NASA is developing a levitating railway system called Flexible Levitation On A Track (FLOAT) for the Moon. The goal is to provide autonomous, reliable, and efficient payload transportation, supporting NASA's plans for a permanent human presence on the Moon and a lunar economy [ad9dca04] [3aa815fc] [4ac7ad25].
The FLOAT system will consist of levitating robots that move over tracks made of a graphite layer for diamagnetic levitation, a flex circuit for electromagnetic thrust, and a solar panel for energy absorption. These unpowered magnetic robots will be capable of transporting around 100 tons of material per day, enabling the transportation of cargo to and from spacecraft landing zones to a lunar base [ad9dca04] [4ac7ad25].
The lunar railway system, part of NASA's Artemis program, will play a crucial role in the Artemis III mission, which aims to send astronauts back to the lunar surface by 2026 or 2027. It will provide a reliable and efficient means of transporting cargo from landing zones to more permanent outpost settings. Importantly, the lunar railway system will be used exclusively for cargo transport and will not transport astronauts [311bf231] [3aa815fc] [4ac7ad25].
NASA's FLOAT project is one of the six NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in phase II. Led by Ethan Schaler from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the project has a budget of around $600,000 and a timeline that could put it on the Moon in the next decade [ad9dca04] [4ac7ad25].
Last month, NASA also announced new efforts to develop and test new vehicle models designed to explore the Moon, further demonstrating the agency's commitment to lunar exploration [3aa815fc] [4ac7ad25].
Seatrec Inc., a NASA spinoff, has developed a new power source for underwater robots called the infiniTE float. The technology, created at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and licensed from the California Institute of Technology, uses phase-change material to generate power. The material's temperature changes as the robot rises and falls through the ocean, and the volume change that comes with a change in state is used to generate power. Seatrec is currently selling its first power module for diving floats to research labs, universities, government researchers, and the military. The company also plans to commercialize a system to power underwater gliders using its solid-to-liquid phase-change technology and develop a power station that would cycle a liquid-to-gas phase-change material through ocean depths. Seatrec sees a growing market for its technology, with potential customers including communications companies, oil and gas companies, environmental conservation groups, and companies managing offshore operations. The company has a grant from the Navy to develop a power station on the Arctic ice.