NASA has given the green light for more funding for a study aimed at building a levitating robot train on the moon. The project, known as “Flexible Levitation on a Track” (FLOAT), is now in phase two of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC). This initiative focuses on developing futuristic projects for space exploration. The FLOAT project could potentially be used to transport materials across the moon’s surface by the 2030s.
Project leader Ethan Schaler, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, envisions creating the first lunar railway system that will provide efficient and reliable transport of payloads on the moon. This system will be crucial for sustaining a lunar base in the coming decades. Initially, FLOAT plans to use magnetic robots levitating over a three-layer film track to minimize friction from lunar dust. Carts mounted on these robots would travel at about 1 mph (1.61 km/h) and could transport up to 100 tons (90 metric tons) of material per day to and from NASA’s future lunar base.
NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moon as early as 2026 through its Artemis mission and eventually establish a permanent lunar base to support future space exploration. Other NIAC projects that have advanced to the next stage include fluid-based telescopes and a plasma-propelled rocket, which aim to push the boundaries of what is possible in space exploration.