- Why Celestavia now vs. ten years ago? Now there is a convergence of technologies that makes Celestavia possible much more than before. For example, computers have dropped in price to the point that artificial intelligence software is inexpensive enough to be used to manage multiple functions in the Celestavia system, such as optimizing the use of chassis and car cabins; these are piloted by the artificial intelligence, therefore reducing the total cost of the project by millions of dollars and accidents and errors that human drivers cause. Motor controllers and cable carriers have dropped in price and weight, and quality has increased significantly. New technologies, such as high-performance capacitors, are now available in the market at reasonable prices, which greatly reduces power consumption. The cost of exotic materials such as fibers has dropped enormously, allowing the use of fiber instead of metals, which Celestavia uses extensively in everything from cabs and chassis to towers and stations. 3D printers produce better parts and at a fraction of the previous cost, including building construction. This means that Celestavia can use 3D printers for faster and better construction of the stations and other components. Sensors, large computer monitors, 5G communication, rapid prototypes via new software and 3D printing, and many other technologies converge to produce a practical, economical, clean, and safe system.
- Who’s idea? The founding engineers immigrated from the USA and lived for more than twenty years in the province of Loja, Ecuador, a typical South American city. Seeing the incredible increase in pollution in the environment from gases harmful to health due to the use of fuels, noise pollution, deaths and injuries from accidents, and traffic jams causing extreme unnecessary expense in the transportation system. The founding engineers decided to offer the Celestavia Rapid Transit System as a modern and complete solution that solves all these problems.
- Is Celestavia a disruptive technology? Yes, with Celestavia, there will be many fewer ill people caused by environmental pollution from the use of fuels, injured and dead from traffic accidents; this will affect medical institutions which treat the injured; a total reduction in traffic police; a reduction of new routes since they are no longer necessary; car sales may decrease; car and bus parking lots will be available for other uses that are more productive and beneficial to humanity; bus carriers and everything related to bus transportation will decrease; everything related to fuel will undergo great changes; we will stop poisoning our lungs with this poison that is so harmful to our health. The environment will benefit like never before possible, as the footprint of Celestavia is only 1/500 of the current roads.
It is noteworthy to mention that in any case, autonomous cars, trucks, and buses have already walked more than one billion kilometers on roads.
- Celestavia is a disruptive technology to the current transportation system. As a point of reference, take into account a couple of examples of disruptive technology: Amazon, Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, Cellular Telephony and Internet, Cable TV, Internet, and Fiber Optics are excellent examples of very disruptive technologies. These disruptive technologies, on the one hand, give us an optimal service like never before, but on the other hand, cause a great change to the current technology/service. For example, telephone booths and public telephones ceased to exist in very few years. We completely stopped using the phone booth system; now we only use the cell phone. Even cyber cafes are starting to disappear, as we have internet on the cell phone. In 2018, Amazon surpassed 50% of all sales nationwide in the U.S. That is, more than 50% of all sales of a population of more than 300 million people went to just one company called Amazon; this effect we are also starting to see all over the world. Alibaba in just one day sold more than $50,000,000,000 via its website. The Celestavia transportation system, like these companies, is a completely disruptive technology to the current transportation system. For this reason, since Celestavia as a transportation company is unusually profitable, economically it can and is committed to provide assistance to carriers so that this disruption to the carrier’s source of income does not suffer irreparable damage as has happened with all these other companies without the slightest social commitment. At Celestavia, we are not only looking out for our personal interests and those of the investors, but we also take into account all those who will be negatively affected. See FAQ Converging Technologies.
- Will the fact that Celestavia is such a disruptive technology to the current system cause resistance from carriers? Yes and no. If the transporter and suppliers are not educated about the immense economic, social, and environmental potential that Celestavia offers us all, they may present resistance due to their ignorance and fear of losing their source of income. But if the carrier realizes that by investing in Celestavia now it can multiply its income enormously and live a better quality of life, then it will not only support, it will become a promoter of Celestavia technology. Additionally, most people have good values, and they know well that Celestavia is for the good of all, including the environment, and for the bad of no one.
- Will Celestavia replace the roads? The current roads will continue for many years, but in the future it is very possible and very probable that humanity will decide to give better use to this space that is destroying the environment throughout the planet.
- Does the level of automation that Celestavia offers seem too futuristic? That is not the case. Here is an example of complementary and similar technologies already in use: In a test of the Starship system alone in 2016, more than 50,000 packages were delivered in one hundred cities and twenty countries. This is the real state of last-mile delivery technology. In the very near future, you will be able to buy via the internet and receive delivery at your door via Celestavia.
