NASA plans to develop the first levitating railway transport system on the moon

designboom.com · 695 words · saved by 1 readers

For NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, robotics mechanical engineer Ethan Schaler has proposed building Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT), the first lunar robotic railway transportation system that can assist astronauts and researchers in conducting moon missions and transporting objects and payloads from one station to another on the surface. The robotic lunar railway system is considered crucial for the daily operations of NASA’s lunar base in the 2030s, to be used for the space agency’s Moon to Mars plan and mission concepts like Robotic Lunar Surface Operations 2 (RLSO2). The FLOAT lunar railway system uses robots that float above a track made of three layers of flexible film. One of the layers consists of graphite, which can enable the robots to float over the track without a power source using a type of levitation called diamagnetic levitation. A second layer is filled with flex circuits to generate electromagnetic thrust, a force that propels the robots alo

First lunar railway system, Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT) For NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, robotics mechanical engineer Ethan Schaler has proposed building Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT), the first lunar robotic railway transportation system that can assist astronauts and researchers in conducting moon missions and transporting objects and payloads from one station to another on the surface. The robotic lunar railway system is considered crucial for the daily operations of NASA’s lunar base in the 2030s, to be used for the space agency’s Moon to Mars…

NASA plans to develop the first levitating railway transport system on the moon

related reading