We’ve all heard about the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Roman Colosseum and other 7 Wonders of the modern world. Well, this is a rival list of the 7 wonders of engineering. These are some amazing megaprojects that pushed the boundary of what can be done by man. Read on and let us know your favourite in the comments section.
1. Dubai’s World Islands:
The World Islands of Dubai, simply called The World- is an artificial archipelago (group of islands) of many small islands built in a shape roughly like the world map, located in Persian Gulf about 4 kilometres off the coast. Imagine owning a private island that is shaped like country or continent, while you enjoy the waters of Persian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. Amazing, right?
2. Bering Strait Crossing:
It is a hypothetical bridge or tunnel that spans across the narrow and shallows Bering Strait between the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia and the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, U.S.A. OFF Architecture won the contract for Bering Strait Project competition with their green bridge-tunnel idea. The idea would significantly reduce circulation between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, thus slowly reversing the effects of global warming.
3. Large Hadron Collider:
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s most powerful and largest particle collider. It was built by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 2008. It took 10 years, 10,000 + scientists and engineers, from 100+ countries and hundreds of labs and universities to built LHC- the largest single machine in the world and the most complex experimentation facility. It lies in a tunnel which is 27 kilometres in circumference, 175 metres in depth in Geneva, Switzerland.
4. Gotthard Base Tunnel:
It is the world’s longest railway base tunnel passing through the Alps in Switzerland. It became operational on 1 June 2016. The 153.5 km long Gotthard Base Tunnel was completed in about ten years, being the longest underground tunnel ever constructed. High-speed trains traveling at 250 kph will considerably reduce travel times between Zurich, Switzerland, Milan and Italy Simultaneously it will relieve the passenger and commercial traffic that clogs the train stations.
5. Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel:
The Korea–Japan Undersea Tunnel is a proposed tunnel project that will connect South Korea with Japan via an undersea tunnel. It will cross over the Korean Strait by the strait islands of Iki and Tsushima. The result will be a straight-line distance of approximately 128 kilometers which is significantly short. The proposed tunnel would be more than 200 km long and able to facilitate approximately 20,000 people who travel daily between the countries and also some freight traffic.
6. Space Solar Power Station
Space-based solar power (SBSP) is a prospective project of collecting solar power in space using solar-power satellite. It has been under research for four decades. SBSP would differ from earthly solar collection methods in a way that collected energy would be stored on an orbiting satellite instead of Earth. The benefits of such a method is high collection rate and longer collection time due to the lack of diffused atmosphere which will result in higher energy efficiency. Also, there are no nights in space.
7. Terraforming Mars:
The terraforming of Mars is part of Planetary engineering which is the science of colonizing extraterrestrial planets. This is a hypothetical process through which Mars’s climate and topography would be changed intentionally to make it habitable for humans. The purpose is to make Mars colonization sustainable and provide an environment for humans to survive in long-term.
