A train speeds through a modern looking station. Everything is white and clean, giving a futuristic feel. The train is blurred due to travelling so fast. It gives the impression of impressive speed.

How Fast Can We Travel? The Future of Super Speed Transportation 

ByHayley Frend

Photo by Jeshoots

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Imagine you could get to the other side of the world in just 90 minutes. How cool would it be to have lunch in another country and be back before bedtime? Or maybe you dream of traveling across your country in the time it takes to watch a TV show. Is that even possible? Well, maybe!

People all over the world are working on new kinds of super-fast transportation that might make this a reality in the future. But how fast could we actually travel? Let’s take a look at some cool ideas that are in the works to make travel faster than ever before.

A hand is holding a small globe. In the background is a picturesque landscape of rugged mountains. It evokes the feeling of the world being small and ours to explore.

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok

Why Does Speed Matter?

A plane speeds through a blue sky. Four white contrails extend behind the plane, giving the impression of movement.

Photo by SevenStorm 

  1. Helping the Environment
    • Some new types of super-fast trains or vehicles could be better for the planet, using clean energy instead of harmful fuel.
  2. Money Matters
    • If we could travel faster, it would help businesses and people get things done more quickly. 
    • This could speed up everything from getting emergency help to people who really need it to getting packages delivered in record time. Imagine ordering something in the morning and having it before lunch!
  3. Making Life Easier
    • High-speed travel could help people live far away from their jobs or family, but still visit them easily.
    • Imagine being able to see a doctor who’s far away in a few hours or visiting a friend who lives on the other side of the world!

But, of course, there are challenges too. For one, the first super-fast trains or planes cost a lot, and not everyone might be able to afford to use them. Plus, building the technology and roads to make it happen could take a while. And very importantly, not all types of high-speed travel are good for the environment, some types can be very damaging.

The History of High-Speed Travel

Travel has come a long way! Long ago, people had to use horses to travel, which was pretty slow. Over time, we invented trains, cars, and airplanes, each getting us from A to B faster and faster. Let’s look at some milestones:

  • The First Steam Engine: In 1804, Richard Trevithick created the first steam engine.
  • The Shinkansen (Bullet Train): In 1964, Japan introduced the Shinkansen, which could travel at 210 km/h. That was fast for its time!
Concorde flies through a blue sky with white fluffy clouds. The words 'Air France' can be read in blue words on the side of the white plane.

Photo by Franz Herrmann

  • The Concorde Supersonic Jet: In 1976, the Concorde could fly faster than the speed of sound, reaching speeds of up to 2,180 km/h. That’s twice the speed of sound or over 5 times that of a race car! Concorde was fast, but it wasn’t perfect. It used a lot of fuel. Have you ever seen an enormous fuel tanker on the highway? Concorde would burn through all the fuel in one of those tankers during just one two-hour flight. This cost a lot of money, making it too expensive to run.
A large full tanker stands on the tarmac under a blue sky. Its huge size is notable.

Concorde burnt through all the fuel this tanker could hold- in just two hours! Photo by Alexander on Pexels

Plus, concorde was very loud, especially when it flew over cities. It created something called a “sonic boom” which was so loud it could break windows. For these reasons, Concorde didn’t fly long before it was grounded forever. 

Watch concordes last ever flight here:

Today there are some new, even faster ways to travel being developed!

Cutting-Edge Developments in Super Speed Travel

Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) Trains

One of the most exciting forms of transport today is the Maglev trains. Unlike regular trains, which roll on tracks, Maglev trains float above them using powerful magnets. These magnets help the train hover about 10 cm above the track, reducing friction and letting it go super fast!

Here’s how it works:

  • Levitation: Have you ever tried to push two magnets together and can feel them pushing apart? Each magnet has a north pole and a south pole. Whilst a north pole and a south pole of a different magnet will stick to each other, two north poles or two south poles push each other away. Engineers have used this pushing force to make Maglev trains float. The train has magnets on the bottom, and the track has big electromagnets. When electricity flows through these, it creates a force that lifts the train into the air.
  • Stability: Additional magnets keep the train in the center, so it doesn’t drift off the track, which means the ride is super smooth.
  • Motion: The same magnetic pushing force is used to move the train along the track. The magnets on the track and the train push each other. This pushing force makes the train move forward, like it’s being pushed down the track by invisible hands!

Japan’s new Maglev train can already reach 600 km/h during testing. How fast is that? Well, it’s about the speed of a jet airplane! And even better- it offers a super smooth ride- check out exactly how smooth, even at insane speeds, below. 

Why Is Maglev So Special?

Maglev trains are awesome because they don’t touch the track, meaning they don’t wear out like regular trains. This makes them last longer and need less maintenance.

Maglec trains also experience no friction. Friction happens when two things rub against each other, like train wheels on a track. Try rubbing your hands together quickly, you’ll feel heat. That’s friction! It makes things slower. But Maglev trains float above the track, so there’s nothing to rub. No friction means they can go super fast.