- What is the convergence of technologies? Today we have the convergence of various technologies that did not exist before and cost reduction like never before on a variety of components and technologies for rapid design and prototyping, enabling cost reduction like never before. For example, the quality of electric motors has increased enormously. Today, an electric motor is not only many times smaller than before but also includes a long life like never before. It has electronic sensors to detect vibration, temperature, and energy consumption that provide information in real time of all its mechanical state; in this way, the end user will never have the inconvenience of being in a vehicle that does not work because maintenance in Celestavia is scientifically predictive via many sensors. The electronic communication network technology via fiber-optic and radio communication of 5G (fifth generation) in conjunction with thousands of sensors in the towers, chassis, and carts/cabins allows us to monitor tens of thousands of parameters in real time, something that today is very inexpensive and easy to implement. Some of the computers that Celestavia will use cost under $5, something that in the past not only cost thousands of dollars but was the size of a cart / cabin, but today it is only a centimeter in size and in just a couple grams of weight. The power of the convergence of inexpensive sensor technology and computers with artificial intelligence overseeing the use of the thousands of cabins and chassis is made possible by the exponential reduction of costs that has happened in the past years in everything related to computers and communication in real time at very low costs. Artificial intelligence allows a reduction of the total number of chassis and trolleys/cabs in the system, which translates into millions of dollars of savings in not only the number of chassis and trolleys/cabs but in the total electricity consumption, maintenance, parking, etc. Not only does it reduce all costs, but it also ensures that cabins are available when needed, thus saving the passenger time. The fact that today an electronic camera connected to the communication network only costs a couple of dollars allows us to monitor and control in real time hundreds of thousands of parameters simultaneously at an affordable cost. Each chassis contains four propulsion motors with a long list of sensors, which goes to a computer that electronically controls each motor independently, thus ensuring the ideal movement for each motor and therefore the chassis moves in a controlled manner. safe, without human intervention or help, thus ensuring a very low accident rate. There are many more technologies to list here that converge to make the entire Celestavia system today much more economically feasible and as never before possible. Among the technologies not mentioned are the 3D printing of the stations, the extensive use of basalt fibers, the 3D printing of many components in the towers, chassis, cabins, passenger assistance systems, the design of the entire mechanical system with design software—something that was impossible to do before—and much more…
- What next-generation technologies are converging to make Celestavia possible today vs. a simple cable car? The number of new technologies converging today is staggering, lowering all project costs, from design to installation to operation and maintenance. Something impossible, only twenty years ago.
- Cloud software to control tasks throughout the design, installation, and operation.
- Blockchain for security of all design, operation, and maintenance processes.
- Triple redundancy system for control computers.
- Extensive use of Generative Mechanical Design, which is an artificial intelligence that allows the creation of better structures at lower cost, plus facilitates the printing of the structures on 3D printers, thus reducing production costs.
- Mechanical design in software with 3D simulation, which speeds up the whole design process enormously, thus lowering all mechanical design costs.
- Simulation of electronic circuits for controllers, reducing errors and costs.
- Prototyping of printed parts with 3D printers, allowing to make parts previously impossible or very expensive, in record speed.
- Traffic simulation with artificial intelligence. This allows a significant reduction in the total cost of the project via total optimization of components.
- Drawing of GIS maps of the routes, with the use of satellite photos, facilitates visualization of all routes.
- 3D Lidar scanning of all roads and buildings. This technology ensures that everything fits together perfectly: towers, stations, cables, etc.
- Basalt and carbon fiber to reduce weight in chassis, trolleys, garbage containers, cargo containers, and towers. Basalt weighs 1/9th of iron.
- 3D printed metal components and other production materials at very low costs, something previously impossible.
- High-performance electrical capacitors for electricity regeneration.
- High-performance LiPo batteries with long life and low weight.
- Thanks to electric cars, a huge reduction in the cost of electric motors.
- Robot-assisted assembly to reduce production costs and improve quality.
- 3D printed buildings and stations with an artistic touch and local theme; lower costs and increased options.
- Significant reduction in the cost of electronic circuit design and controllers.
- Significant reduction in the cost of video cameras.
- Significant reduction in the cost of microcontrollers and computers.
- Significant reduction in the prototyping of electronic circuits via 3D printing.
- Optimization of all traffic control via artificial intelligence.
- Artificial intelligence in the optimization of the use of chassis and trolleys.
- Fiber optic communication system for real-time monitoring, passenger communication via 5G in each tower, and high-speed internet for all passengers.
- 5G mmWave in all cabins and throughout the entire route. For internal and cellular use. Additionally, for external use to Celestavia in the area around the towers. In some towers also 5G sub-6Ghz service for much more coverage.
- Satellite communication backup system.
- Reservation via web page and cell phone application, with real-time response of exact departure and arrival time, through the artificial intelligence simulator.
- Automated robot cleaning system.
