Artist's impression of a mass driver on the Moon.
A mass driver is a rail-based system, first introduced on the Moon, which uses waves of magnetism generated by electromagnets to accelerate payloads. They were built by both NASA and the Soviet Union on the Moon to aid in mining operations in the construction of structures in orbit for their space programmes, notably the toroidal space habitats, Orbital solar power stations and the human-staffed interplanetary spacecraft in the first decade of the Caroline Era. The technology developed was then applied on Earth, mainly as a form of transportation, for example in the Channel Tunnel and in new railway lines.