Mask has a competitor: 13-year-old schoolgirl from New York came up with a more environmentally friendly version of Hyperloop

Eighth-grader Caroline Crouchley from New York has figured out how to make the Hyperloop project developed by Elon Musk more environmentally friendly, safe and less expensive. This publication writes CNBC.

Crouchley said that her father and brother use the train every day to get to Manhattan, so she knows firsthand about crowded wagons, delays and long trips.

According to the source, the girl decided to find the best solution for travel to work, taking into account significant environmental problems.

Advanced Hyperloop

The schoolgirl took as a basis the Hyperloop project proposed by Elon Musk, which, in her opinion, is “really expensive”.

In the 2013 year, when Musk announced the plan to launch Hyperloop, he estimated the cost of constructing the Los Angeles-San Francisco highway for this underground pipe at about $ 5-7,5 billion. Although, as the source notes, it can be much more expensive, and the construction will take about 20 years.

In addition, according to Crouchley, it is not safe to transport people through vacuum tubes.

“So I wanted to see if there was another design that we could do that would still use renewable energy,” she said.

On the subject: Ilon Musk will build a subway on which from New York to Washington can be reached in half an hour

The Fast Company publication says so about the schoolgirl’s idea: “What Crouchley invented has a simpler design, can be more easily constructed, can use the existing rail carriageway area and is cheaper to assemble.”

By the way, Caroline’s idea took second place in the competition of young scientists 3M 2019 of the year.

Crouchley idea

13-year-old Caroline suggests using Mask pneumatic tubes, but instead of moving people inside these tubes, she suggests using them to propel trains.

«Crouchli's design calls for the construction of pipes next to the railroad tracks. The shuttle, which moves inside the tubes, is attached via a magnetic connecting arm to existing trains outside the tube, ”the source explained.

Caroline herself said that in her first prototype, she created a pneumatic tube and shuttle, which is attached to the train from the side and has a special lever that connects the shuttle and train.

However, according to the girl, the connecting lever continued to disconnect, as a result of which the train stopped moving, so she had to return to the drawing board.

On the subject: Hyperloop set a new speed record

Crouchley is currently working on another prototype in which the air tube is located under the train rather than next to it, so it is always attached to the vehicle.

Despite some setbacks during the development of her idea, the girl said that she learned a lot from this process. The main thing that she has learned for herself is that building something is not easy.

"My advice for people who are building something is that it will likely break or deteriorate or not work the way you want it to, but this is all part of the learning process, so you have to keep doing it." , She says.

Although Crouchley says that none of Musk’s team contacted her or her parents, she still follows his work and hopes to pursue a career in mathematics and science in the future.