- Continuous monitoring of ALL mechanical, electrical, and electronic components in real time via IoT 5G mWave and fiber optics.
- Real-time acceleration moderator-type controller via artificial intelligence, which takes into account the physical condition of the passenger for their comfort, i.e., it can accelerate slower or faster according to the passenger.
- For greater comfort and safety, monitoring of the passenger’s mental and physical state via cameras, other sensors, and control via artificial intelligence.
- Video conference 24/7/365 in real time with System Operators via 5G and fiber optics in all cabins and stations.
- Cell phones with GPS, because they are an integral part of the customer information and assistance, reservation, and payment system. GPS allows artificial intelligence to know where the future passenger is; that is, it is in constant communication with the passenger, thus providing a personalized service, like a private chauffeur, who knows all the needs and schedules of the passenger. Additionally, it allows a video call with the customer assistance service.
- Large computer monitors with weather information and other details of the Celestavia system at all stations. Something that used to be prohibitively expensive.
- LED lighting in all towers for the benefit of the entire community.
- Decorative LED lighting, for beautification.
- Monitoring of seismic movement, temperature, winds, and humidity. For much more security and planning of system usage.
- 360-degree cameras in all towers with fiber optic communication.
- Sophisticated physical security system in all cabins and stations, monitored via artificial intelligence. Thus preventing assaults, robberies, and delinquency. By means of image recognition via artificial intelligence. Now there are new chips that do this in just a few nanoseconds.
- Voice synthesizer and voice recognition in several languages. Although this technology has been around for more than twenty years, the cost has come down enormously, which is why all booths, stations, and cell phone communication make use of this technology.
- VOIP and other internet services for worldwide team work.
- What sets Celestavia apart from all other forms of transportation is the fact that it is suspended from the ground and tethered to two massive static cables that require well over a million pounds of pressure to break. This makes Celestavia immune to the derailment, flooding, wind, snow, and sand problems that plague all other forms of transportation. Add to this a massive array of sensors that monitor in real time weather, temperature, wind, rain, seismic movement, cable, and tower very early failure detection via real-time video and multiple artificial intelligence fault-tolerant systems. Even the slightest deviation from specification is detected and dealt with immediately, long before it can become a problem. For example, if something falls on the line, it’s detected almost instantly, and action is taken automatically in a fraction of a second. Because Celestavia cars have many brakes, even a complete stop can be accomplished in seconds, unlike a train that takes minutes and causes all the cars to derail. Celestavia is the convergence of many technologies to ensure that an accident never happens, something that no other means of transportation even remotely offers.
In addition, Celestavia does not use dangerous, unsafe lithium batteries that can catch fire. Celestavia uses a distributed power system that does not rely on large lithium batteries.
Multi-processor fault-tolerant computer and sensor system
At Celestavia, we use our own custom multi-processor fault-tolerant computer. Nowadays, computers rarely fail, but they still do. In a mission-critical system like Celestavia, which uses thousands of computers for real-time traffic management, reservations, multiple simultaneous engine control, many sensors, and much more, we cannot afford a failure, since a failure could mean not only a total stop of operations but could cause the lives of passengers, so we use a system of multi-processors and multi-redundant circuits so that if one fails, the other takes over in just 10 milliseconds. Every electrical, electronic, and computer system in Celestavia is redundant. Although it is impossible to guarantee that there will never be a failure, it is possible to reduce the possibility to close to zero.
In addition, we do not have any operational remote control, as this is the root cause of system failures. We use redundant control systems with integrated AI, so there is no single point of failure.
We use many motors with many fault-tolerant and monitoring systems to have very early failure detection. For example, we can often know when a motor is going to fail hundreds and thousands of hours before the failure occurs, so we can do extremely early maintenance.
We even have independent, fully automated backup coordination centers. For example, if one center is the victim of a terrorist attack, the next center in line takes over in a fraction of a second, but even of all the centers that go offline, each individual car has its own operating system AI that gets the passenger safely to the next station.
Although the technical details are proprietary, rest assured that everything at Celestavia has more than one backup redundancy system. We are well aware that our reputation rests on ensuring that there is never a failure of any kind.
- Is Celestavia proven anywhere in the world? Celestavia is a convergence of proven technologies from around the world, but not as a whole, as we are the pioneers in bringing all these technologies together.
The one hundred percent proven technologies are trains, buses, and cars. Which have been in existence for over a hundred years and are a hundred percent proven to derail, destroy, and kill. Is it time to switch to a safe system like Celestavia? In: Wikipedia you can read a great listing by year, starting from before 1880 of train derailments; better proven technology than trains does not exist.
To save lives, not accidents, with one hundred percent safe, fast, and efficient transportation, Celestavia is the new and only solution; there is simply no other option.
