Isn’t it going to be another glory in space technology if humans would be able to travel through space from one planet to another on a bullet train?
Yes!
You read it right.
It’s not a script for a sci-fi movie, Japan is actually planning to take a step in the industry of space travel. The country is also planning to build an artificial space habitat on mars without having any adverse impact on Mars’ atmosphere.
NASA
According to Mashable India, Space Express, the special train would operate on a standard gauge track.
Who has initiated the research?
According to The Weather Channel India, Japan’s Kyoto University in collaboration with Kajima Construction is working on this project to send humans to Mars and the Moon.
Copying the gravity of the earth, atmosphere and topography, Japan is planning to build a glass habitat so that humans can feel like home.
According to India Today, Kyoto University plans to create a narrowed living structure in a champagne flute shape. It will have artificial gravity, green areas, water bodies and public transportation. Such structure will be called ‘The Glass’.
What is the ‘Hexagon Space Track System’?
asahi.com
Hexagon Space Track System is a transportation system for the bullet train. the Hexatrack will maintain a gravity of 1G (normal gravity of the Earth) for long-distance travel and reduce the extended exposure effect to low gravity.
It is said that the bullet trains too have ‘Hexacapsules’ (hexagonal-shaped capsules) with a moving device in the middle. A 15-metre radius mini capsule will connect the Earth with the moon while a 20-metre radius will link the Earth with Mars.
Interestingly, the trains are planned to be as large as Japanese bullet trains by researchers and would be introduced with linear or rocket engines. The 6 cars of the train would be detached at the stations and transported in hexagon capsules.
Explaining the idea, the university department said, “When launching into space, each vehicle is connected by a bar to maintain straightness. When you arrive at the base station, you will be separated by one car each. Rocket ejection devices are installed on the leading and trailing vehicles, respectively, to ‘accelerate’ in outer space and escape the gravitational sphere of each planet.”
What about the train stations?
According to reports, the station on the moon will be known as the ‘lunar station’ and use a gateway satellite, while the station at Mars will be called ‘Mars station’ and will be located on the Martian satellite Phobos.
The Earth station will be known as Terra Station and succeed space station to the International Space Station (ISS), as per the Human Spaceology Centre.
The idea will take 100 years to turn into a reality
The idea is likely to take a century to turn into a reality. But, the researchers are projecting to build a prototype version of the Marsglass and Lunaglass by 2050, according to The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Yosuke Yamashiki, the Director of SIC Manned Cosmology Research Center and Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies at Kyoto University, stated that “Through discussions over the past few years, these three pillars that we propose this time are core technologies that are not in the development plans of other countries and are indispensable for ensuring the realisation of human space colonisation in the future.”.
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