GabyThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (NASA) has announced that this railway will be extremely important for the operation of lunar bases in the next decade.
The idea of creation on the Moon Does the idea of a lunar railway seem to you as if it were borrowed from a science fiction novel? You are not alone in this. By the way, the lunar railway is just one of six “science fiction” concepts that NASA will fund as part of its “Innovative Advanced Concepts” program.
The company Flexible Levitation on the Track (FLOAT) plans to use magnetic robots for the daily transportation of about 100 tons of materials on the surface of the Moon in the near future. According to the project team, this will be a reliable and autonomous way to move resources extracted on the Moon.
Dr. Ethan Shaler, project leader and robotics engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA He noted, “A reliable and durable robotic transport system will be crucial for the daily operations of a sustainable lunar base in the 2030s.” In his blog, Dr. Schaller specifically wrote, “We want to build the first lunar railway system that will provide reliable, autonomous, and efficient transportation of cargo on the Moon.”
What makes this marvel of engineering so impressive?
Unlike the railway used by Earthlings, the lunar transport network will not utilize familiar fixed tracks. Mr. Schaller and his team propose to create segments of a flexible pathway that can be deployed directly on the lunar surface and, if necessary, rolled up and moved to another location.
These operations will be carried out by the aforementioned “magnetic robots without engines,” which will hover above the surface of the tracks. They will actually generate electromagnetic propulsion to move the robots to the desired location. Similarly, on Earth, trains on magnetic suspension operate using strong electromagnetic fields to move motorless carriages along the tracks. In other words, the movement of trains on the Moon will be provided by the tracks themselves, rather than the transport vehicle, the publication explained. Daily Mail .
Dr. Shaler claims that everyone robot It will be able to carry loads of various shapes and sizes at a speed of about 1.61 km/h. Unlike those with wheels or legs, these robots will not wear out their tracks in the dusty lunar environment.
What are the next steps for the colonization of the Moon?
Although the idea of building lunar bases may seem far-fetched to some, the possibility of life on Earth’s natural satellite is becoming increasingly realistic year by year.
As part of the Artemis mission, NASA will eventually land a crew near the Moon’s south pole, which is believed to contain ice within its craters. Although the agency has pushed back the date of this landing, it has promised to continue actively advancing its ambitious projects regarding human presence in lunar spaces.
In the blog, Dr. Schaller noted that FLOAT “will operate autonomously in a dusty, inhospitable environment.” Moon explorers will be able to use the system for transporting the regolith mined here or for delivering materials to landing sites.
Jim Free, NASA’s Deputy Administrator for Research Systems Development, stated that as part of the Artemis mission’s lunar landing, the agency is likely to establish more than one base camp. Ultimately, NASA and its competitors will attempt to establish permanent lunar settlements. However, due to the harsh conditions there, extracting and transporting materials could prove to be a dangerous task for humans.
