The American space agency NASA is providing details about a railway system it plans to build on the surface of the moon.
美国宇航局正在提供其计划在月球表面建造的铁路系统的详细信息。
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.
美国宇航局在一份在线声明中表示，该系统旨在提供一个“机器人运输系统”，以支持未来宇航员访问月球的月球活动。
The railway would be part of NASA’s Artemis program. It seeks to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. The agency has set a target landing date of September 2026 to place astronauts on the surface of the moon.
这条铁路将是美国宇航局阿尔忒弥斯计划的一部分。它寻求自 1972 年以来首次让宇航员重返月球。该机构已将目标着陆日期定为 2026 年 9 月，将宇航员送上月球表面。
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. Agency officials have said the base could be built as soon as the 2030s. It could also serve as a possible launch site for future exploration of Mars.
美国宇航局表示，还计划建立一个长期月球基地，宇航员可以在那里进行自己的探索和进行科学实验。该机构官员表示，该基地最早可能在 2030 年代建成。它还可以作为未来探索火星的可能发射场。
Last month, NASA also announced new efforts to develop and test new vehicle models designed to explore the moon.
上个月，美国宇航局还宣布了新的努力，以开发和测试旨在探索月球的新型车辆模型。
The lunar rail proposal is called the Flexible Levitation on a Track, or FLOAT. NASA said such a railway system will be “critical to the daily operations” on the moon.
月球轨道提案被称为“轨道上的灵活悬浮”或“FLOAT”。美国宇航局表示，这样的铁路系统对于月球上的“日常运行至关重要”。
The main purpose of FLOAT would be to provide transportation services in areas of the moon where astronauts are active, the space agency said. This will include carrying loads of lunar soil and other materials to different areas of the lunar surface.
该航天局表示，FLOAT 的主要目的是在月球上有宇航员活动的区域提供运输服务。这将包括将大量月球土壤和其他材料运送到月球表面的不同区域。
NASA has said it plans to mine such soil, called regolith, for substances that could support astronaut activities on the moon. Regolith can contain materials like water or liquid forms of oxygen and hydrogen. Those elements could be used to support astronauts and their equipment during long stays on the moon.
美国宇航局表示，计划开采这种称为风化层的土壤，以获取可以支持宇航员在月球上活动的物质。风化层可能含有水或液态氧和氢等材料。这些元件可用于支持宇航员及其设备在月球上长期停留。
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.
拟议铁路的另一个主要用途是在航天器着陆区域之间运输大量材料和设备。
The FLOAT system is already being developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. It is based on magnetic levitation – a commonly used technology in high-speed rail development.
FLOAT 系统已经由美国宇航局加利福尼亚州喷气推进实验室 (JPL) 的工程师开发。它基于磁悬浮——高速铁路开发中常用的技术。
Drawings by NASA suggest the plans call for flat, magnetic panels, called robots, to float, or levitate, over a flat rail line, or track. The robots have no moving parts and are unpowered. They are pushed along the track by electromagnetic energy.
美国宇航局的图纸显示，该计划需要平面磁性面板（称为机器人）在平坦的铁路线或轨道上漂浮或悬浮。这些机器人没有移动部件，也没有动力。它们被电磁能沿着轨道推动。
NASA said the simple design of the carrier robots should help them last a long time and require little ongoing care. The system’s tracks can be placed directly on the lunar surface, avoiding the need to build a complex, permanent structure. They could also be moved around to change the transportation path.
美国宇航局表示，运载机器人的简单设计应该有助于它们持续很长时间，并且几乎不需要持续维护。该系统的轨道可以直接放置在月球表面，无需建造复杂的永久性结构。它们还可以移动以改变运输路径。
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. A larger system could also be built, to enable load transports involving up to 100,000 kilograms of regolith. Such a system could permit trips of “multiple kilometers per day,” NASA explained.
该机构表示，较小版本的 FLOAT 系统将允许机器人以每秒约 0.5 米的速度运输重达 30 公斤的负载。还可以建造一个更大的系统，以实现涉及多达 100,000 公斤风化层的负载运输。美国宇航局解释说，这样的系统可以允许“每天数公里”的旅行。
The agency is currently developing and testing different parts of the FLOAT system.
该机构目前正在开发和测试 FLOAT 系统的不同部分。
FLOAT is one in a series of NASA development projects that recently received additional financial assistance to keep running. The projects are part of a NASA program called Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC).
FLOAT 是 NASA 一系列开发项目之一，这些项目最近获得了额外的财政援助以继续运行。这些项目是 NASA 创新先进概念 (NIAC) 计划的一部分。
Each of the projects received “up to $600,000 to continue working over the next two years” to progress further. FLOAT and the other projects already passed NIAC’s first development phase and are entering the second.
每个项目都获得“高达 60 万美元的资金，用于在未来两年内继续工作”，以进一步取得进展。 FLOAT等项目已经通过了NIAC的第一阶段开发，正在进入第二阶段。
If the efforts continue to show promise, they will be able to enter phase III, which provides additional funding and support from NASA. After that, the projects will be considered for a future space mission.
如果这些努力继续显示出希望，他们将能够进入第三阶段，该阶段将获得美国宇航局的额外资金和支持。之后，这些项目将被考虑用于未来的太空任务。