Train on the Moon? US to Explore Lunar Railway

According to an article from The Economic Times, the U.S. Department of Defense has contracted with defense and aerospace company Northrop Grumman to build a lunar railway in preparation for a permanent human colony on the Moon. 

“[T]his visionary endeavor aims to facilitate the seamless transportation of both goods and people across the lunar surface, heralding a new era of human presence and economic activity beyond Earth, as per a report by The Sun,” the article states.

The project, dubbed “Moon Train,” might sound silly, but the lunar surface area is equivalent to the size of Africa, making railway infrastructure critical to transport the materials and equipment needed to explore and colonize the Moon. The contract, part of the 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study, covers research around the basics of developing a lunar rail network, including resources, construction using robots, inspection, maintenance, and repair. The final report is expected this June. 

This tangible step toward colonization of space follows hypothetical and occasionally heated debates last year prompted by two books on the topic: City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith and The First City on Mars: An Urban Planner’s Guide to Settling the Red Planet by Justin Hollander (both mentioned in Planetizen’s Top Planning Books of 2023). While many people are fascinated and excited by the idea of building cities from scratch on new planetary bodies, others say our attention and resources should be focused on solving problems on the planet we currently have.