Japan launched the world's first superconducting ship Monday, challenging 150 years of domination by propeller-driven ships.
Looking like a cross between a whale and a space rocket, the Yamato 1 slid into the waters of the western Japanese port of Kobe, amid the heavy iron of a previous generation of ships.The experimental ship, built by the Ship and Ocean Foundation, is powered by superconducting electromagnetic propulsion, which could theoretically allow it to achieve speeds close to 100 knots, about 125 mph.
When an electric current passes through a strong magnetic field created by a superconducting coil, a force is generated that ejects water from a duct at high speed, propelling the ship forward.
For the next several months, the ship will remain in port while engineers inspect the machinery before conducting test runs.
"This kind of ship should be better at high speed, where propellers don't work so well," said Kensaku Imaichi, director of the Foundation and emeritus professor of Osaka University.
When the 98-foot, 280-ton ship starts tests this summer, it will carry only 10 people and move at about eight knots, but Imaichi said speed would increase with improvements in superconductor technology.
Possible future applications, such as high-speed freight liners, would depend on progress.