A bizarre plan to build a railway on the moon has been awarded funding by Nasa.
The sci-fi idea would see the lunar railway use magnets to ‘float’ robotic trays on the Moon’s surface, allowing astronauts to transport items and material more easily.
The Flexible Levitation on a Track (Float) project was first proposed in 2021 and is one of six ideas chosen to be supported in the second phase of NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.
And thanks to the program it looks as if the project could become a reality in future space missions.
NASA plans would see each individual floating robot able to transport up to 30kg of cargo on the railway tracks.
However, unlike Earth railways that are built and drilled into the ground, these tracks would simply unroll onto the Moon’s surface, leaving no damage.
The idea will be tested on Earth first with a series of prototype robots before making its way into space, with plans still in their infancy.
It is hoped Float could play a role in NASA’s Moon to Mars program, which hopes to build a sustainable and permanent base on the Moon, where future missions to Mars will launch in the future.
