Maglev train would boost lunar building

TIME HORIZON 20 YEARS

NASA aims to send astronauts to the Moon again in the mid2020s, intended to be the beginning of a permanent lunar colony. But building future lunar bases, perhaps in the 2030s, will require significant quantities of raw materials. It is more efficient to use the Moon’s own loose soil, known as regolith, rather than carrying building materials all the way from Earth. One proposal foresees a maglev railway able to carry regolith and other materials quickly to the construction site. The concept is known as FLOAT (Flexible Levitation on a

Track), and uses a railway made of a flexible material that can be rolled out directly on the Moon’s surface, so that it doesn’t require large construction machinery. The railway will be lined with thin solar cell film which will deliver enough power for the system.

The small wagons holding building materials would hover in the air above the track using the principle of magnetic levitation that is used for high-speed trains in countries including Japan and China. Multiple train units could hover above the rails by means of powerful electromagnets, and because there is no friction between trains and track, the trains could in theory reach speeds up to some 600km/h, though the Moon railway would be expected to run at a more stately 2+ km/h, with a 1m2 truck carrying up to 33kg. Advantages include the transport taking place passively through electromagnetism, and also the lack of moving parts such as wheels, bearings and shafts which could become worn and clogged by the notorious regolith. Scientists imagine that a full FLOAT system would carry hundreds of tonnes a day across the Moon’s surface.