Trinity News | Tuesday 19th September
SciTech
20
The Hyperloop
Science fiction or the future of transport? Daire Brady Contributing writer
T
HE IDEA OF TRANSPORTING PEOPLE via sealed tubes has existed for over 150 years and is a concept often featured in science fiction, both past and present. Pneumatic trains were even tested in London’s Underground in the 1860’s for a while. They are perceived as a form of fast, efficient transport – everything our own Dublin Bus is not. Indeed, as a sci-fi concept, it seems so outlandish an idea that engineers and scientists might be reluctant to take on such an advanced project. However, a lot of things we have today would seem outlandish to a spectator from 1967. Did they imagine the internet, prosthetic limbs, GPS or the latest iPhone? It is more likely that people imagined a future with robot butlers, flying cars, chrome everything and computers weighing one tonne as opposed to 30 tonnes. The point is, in our timeline it can be difficult not to project the present onto our imagination of the future. Back to the Future, for example, does just that in its 1989 sequel where the depiction of 2015 includes Jaws 19 showing in cinemas and fax machines in every room of the household. It takes a particular type of person to take an outlandish idea and convince the world it will work. These people are usually scientists and engineers with the know-how, but also entrepreneurs and business people with the ability to turn eyes in places where it matters. Elon Musk is a name
associated with big companies like Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX, and the Hyperloop transportation system. When asked whether he identified with Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla – the great rival inventors of the 19th century – he said he was “more of an Edison man”. In his words, “Edison brought his stuff to market and made those inventions accessible to the world, whereas Tesla didn’t really do that.” Musk’s ultimate goal is to reduce the “risk of human extinction” by “making life multi-planetary” – an outlandish claim. Musk put forward the idea of the Hyperloop project with the publication of a paper in 2013. In it, the Hyperloop is envisioned as a low-pressure tube through which levitating pods containing approximately 30 passengers are propelled to speeds of over 1100 km/h using electromagnets. For the past 100 years there have been four modes of public transport: road, rail, boat and plane. Together, they accommodated the increasing growth and connectivity of the global population throughout the 20th century and continue to improve today. However, Elon Musk aspired to the creation of a “fifth mode of transport” for the 21st century. In the paper, Musk discusses the proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco high-speed rail, spanning 550 km. He expresses his contempt for the project, questioning why “Silicon Valley and JPL – doing incredible things like indexing all the world’s knowledge and putting rovers on Mars – would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world?”. The project, set for completion in 2029, would
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It takes a particular type of person to take an outlandish idea and convince the world it will work.
cost over 60 billion USD and bring the journey time between the two major cities to 2.5 hours, while a Hyperloop along the same route would cut journey times to 30 minutes and cost just six billion USD, being cheaper and faster for both state and passenger. The hyperloop would also be self-sustaining in power, as the tube would be fitted with solar panels across the length of the journey, providing a surplus of electricity which can feed the grid. Of course, a lot of questions come to mind in terms of safety. What if a capsule depressurizes? What if the tube repressurizes? What about earthquakes or on-board emergencies? These issues are addressed in the paper: emergency exits and repressurization zones would be located intermittently along the tube, and small wheels would be deployed to bring the capsule to them. The tubes would also be constructed on pylons which would accommodate length fluctuations caused by earthquakes. All capsules would be in contact with a station operator. Musk claims that these safeguards make the Hyperloop far safer than flying. Musk is not working on the project himself but has tasked SpaceX with hosting pod design and testing competitions for student teams throughout the world. The most recent one was held on 27 August, in which one team designed a pod which reached 324 km/h in 1.2 km of evacuated tube. This was a remarkable achievement, given the same team achieved a top speed of only 93 km/h in the previous competition in January. Following that, SpaceX announced the next Hyperloop
pod competition, for which Musk hopes to see entries reach speeds of 800 km/h to 950 km/h. In the meantime, numerous Hyperloop startups have appeared and have already made proposals and feasibility studies on potential routes. Hyperloop One is the biggest of these and have even developed and tested their own pod independently of SpaceX’s competition. Proposed routes include Glasgow to Cardiff via Edinburgh, Newcastle, Nottingham, Cambridge, London, Oxford and Bristol (1060 km in 89 minutes), a ring in Germany connecting Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Leipzig and Berlin (1991 km in 142 minutes), Helsinki to Stockholm (480 km in 28 minutes) and Dubai to Abu Dhabi (150 km in 12 minutes).
