to and from landing zones and other outposts on the moon that can weigh as much as 110 tons.
The goal would be to transport lunar soil from mining locations to instead be used for extraction or construction.
“FLOAT will operate autonomously in the dusty, inhospitable lunar environment with minimal site preparation, and its network of tracks can be rolled up/reconfigured over time to match evolving lunar base mission requirements,” Schaler shared.