Photo caption: The left picture shows the "Super Ring 1" vacuum pipeline. The right picture shows the capsule train. Special Reporter of the newspaper Ren Qibao reporter Ni Hao Liu Yang On the 13th, the global technology circle was smashed by a black technology: the US startup Hyperloop One recently announced that they had tested their super high-speed rail technology for the first time in a vacuum environment. While the outside world laments the successful testing of this technology, there are also many voices wondering whether it will be the black technology that will change people's lives or the pseudo-technology that wears cool coats. "Super High Speed ​​Rail" First Comprehensive Test According to a report on Reuters on the 13th, U.S. super-high-speed rail technology start-up company "Super Ring 1" announced on the same day that the company first conducted a comprehensive test of its super high-speed rail technology in a vacuum environment on the 12th: The company's super-high-speed rail vehicles utilize magnetic levitation technology. The test site in Nevada achieved a speed of 113 kilometers per hour and traveled 5.6 seconds in a vacuum pipeline. The company’s co-founder, Shervin Pisceva, said that the test was mainly to test the status of the super-high-speed rail under full vacuum conditions, and the test achieved the expected goal. "Super Ring 1" company said that in the next few months will continue to test in the 500-meter-long DevLoop lane, "to verify the new generation of components and software." In the next phase of testing, the vehicle will be driven at a higher speed in a longer test lane with the goal of raising the speed to 402 kilometers per hour. The so-called "super-high-speed rail" is the concept proposed by the American SpaceX company's Mr. Musk. It is to put the capsule train on a high-speed vacuum transportation pipeline. Theoretically, the train speed can reach 1200 kilometers per hour. The challenge has only just begun The British Sky News quoted a statement from the Super Ring 1 company saying that the system is more secure than passenger aircraft, and the cost of construction and maintenance is lower than that of high-speed rails. Per capita energy consumption is similar to that of bicycles. "Super Ring 1" company plans to build 11 pipeline routes across the United States, with a total length of 4,506 kilometers. The shortest route is Boston to Providence. The length of the railway is 103 kilometers. The longest journey is from Cheyenne to Houston, which is 1,853 kilometers away. Even more exciting is that "Super Loop 1" can shorten the journey between London and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom to 45 minutes. Between Los Angeles and San Francisco, it takes only about 30 minutes. It is likely that many Chinese people are not very convinced of these distances. If the maximum theoretical speed is estimated at 1,200 kilometers per hour, it takes only about one hour from Beijing to Shanghai. But does the technology that looks beautiful is not getting closer to us after this test? The US “Daily Calls†website reported that scientists pointed out several major challenges facing the HSR. First of all, once a vacuum pipe problem occurs or the super high-speed rail fails, it can cause the vehicle's death, just like the accidental death of a space ship in space. Second, pumping millions of cubic meters of air out of the pipeline is a huge technical challenge. There has been almost no such equipment. Again, if the vacuum pipeline is built in the desert, thermal expansion and contraction will cause the pipeline running the super high-speed rail to break. In addition, this kind of super high-speed rail can easily become the target of terrorist attacks. Finally, the cost of a short-range super high-speed rail exceeds 100 billion U.S. dollars, and such a huge economic cost makes the construction of a super high-speed rail uneconomical. The U.S. "Leading Edge" technology website stated that before launching the transportation revolution, the super high-speed rail still needs to overcome many challenges. It is very difficult to launch new projects in the United States, especially for projects such as the super high-speed rails, which are so expensive and the projects are so huge. The HSR is a brand-new technology and does not enjoy any priority for railway transportation such as road construction subsidies and land acquisition. Yue Jianhai, an associate professor and doctoral advisor of the Department of Rail Vehicles of the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Northern Jiaotong University, said in an interview with a Global Times reporter that the short-range vacuum pipeline has no commercial significance. “The planning of China’s high-speed rail eight vertical and eight horizontal lines shows that it is only more valuable for railways to realize a mesh connection. However, there is no corresponding verification and technical answer for the vacuum pipeline high-speed rail connection.†China is also researching "super high-speed rail" In the past two years, the use of vacuum tube technology to build a super-high-speed rail has become a new technology hotspot. U.S. companies have already demonstrated experimental programs, and China is also stepping up its pre-study for this technology. Yue Jianhai said that China’s two colleges and universities, Southwest Jiaotong University and Beijing Jiaotong University, which have the most advanced research in high-speed rail technology, have already begun the technical tracking and exploration in this area. Taiwan’s “Wang Bao†reported that vacuum-tube maglev trains have already completed manned circular orbit tests at the Southwestern Jiaotong University in mainland China. Experts predict that after 2023, some of the mainland's first-tier cities are expected to see such trains. The article said that the mainland developed vacuum tube maglev train, the speed of up to 2,900 kilometers in the future. According to another report, China's first submarine vacuum tunnel rail transit project also seems to be ready. According to domestic media reports, Zhejiang plans to build the world's first seabed super-high-speed rail, a total length of 10 kilometers, the preliminary geological program has been completed. The super high-speed rail is located in Zhoushan. This "submarine vacuum tunnel" connects Zhoushan Lujiabang and Taohua Island and is 10 kilometers in length. Once completed, it is expected to become the world's first submarine super high-speed rail. In April this year, many experts, including several academicians, came to Putuo, Zhoushan to conduct technical discussions on building the world's first submarine vacuum suspended tunnel. ▲