Did you know that the distance between the two train rails was (and is) based on the space occupied by two horses pulling a cart together; nothing scientific… The reason trains derail is because it was a lousy invention from day one… The root cause of why there have been thousands of derailments and close to one million death in the past hundred years. A days does not go by without more derailments and death on trains. Celestavia, on the other hand, is made up of proven components and the hundreds of years of combined experience of its engineering team. Most of the engineers that make up Celestavia’s engineering team have a minimum of thirty years of experience designing highly technological and complex systems. Celestavia is designed to have zero accidents!
- What studies need to be conducted before ascertaining the final total cost of a Celestavia project?
- Preset Statistical Transportation Study
- MEGA Station Size and Location Study
- Small Station Location Study
- Small package storage and distribution network Study
- Heavy load transportation Study
- Preliminary Route Phases Study
- Civil Engineering Ground Study for Tower Bases
- Seismic Study
- Power Consumption Study
- Electrical Network Power Distribution Study
- Socioeconomic Impact Study
- Environmental Impact Study
- Indemnity and Land Purchase Study
- Land Expropriation Study
- Public Relations and Socialization Study
- Legal Study and Legislation
- Market and Sales Study
- Financial Study (fare pricing)
- Return on Investment (ROI) Study
- Land Use and Urban Planning Study
- Emergency Response and Evacuation Study
- Infrastructure Condition Assessment
- Technology Integration Study
- Environmental and Sustainability Impact Study
- Economic Impact Study on Current Transportation Personnel
- Cultural and Social Dynamics Study
- Visual Impact Study
- Housing and Commercial Real Estate Needs Study
- Future Growth Planning Study
- Security Study
All this information will be fed into the traffic simulation software to provide a detailed visual view that offers various options to choose from.
- What is the estimated cost of all these studies? The estimated cost is 3.5% of the total project price. This figure is based on 8.5% of the main infrastructure costs, meaning it is not calculated from the total project cost but rather from the actual infrastructure costs (mostly tower and building locations).
NOTE: The 3.5% is assuming the city does not have any studies and/or traffic simulation; the percentage can be much lower if some of this information is already available. For example, if a city has a year of video recording of traffic, this can reduce the cost of the studies.
NOTE: The 3.5% is assuming all routes for the entire city, not just one phase of it. For example, if a city needs a grand total of 500 miles, the 3.5% is based on the 500 miles, not the phases, which, for example, may be just 50 miles.
Example: City of 3 million inhabitants; 500 km of route at an average final cost of $6M/km = $3B * 3.5% = $105M.
On average, expect $100,000 to $200,000 per kilometer for studies and simulation.
- What is the real total cost of a Celestavia project? In order to determine the total cost, one must include, in addition to the Celestavia network of towers, cables, carriages, cabins, containers, package storage, and small and large stations, the power generation. There are many options for the power generation; therefore, we do not include it in our pricing. Power generation varies enormously depending on a list of factors such as maximum speed desired, peak hour use, wait time for a cabin, gradients, type of power generation, present power availability, heating and/or air-condition needs, and long-term future expansion plans.
- What is a good approximation of the total cost? In addition to the Celestavia network and stations, which is the price we quote, add another 1-5% for the production of power. As a point of reference, expect between $50,000 and a $150,000 additional cost per kilometer for power generation.
Please note that MEGA stations involve an approximate additional cost of 35%. While they are not mandatory, in most cases, they provide significant advantages and can be a major benefit to the system.
- What steps must an interested government take?
- A letter of interest from the government addressed to Celestavia Co. expresses the interest and commitment to do all the studies and traffic simulation. If the government has a preliminary idea of the needs, we will gladly provide a preliminary proposal.
- Celestavia Co. generates a list of studies and simulation proposals based on the information provided by the government.
- Studies are completed and provided for the traffic simulation team.
- Traffic simulation is generated.
- A list of routes and other options is created by Celestavia Co.
- The government picks which options it desires.
- Celestavia Co. provides a formal, detailed proposal.
17. What is the yearly maintenance cost of Celestaivia vs. highway vs. train?
Celestavia annual projected maintenance cost is 0.5% of the initial construction cost and cost of the vehicles.
The annual maintenance cost for highways typically represents 0.05%–0.3% of their initial construction cost, depending on the type and usage of the road. Therefore, Celestavia is higher.
The annual maintenance cost for train systems typically represents 0.5%–0.9% of the initial construction cost, depending on the type of system. These percentages are generally higher than those for highways due to the specialized infrastructure and technology required for rail systems. Therefore, Celestavia is the same on the low range.
The maintenance cost for an electric car typically represents about 0.9% to 1.1% of the car’s initial purchase price annually. This percentage is lower than that for internal combustion vehicles, which can reach 2–3% due to higher maintenance needs. Therefore, Celestavia is significantly less.
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