The United States plans to create a lunar railway network that could transport astronauts, supplies and resources across the surface of the celestial body. According to Northrop Grumman's announcement on Tuesday, the company has been selected by the US Department of Defense's Arms Research and Development Division, DARPA, for this concept. To develop.
According to the statement, the railway network will solve the problem of transportation between lunar projects of private companies, which will contribute to the space economy of the United States and its international partners. According to the concept that specialists call the lunar economy, humanity would exploit the resources of the Moon and near-Earth asteroids, which would, among other things, make it possible to refuel spacecraft and thus reach the most distant regions of the Earth. Solar System.
The aircraft manufacturer, space company and military company have pledged to develop the concept of a functional lunar railway network during the investigation and what prototypes could be used to prove its working. In addition, they will evaluate the cost of the entire project and what materials and tools are needed to build it.
The company will also consider the technological and logistical risks of building a railway on the surface of a celestial body, located an average of 384,000 kilometers from Earth, and whether it can be implemented exclusively using automated systems. According to the ad, they will lay, tie, inspect and maintain the rails.
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The United States returned to the moon's surface after 52 years in February of this year with Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lunar lander.
Source: Intuitive Machines
“With our proven experience in complex systems integration and commercially autonomous systems, we will continue to work on the advances needed to create a sustainable space ecosystem,” said Chris Adams, president of Northrop Grumman Strategic Space Systems.
Northrop Grumman's statement does not say how much money they received from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to conduct the study, but the Space.com news portal according to The maximum can reach $1 million.
The concept of the railway network is being developed within the framework of DARPA's 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) programme, which aims to develop the foundations of the lunar economy. It is intended for lying down. Last December Announce 14 companies are participating in the research program, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, along with Northrop Grumman.
