Ideas from the past; Technology from the present, and SpaceXs’ plan for the not-so-distant future.

California is a state known for wacky weather- from major droughts to flooding, earthquakes, and tornados. So how will the Hyperloop survive with this drastic climate? The steel tubes will be raised high off the ground on shock resistant pillars allowing even the largest earthquakes to be merely a few small bumps, and according to SpaceX, they will be “Less evident than turbulence on an airplane.” In fact the Hyperloop design is claimed to be able to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.6, larger than any earthquake that’s ever even struck California.

Major rainstorms, flooding, and droughts, will not cause any major damage to the Hyperloop in any way. Because the pipes are made of reinforced stainless steel water damage is not an issue. This brings us to the final two obstacles: major winds and lightning. One might think that because the Hyperloop pipes are metal that it would be a 350 mile long lightning magnet. While that is not necessarily incorrect, it is not correct by any means. As always, Musks’ ingenious design is one step ahead of all the critics. When lightning strikes the Hyperloop it would be similar to being in an airplane that gets struck by lightning. If you have never experienced this before as scary as it is to think about, you don’t go crashing down from miles high, but simply continue on your way unaffected.

Tornados, and high speed winds are one of the most feared of the natural disasters because unlike floods, and earthquakes, you don’t need to be located in a wet area, or above a fault line. The Hyperloop pipes are not built to be aerodynamic, they are simple cylindrical tubes. However that does not mean they will collapse at any slight breeze. The construction design allows the Hyperloop to withstand winds as fast as 200 mph. In fact, after taking all of this into account, multiple professionals have stated that they believe the Hyperloop is simply immune to weather.

Last year in the US over 150 trains derailed in various locations. Thankfully very few people were hurt or killed. However, what would happen if a small capsule traveling at 700 mph was to malfunction somehow ending up crashing inside, or in an extreme case, penetrating the steel siding of the pipes? Surely there’s going to be human error when it comes to driving the cars, right? Wrong. The Hyperloop system is completely run by computers, each car is sent out 30 seconds after the other leaving 5 miles in between, enough time to apply emergency brakes which go off immediately if any danger is possible. There is no room for human error because there are no humans controlling the trains.

Every aspect of this new innovation is more efficient, safer, and extremely beneficial. One of the biggest reasons we need to build the Hyperloop is because of a well known debate that has surfaced as of late. Global Warming.

“Anything we do to the earth we do to ourselves, if we wish to make our living space too toxic to breathe we are not hurting the earth, merely signing our death certificate.” -Howard Wood (Winner of Goldman Environmentalist prize 2015)

Everyone who’s been around for the past ten or so years has most likely heard plenty of different talks, read articles, seen movies, and even experienced the well known phenomenon of climate change. While some claim that it’s is a scam made up by scientist there is hard and conclusive evidence supporting the theory that humans have been drastically affecting global temperatures, and natural occurrences. We achieve this by driving everywhere, burning fossil fuels to make our lives convenient, and using things like nuclear energy which power our lives.

Now I may hypocritically criticize the very society that I live and take a part in but that does not change the fact that this is happening and we need to act to fix it. The Hyperloop is one of the many possible steps towards a solution.

Unless there’s a dramatic shift in the way we all live our everyday lives, emissions from planes, trains, buses, and cars, will continue to add to the already prominent problem of global warming. Without eco-friendly innovations such as the Hyperloop, the human race will wipe itself out along with all the other animals who inhabit the planet. Now this supersonic transportation system may not be the solution to all our problems, but no one can deny that it is certainly a step in the right direction.

If we were to build a Hyperloop network across the US we would be able to cut back on individual cars which consume ridiculous amounts of oil every day. This small adjustment could have as big of an impact as shutting down multiple oil rigs which are extremely dangerous to the surrounding environment and unpredictable as we saw in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

In the past 5 years the strength and frequency of natural disasters has increased tremendously, polar ice caps and glaciers are melting, and we’re only starting to tap into the oil laying at the bottom of the ocean.

“We cannot introduce any unnatural materials to the Earth, eventually all that we have worked to create will decompose back into the elements that it began as. We are simply numbering our own days by creating new ways to utilise irreplaceable resources and continuing to deny the obvious time and time again. The Earth is timeless compared to us, no matter what it will continue on its unfathomable life cycle, and all we get to decide is how long we will work to inhabit it.” -Phyllis Omido (Winner of Goldman Environmentalist prize 2015)

The Hyperloop does not only make travel much more efficient, but also much safer, cheaper, and more eco-friendly than almost every other public form of transportation we have today. As far as convenience goes you could shorten a 4 day drive from California to Maine into a 3–4 hour Hyperloop ride. Personally I can’t think of anyone who would rather spend half their vacation in a car, or half their saving on a plane ticket rather than a few dollars and a few hours in a luxurious capsule. We need the Hyperloop, and not just because it’s a solution to almost every problem regarding long distance travel. Elon Musks invention is the closest thing we have to time travel, and not because the supersonic speed will end up taking us back in time, but becausev the Hyperloop is the future, and we’re ready for it.