It’s easy to be cynical about projects like Hyperloop, which have so much to offer but can go wrong in so many ways. We have been disappointed in the past with equally ambitious plans. In 2010, the Obama Administration aimed to return man to the moon by 2020, but budget cuts shelved that promise. Mars One, a private endeavour, aimed to send man to Mars by 2024, partially funded through broadcasting the mission as a reality show/ documentary. However, suspicions began to arise about the feasibility of the project, with some sources going so far as to call it a scam. Hyperloop is an ambitious project that has never been done before and, up until recently, was considered science fiction. But like all new ideas, no one can know for
sure whether the project will be a success or not. While it’s amusing to look back at all the wacky, zany predictions from the past, we must realise that we too are confined to a bubble, only able to predict the future based off current projections. Will we have paper-thin smartphones with 12 gigapixel cameras by 2067? Ultra-fast 10G internet? Fifa ‘67 in flawless VR where your dexterity doesn’t quite compensate for your lack of spatial awareness? Probably not. At least not in the same way we do today, because like the Hyperloop, it only takes one potential idea to completely alter the path of science and engineering. It was the same with the internet, the airplane, the steam turbine, farming, fire. If it’s not the Hyperloop, it will always be something else.
PROBE: Research uncovered Patrick McBean Contributing writer
O
N FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29, PROBE: Research Uncovered will kick off in Front Square. PROBE is an annual, popup series of events in college that’s part of the hundreds of events which constitute European Researcher’s Night: a continent-wide assortment of talks, events, and research experiments. These are organised to expose ordinary people to academic and professional research, and to encourage active participation in discoveries. PROBE is specifically designed to give the public a glimpse of the progress researchers at Trinity are making to solve the world’s biggest problems. This will be the 12th year that European Researcher’s Night has run, and it has been extremely successful in the past. For the event’s 10th anniversary over a million citizens took part, along with 18,000 researchers in over 300 different cities. PROBE starts at 5pm and runs until 9pm. This year a slew of events will be on offer, all over campus. Here are just a few of the many highlights. Get Personal Tent - Front Square Sea Stories (5pm–9pm) Sea Stories focuses on the seas surrounding Barra island in Scotland. It functions as an interactive map which illustrates the diverse cultural heritage in the region. Action has been taken by the Scottish government to protect biodiversity in the area with the creation of a marine protected area. This, however, has resulted in conflict between local people and the government. Where AI meets the Eye (5pm–9pm) Artificial intelligence (AI) is now being implemented in a range of technologies specific to computer vision applications, such as 3D reconstruction and automatic detection of objects, to colour transfer and 3D skin analysis. A selection of Trinity researchers will demonstrate some of these many areas of image processing currently being carried out in the university. Communicating by Gesture (6pm–8pm) At this event you can discover what your own body exposes through gestures and
The annual pop-up series of events shall take place this Friday on campus as part of European Researcher’s Night. body language. The study of body language allows experts to detect secrets you have no intention of revealing. Our body language may also communicate things unintentionally. For example, you may easily offend someone from a different culture by simply waving your hands - a gesture which may mean nothing in one culture but is hugely insulting in another.
