NASA is developing an innovative lunar rail systemcalled FLOAT (Flexible Levitation on a Track), to revolutionize the transport of payloads to the Moon. This cutting-edge system, developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is part of the program Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) from NASA and has already completed the initial phase, demonstrating its potential to provide new approaches to space exploration. Under NIAC, NASA has selected six visionary concept studies for further funding and development. Each study has already completed the initial phase of NIAC, demonstrating that their futuristic ideas – such as a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes, FLOAT – can provide new perspectives and approaches to the exploration of the unknown in space by NASA. NIAC’s Phase II conceptual studies will receive up to $600,000 to continue work over the next two years to resolve key remaining technical hurdles and prepare the development pipeline. Once Phase II is complete, these studies could move into the final phase of NIAC, gaining additional funding and development consideration to become a future aerospace mission.
The FLOAT system
FLOAT is designed to meet the needs of a sustainable moon base in the 2030s, in line with NASA’s Moon to Mars plan. It aims to:
- Transport resources: As regolith mined for the production of water, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen (LH2), or building materials.
- Moving payloads: Transport equipment and materials within the lunar base and between landing sites or other outposts.
Technical features
- Innovative design: FLOAT will use unpowered magnetic robots that levitate on a three-layer flexible track, taking advantage of the diamagnetic levitation.
- Electromagnetic push: A flexible circuit generates an electromagnetic thrust to move the robots along the tracks.
- Solar panels: An option of layers of thin-film solar panels can provide power to the moon base.
- Durability and resistance: The robots will levitate on the tracks with no moving parts, minimizing wear and tear caused by lunar dust.
- Ease of installation: The tracks roll out directly onto the lunar regolith, avoiding large constructions on site.
- Payloads and speed: The robots can transport loads of more than 30 kg/m² at speeds above 0.5 m/s.
In Phase II of development, the project team will continue to work on prototype robots and tracks, testing the effectiveness of the system in a simulated lunar environment. This includes studies of temperature, radiation and lunar dust contamination. Opportunities for technology demonstrations on suborbital flights or on lunar landers will also be explored.
