NASA just revealed the conceptual studies selected for its Innovative Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC), which include ideas that go beyond the futuristic. One such proposal is the FLOAT project, which proposes a levitating railway system on the surface of the Moon.
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The idea is that the FLOAT tracks (an acronym for “flexible levitation on tracks”) are positioned directly in the lunar regolith, meaning that little prior preparation would be needed. Next, the robots levitated along the tracks. The rails, in turn, would be flexible structures with a layer of graphite, which would allow diamagnetic levitation while a circuit would generate an electromagnetic pulse. This last feature is optional, but since it would be a solar panel, it would eliminate the need for external energy to power the system.
The authors of FLOAT suggest that this would be an autonomous, reliable and efficient means of carrying payloads. According to them, FLOAT it could transport cargo from spacecraft landing zones to lunar bases, while also offering transport of regolith. According to the team, they could be transported every day 100 tons of material. The proposal might sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but FLOAT is just one of the selected concepts to be developed for the next phase. Others include new propulsion systems, which would be used to reduce travel times to Mars, and even a liquid space telescope. Now that the FLOAT project has moved into its next phase, its researchers will work to design and produce a scaled-down version of the system. If all goes well, the device could be tested in a simulation of the lunar environment, showing the team how characteristics of the environment affect the tracks and robots.
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