Maker Space Tent - Front Square Roboslam (5pm–8pm) Roboslam is exactly what it says on the tin - that is building your very own robot, and battling against others. There is also the opportunity to learn how to build classic arcade games. Virtual Play: After Samuel Beckett (5pm–8pm) The limits of virtual reality (VR) are currently being explored not only by video game designers, but psychologists, match makers, and a wide range of entertainment industries. We rarely associate the clunky headsets with the fine arts, yet at PROBE there is an opportunity to use a VR headset to interact with a reimagined version of Play by Samuel Beckett. Café Curie Tent - Front Square MSCA Fellows (6pm–8pm) The Café Curie provides warm coffee, buns, and short snappy lectures from researchers at various stages of their careers. These talks are designed to give some insight into the blue sky thinking that motivates and drives researchers. This is a classic buzzword in research - “blue-sky” thinking - the sort of innovation that is not based on a desire to make money or solve issues but rather on pure curiosity. These are the big “What if?” questions. Main Stage Tent - Front Square Research and Activism (6pm–8pm) What is the overlap between research and activism? This is what host Sinéad Burke shall be discussing. A PhD Researcher in Trinity, she has been a strong voice in calling for more inclusive design practices. She will be joined by Jessamyn Fairfield and Christina Meehan of Plan
International.
Institute
Bright Club (6.45pm–8pm) In a fun twist, a series of researchers take to the stand-up stage. This is, as the programme proclaims “smarter stand-up”. The short talks will witness researchers becoming comedians, allowing an opportunity for serious thought paired with uproarious laughter.
Cancer Research Frontiers (4pm- 6.30pm) Trinity College Dublin researchers will shed light on the latest developments in cancer research and potential outcomes for patients. The symposium is supported by AbbVie and Novartis and is part of Cancer Week Ireland. Note that registration is necessary for this event.
Guided Walk: Trinity College Trees Exhibition (5.15pm) Join the grand opening event of the Trinity College Trees Exhibition. For this event, one of the project team will lead a guided walk around the campus to visit eight artworks installed in the trees of Trinity College Campus. The scientific and artistic inspirations behind the artworks will be discussed, as well as the details of the wonderful TCD trees. Note that registration is necessary for this event. Stanley Quek Theatre Trinity Biomedical Sciences
Debating Chamber - GMB Ukelele Tuesday (6.15pm) Ukelele Tueday will be joining us to serenade and entertain you as the Thesis in Three judges deliberate. Ukulele Tuesday is a free play-along ukulele jam session, a chaotic mix of rock, pop and one-hit wonders, played out on the most cheerful instrument in the world.
Zoology Nicola Marples and illustrated by six incredible artefacts from the Natural History Museum at Trinity. Trinity Long Room Hub - Arts and Humanities Research Institute News and Journalism in 2017 (8pm-9pm) How is the way we access news changing, and how are young people engaging with journalism? With the rise of fake news and the increasing importance of diversity and authenticity in journalism, we’ll explore the changing landscape of online news media. Join Elaine Burke, Dr Linda Kiernan and Tom Molloy, Director of Public Affairs and Communications at Trinity College Dublin, to discuss what these developments mean today.
Conversation Room - GMB
Sports Hall
A Brief History of Life (6pm–6.30pm) A journey through the history of life, as told by Professor of
Make a Bee Hotel (10am– 12pm) Bees and their pollination services are utterly vital for
our society - our food and clothes could not be produced without them. This event will serve as an introduction to the lives of bees, and the incredibly complex ways in which they communicate, as well as the incredible homes that they build for themselves. The workshop will talk attendees through making their own bee hotel, and pass on some bee-friendly seeds to take away with them. Jab Lab - Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute Debate on Mandatory Vaccination (7pm-8pm ) This is a controversial topic. Recently many European countries (such as France and Italy) have made the decision to implement several compulsory vaccinations. In some countries such as Australia, children are denied access to education unless they have a base level of vaccination. Recent times have also witnessed a worrying decline in vaccination rates in the Western world, as more families become wary
of vaccines. Will there come a time where Ireland has to make the decision to make vaccines compulsory? This important discussion will be chaired by Aoife McLysaght, who will be joined by clinician Clíona Ní Cheallaigh, researcher Kingston Mills and ethicist Louise Campbell. Note that registration is necessary for this event. Science Gallery Dublin Tent Front Square Meet the scientists (5pm– 9pm) Meet some of the scientists contributing to IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, a free exhibition opening at Science Gallery Dublin on October 13.