With all the talk about private companies in space, it’s easy to forget just how much groundbreaking research NASA is carrying out. It’s not all about space flight and telescopes, either. Some of the research aims to support other space operations — like a base on the moon, for instance. To build a base on the moon, one of the first things you need is a payload transport system. If you’re bringing materials from Earth, you need to be able to transport them on site. For this, NASA envisions an autonomous, magnetic railway system. Based on current plans, the system could be available as soon as …