Hyperloop: is it innovative future technology or people's fantasy?

If the blog posts so far have been about solar technology, I will change the topic a bit and focus on public transportation. Specifically, we talked about how the road changes with the solar roadway, this time we'll start talking about the Hyperloop that will travel on or under the road. However, the topic of technology that we are talking about on today's blog also includes solar technology.

What

It's like what you might see in a city of the future, it's called Hyperloop. It was the famous Elon Musk who popularized this concept. Although it looks like a train, the way it actually works is very different from a conventional train. A hyperloop is basically a type of vehicle that moves a vehicle in a vacuum tube. The expression 'shooting' is more appropriate than 'moving'. Hyperloop uses a magnetic field to gain propulsion and reduces friction by blowing air onto the floor. The power required for this is obtained from solar panels wrapped around the outer wall of the tube. The top speed is rated at 1,280 km/h. The speed will change depending on the section, but it is enough to run between Seoul and Busan in 15 minutes. It can be run from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30 minutes. It is known to be faster than conventional trains and airplanes. The big advantage is that the hyperloop can be introduced at a lower price compared to the high-speed rail. Elon Musk estimates it will cost between $6 billion and $10 billion to build a hyperloop linking two cities on the west coast of the United States. That's about one-tenth of the $100 billion the US government expects to spend on building the high-speed rail link between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The core of the Hyperloop idea is that the tube on which the Hyperloop will run generates energy from sunlight to generate sustainable self-generation. Anyone who has heard of this technology before may not have heard of it since then. The reason is that it has faced many challenges.

Why

While new types of transport such as electric vehicles can easily be integrated into the existing system of roads, a hyperloop system would require creating an entire infrastructure. That means constructing miles-long systems of tubes and stations, acquiring rights of way, adhering to government regulations and standards, and avoiding changes to the ecology along its routes. In the event of an accident, there is a possibility that it will become a major disaster, and since it is a means of transportation that operates in a sealed tube, it may cause problems if a passenger has health problems. Things can get serious while on the way to your destination, otherwise the tube will have to be dismantled.

Other than this, because it is a very large project, the technical limitations are still pointed out, but many companies are researching and developing it due to the value of the idea. 

The process of coming up with these ideas, developing them realistically, and researching to make them perfect takes society to the next level, so even if this technology is not actually applied, we can hope for t the next ideas that could change the world.

“There are so many good things about pursuing hyperloop that, even if it’s not the answer, it will have generated lots of ideas and allowed people to think things through”- Professor Hunt of the University of the Cambridge

 

Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/business/hyperloop-transit-virgin.html