[ti:NASA Details Plans for Railway System on the Moon]
[al:Science & Technology]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-05-13]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]The American space agency NASA is providing details about a railway system it plans to build on the surface of the moon.
[00:11.76]The system aims to provide a "robotic transport system" to support future lunar activities of astronauts visiting the moon, NASA said in an online statement.
[00:26.93]The railway would be part of NASA's Artemis program. 
[00:31.62]It seeks to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. 
[00:39.48]The agency has set a target landing date of September 2026 to place astronauts on the surface of the moon.
[00:50.32]NASA has said it also plans to establish a long-term moon base where astronauts could do their own exploring and carry out science experiments.
[01:04.52]Agency officials have said the base could be built as soon as the 2030s.
[01:11.16]It could also serve as a possible launch site for future exploration of Mars.
[01:19.41]Last month, NASA also announced new efforts to develop and test new vehicle models designed to explore the moon.
[01:30.34]The lunar rail proposal is called the Flexible Levitation on a Track, or FLOAT. 
[01:38.31]NASA said such a railway system will be "critical to the daily operations" on the moon.
[01:47.09]The main purpose of FLOAT would be to provide transportation services in areas of the moon where astronauts are active, the space agency said. 
[01:58.96]This will include carrying loads of lunar soil and other materials to different areas of the lunar surface.
[02:09.23]NASA has said it plans to mine such soil, called regolith, for substances that could support astronaut activities on the moon. 
[02:22.04]Regolith can contain materials like water or liquid forms of oxygen and hydrogen. 
[02:29.19]Those elements could be used to support astronauts and their equipment during long stays on the moon.
[02:39.32]The other main use of the proposed railway would be to transport larger loads of materials and equipment to and from the areas where spacecraft land.
[02:53.35]The FLOAT system is already being developed by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
[03:04.63]It is based on magnetic levitation - a commonly used technology in high-speed rail development.
[03:14.62]Drawings by NASA suggest the plans call for flat, magnetic panels, called robots, to float, or levitate, over a flat rail line, or track. 
[03:28.51]The robots have no moving parts and are unpowered.
[03:32.84]They are pushed along the track by electromagnetic energy.
[03:38.65]NASA said the simple design of the carrier robots should help them last a long time and require little ongoing care. 
[03:48.81]The system's tracks can be placed directly on the lunar surface, avoiding the need to build a complex, permanent structure.
[03:58.99]They could also be moved around to change the transportation path.
[04:05.00]A smaller version of the FLOAT system will permit robots to transport loads up to 30 kilograms at speeds of about 0.5 meters per second, the agency said. 
[04:20.00]A larger system could also be built, to enable load transports involving up to 100,000 kilograms of regolith.
[04:29.87]Such a system could permit trips of "multiple kilometers per day," NASA explained.
[04:38.68]The agency is currently developing and testing different parts of the FLOAT system.
[04:46.26]FLOAT is one in a series of NASA development projects that recently received additional financial assistance to keep running.
[04:57.82]The projects are part of a NASA program called Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC).
[05:07.85]Each of the projects received "up to $600,000 to continue working over the next two years" to progress further. 
[05:18.89]FLOAT and the other projects already passed NIAC's first development phase and are entering the second.
[05:29.29]If the efforts continue to show promise, they will be able to enter phase III, which provides additional funding and support from NASA. 
[05:39.75]After that, the projects will be considered for a future space mission.
[05:45.21]I'm Bryan Lynn.