Maglev trains are also safer– the magnets mean that a train can never fall off a track and trains cant crash into each other as they all go the same speed along the track.  

Watch some maglev trains in action here:

The challenge with Maglev trains is the cost. The technology is expensive to build, and Japan’s new project could cost more than 75 billion dollars! To imagine how much 75 billion dollars is- think about this: you could build 13 full-size Disneylands with that much money…and still have money left over! 

The Hyperloop – A Train in a Tube

Maglev trains might have no friction. But they still have air resistance. Try waving your hand back and forth. Feel that push against your skin? That’s air resistance! When super-fast trains move, the air pushes back, which slows them down. So what if we could remove not just friction but also air resistance. Could we go even faster? 

How do we remove air resistance? Well we remove the air! That’s the idea behind Hyperloop. The concept is simple: imagine a maglev train in a giant tube with no air inside, so there’s no air resistance to slow it down. With no friction or air to slow it down, the Hyperloop could zip along at record breaking speed!

However, building these huge tubes would be very expensive and difficult to build. In fact, it could be so expensive and so difficult that some people doubt we could ever make hyperloop systems a reality. But many companies are still working on it, so time will tell!

Check out the first ever passenger hyperloop test ride here:

Whether you’re racing a super-fast pod through a special tunnel or helping a tiny robot travel inside someone’s body, being precise really matters! If you love awesome inventions and incredible science, dont forget to check out our other blogs next – like how doctors can do surgeries from far away, or how tiny robots are being used to fight lung disease.

Supersonic and Hypersonic Aircraft

Now, what about airplanes? We already have super-fast jets, but what if we could fly even faster?

  • Supersonic Planes: These planes can fly faster than the speed of sound, just like the Concorde did. But new planes, like Boom Supersonic’s Overture, might fly up to 2,735 km/h.   Getting you from New York to London in just 4 hours. This journey currently takes almost 8 hours! Nasa’s X-59 goes even further and promises to reach supersonic speed without the annoying loud sound.
  • Hypersonic Aircraft
    Now, imagine something even faster than supersonic. Hypersonic means traveling at 6000km/h or faster, 5 times the speed of sound! A new company, Hyperian Aerospace, is building a cargo plane that could fly at over 7,600 km/h, fast enough to travel from New York to London in just 27 minutes!

  • But going this fast is really hard because the air gets super hot at these speeds. The airplane needs special materials that can resist that heat. Engineers are working on creating new heat-resistant materials to make hypersonic travel possible. Like special tiles that can survive thousands of degrees!
  • It is also important that these planes are kind to the environment. Some use hydrogen instead of traditional fuel. This makes them more environmentally friendly. However, others still burn through huge amounts of fuel, just like Concorde did. This is causing many people to worry about the future of super-speed air travel.

The Future: How Close Are We?

So, what’s the future of super-fast travel? Well, there are a few things that still need to be figured out:

  1. Money: All of this technology costs a lot of money to develop. It might take a while before it’s available for everyone to use.
  2. Safety: Speed is fun, but we also need to make sure that these new types of travel are safe.
  3. Speed Limits: There’s a limit to how fast we can go in the air or on the ground without running into problems like heat or friction.
  4. Environment: As we have seen, some high-speed projects are kinder to the environment than others. We should be aiming to make ALL transport as envornmentally friendly as possible.
A shadow of a plane is cast upon a map of the world, which is partially in complete shadow. It suggests an interconnected world but not one without issues.

Photo by Lara Jameson

But the good news is that engineers and scientists are working every day to push the limits of speed in cleaner and safer ways. Whether it’s through a Maglev train, a super-fast airplane, or even something like the Hyperloop, the race for faster travel is far from over.

One thing is clear: we are pushing the limits of how fast we can travel! Are you ready to jump on a super-speed train or hop into a supersonic jet? The future is coming fast, and it might just be the ride of a lifetime!

Tonights Dinner Table Discussion

Here’s some ideas to spark a fascinating family discussion.

  • If you could travel anywhere on Earth in just 90 minutes, where would you go?
  • How do you think high-speed airplanes or trains could help people?
  • Would you want to ride in a super-fast train or plane? Why?
  • What do you think is the biggest challenge in making super-fast travel work for everyone?
  • Do you think we should build high-speed planes and trains if not all of them are environmentally friendly?

Big Family Question:

If we could travel anywhere on Earth in under two hours, how do you think that would change the way our family lives, works, and spends time together?

Science is awesome. So is asking questions.

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Keep Exploring

Love learning how scientists are pushing limits? Try:
Super-Small Robots Zooming Through Lungs to deliver a knockout blow to diseases
How Self-Healing Bricks Made with Bacteria Could Be the Future of Moon Bases

Lets Talk About It

If you could travel anywhere in the world in the time it takes you to eat lunch, where would you go? Let us know in the comments below!

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