Every day billions of people move and transport things everywhere in the world, with the most disparate means. Today we will talk about this very topic, with a special project for which, however, we must leave the world we know and move to the Moon.
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This is not some bizarre futuristic idea, but a very concrete project. The US space agency is carrying it forward NASAwhich is working on a series of projects in view of the return of mankind to the Moon.
As we know, the space programs of the next decades – primarily the Artemis missions – envisage the creation of a permanent lunar station, which could then become a starting point for a space mission to Mars and, in general, for the exploration of deep space.
A train on the Moon
In order to make life and stay for long periods of human beings on our satellite feasible, among the problems to be faced there is also the need to move on its surface and transport objects and goods.
Here at NASA they began studying the first lunar railway system.
The project involves creating a system that allows cargo to be transported to and from the lunar base or other possible outposts, and to the various landing zones of space aircraft on the Moon.
His name is FLOAT (Flexible Levitation on a Track).
It is a robotic transport system based on the use of magnetic levitation.
It was designed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA by the working group led by the mechanical engineer Ethan Schaleras part of the space agency’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
Float is made up of two elements:
- the magnetic robots for the transport of materials and goods
- a tracks of flexible film
How the levitating lunar robotic train works
Magnetic robots do not need to be powered because they can move, thanks to magnetic force, on the appropriate track.
Each robot is capable of transporting loads of up to 30 kilograms per square meter at a speed of more than 0.5 meters per second – in practice in one hour they can cover a distance of 1.8 kilometres.
The track is made of a flexible film formed from three layers:
- 1st graphite layer
- Second layer in flexible circuit
- Third layer thin film solar panel
The first layer in graphiteexploiting diamagnetic levitation, allows robots to passively float on the track.
The second layer is made up of a flexible circuit which, unlike the first, is capable of generating an electromagnetic thrust. In this way it manages to push the robots along the track, providing them with controlled movement.
The third and final layer is an optional system and consists of a Thin film solar panel capable of generating exploitable energy from the base.
The track that unrolls like a carpet
An interesting aspect of the Float project is the fact that the track can be unrolled on the ground, just like a carpet, and be relocated elsewhere if necessary.
Without the need, therefore, to create permanent structures that would require more complex installations to create and maintain.
It is thus possible to create a reconfigurable and adaptable track network based on how the needs of the lunar mission develop and change over time. Furthermore, it is a system that adapts very well to the environment and terrain of the Moon.
Not only that, the magnetic levitation with which this special train is able to move allows the robots that compose it to have no friction with the dusty and rocky surface of the satellite. A detail that allows us to reduce the abrasion phenomena to which vehicles on wheels or tracks which until now have been used for lunar robots are subjected.
The study: prototypes and tests
Meanwhile the project continues. In this order, they explain to NASA, the technology for the construction and operation of the Float system will have to be optimized.
Furthermore, prototypes of the robots on a small scale will have to be designed and produced, before moving on to testing on a lunar analogue test bed. This will also allow us to simulate all the operations necessary for the preparation of the site and the creation of the train route.
Finally, in order to establish and improve the performance of the system and guarantee its long useful life, the project experts also plan to study the effects and impact of the environmental phenomena to which it will be subjected.
In particular, it is necessary to understand how it will be able to withstand, for example, solar radiation. Or to adapt to the changes in temperature of the Moon, capable of going from +150 °C in the areas illuminated by the Sun to -150 °C in the shadowed parts. And, again, understand how it reacts to contact with lunar regolith, the material made up of stones and dust that makes up the lunar soil and so on.
Tests on scale prototypes may be carried out in future suborbital expeditions or within other NASA programs dedicated to the development of space technologies. In particular those dedicated to the Artemis missions, aimed at exploring the Moon.
All very fascinating, there is no doubt, the magnetic levitation, the unrollable track, the possibility of having a lunar railway network. However, a question arises spontaneously for us Italians: but will this train… be on time?
Music: “To the Moon” – Andy D. Park
Cover photo: NASA / Ethan Schaler – NIAC Phase II
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