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Of that particular list, I would say levitating trains are currently solved from a technical view point[0], and are awaiting economic viability. I know enough

Of that particular list, I would say levitating trains are currently solved from a technical view point[0], and are awaiting economic viability. I know enough about fusion to say while having stronger magnetic fields make things easier, there's a lot of plasma physics that needs to be understood to do confinement. Furthermore the easy reactions all have neutron radiation to deal with so it is an open question if it will avoid all the same social problems fission has had piled on it. Hand held MRIs... that's a stretch, you can make better detectors with SCs, but even so, I suspect you'll want to wrap the area of interest in some apparatus. One you didn't mention and I had been somewhat dismissing until last week was energy storage, we have big existing ones already[1] and several of their drawbacks go away if their refrigeration demands drop to 0. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZX9T0kWb4Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZX9T0kWb4Y [1]

midoridensha 3y ago
>Of that particular list, I would say levitating trains are currently solved from a technical view point[0], and are awaiting economic viability. No, they're not. They're already economically viable: that's why Japan is building one between Tokyo and Nagoya right now, and it'll be in service later this decade. The current bullet trains are huge money-makers and have been for a long time; the Chuo shinkansen will be too.
- raincole 3y ago
  China's Maglev keeps losing money. Something is built and in service == economically viable in decision-makers(often politicians!)' minds != economically viable.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    China's "maglev" is a short train to the airport. It's for demonstration purposes only. Japan's maglev is connecting the largest city in the world with one of its other largest cities. When complete, it'll connect the 3 largest metro areas in the country together. Japan already has a bullet train that does exactly this, and it makes tons of money, and it's been doing so since the 1960s.
    - ororroro 3y ago
      Japan's commercial maglev is not yet completed. All current Japanese high speed services are conventional rail. There is a small test track for maglev and an under-construction commercial maglev with no public completion date (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen).
      - midoridensha 3y ago
        >with no public completion date Wrong, the first leg will be complete in 2027. It takes some time because 90% of it is underground. Yes, it's not completed yet, but it doesn't matter: it's virtually guaranteed to be profitable, just because the current shinkansen are.
- iraqmtpizza 3y ago
  Japan doesn't subsidize their maglev trains at all?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- wolfram74 3y ago
  The point being, RTSC just tears the floor out on some of the operating costs for it, so since all the control schemes and even a lot of the design work is already established practice, maglev /ought/ to proliferate a lot more quickly than, say, municipal scale fusion reactors.

midoridensha 3y ago

>Of that particular list, I would say levitating trains are currently solved from a technical view point[0], and are awaiting economic viability. No, they're not. They're already economically viable: that's why Japan is building one between Tokyo and Nagoya right now, and it'll be in service later this decade. The current bullet trains are huge money-makers and have been for a long time; the Chuo shinkansen will be too.

raincole 3y ago
China's Maglev keeps losing money. Something is built and in service == economically viable in decision-makers(often politicians!)' minds != economically viable.
- midoridensha 3y ago
  China's "maglev" is a short train to the airport. It's for demonstration purposes only. Japan's maglev is connecting the largest city in the world with one of its other largest cities. When complete, it'll connect the 3 largest metro areas in the country together. Japan already has a bullet train that does exactly this, and it makes tons of money, and it's been doing so since the 1960s.
  - ororroro 3y ago
    Japan's commercial maglev is not yet completed. All current Japanese high speed services are conventional rail. There is a small test track for maglev and an under-construction commercial maglev with no public completion date (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%AB%C5%8D_Shinkansen).
    - midoridensha 3y ago
      >with no public completion date Wrong, the first leg will be complete in 2027. It takes some time because 90% of it is underground. Yes, it's not completed yet, but it doesn't matter: it's virtually guaranteed to be profitable, just because the current shinkansen are.
iraqmtpizza 3y ago
Japan doesn't subsidize their maglev trains at all?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
wolfram74 3y ago
The point being, RTSC just tears the floor out on some of the operating costs for it, so since all the control schemes and even a lot of the design work is already established practice, maglev /ought/ to proliferate a lot more quickly than, say, municipal scale fusion reactors.