When you buy through connection on our site , we may earn an affiliate delegacy . Here ’s how it ferment .
Does a levitating robot train on the Sun Myung Moon auditory sensation far - fetched?NASAdoesn’t seem to think so , as the office has just greenlit further funding for a study looking into the concept .
The labor , call " Flexible Levitation on a Track " ( FLOAT ) , has been move to phase two of NASA ’s Innovative Advanced Concepts syllabus ( NIAC ) , which aims to break " science fable - alike " undertaking for next infinite geographic expedition .
An artist’s concept of the lunar rail network.
The FLOAT project could result in materials being transfer acrossthe moon ’s surface as presently as the 2030s , according to the agency .
" We want to make the first lunar railroad track system , which will provide reliable , self-directed , and effective payload rapture on the Moon , " project leaderEthan Schaler , a robotics engineer at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , wrote in aNASA blog mail . " A undestroyable , long - life robotic transferral organisation will be decisive to the day-to-day operations of a sustainable lunar al-Qaida in the 2030s . "
link : Packs of dog - forge robots could one daylight wander the moonlight — if they can find their footing on Earth first
— The synodic month is shrinking , cause landslides and moonquakes on the button where NASA wants to build its 1st lunar colony
— Elon Musk ’s SpaceX could launch a private lunation lander within week
— speck landing place : NASA orbiter spies Japan ’s resurrect SLIM moon lander on lunar surface
According to NASA ’s initial design , FLOAT will consist of magnetic robots levitate over a three - level celluloid data track to shrink grinding from dust on the lunar surface . Carts will be mounted on these robot and will move at just about 1 mph ( 1.61 kilometer / h ) . They could transport roughly 100 tons ( 90 metrical net ton ) of material a 24-hour interval to and from NASA ’s succeeding lunar Qaeda .
NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moonas early as 2026as part of the agency ’s Artemis commission , and calculate to eventually set upa permanent lunar baseto economic aid future space geographic expedition .
Other " skill fiction - similar " NIAC plans that have advance to the next development phase include fluid - base scope and a garden rocket propelled by plasm .
Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 crashes back to Earth , disappearing into Indian Ocean after 53 twelvemonth in orbit
Doomed Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 could hit Earth tonight . Here ’s when .
What ’s hide under Antarctica ’s ice ?
