Will we appreciate the views at more than 1,000 kilometers per hour?
But let's start at the beginning: the Hyperloop was envisioned as a transportation system that would use compressed air to move 'bullet trains' through a tube connecting fixed points. Making the vacuum and creating a kind of "air mattress" I'd get the trains to travel at about 1,100 kilometers per hour . Such a high speed could be achieved thanks to the absence of friction.
CHANGES IN HYPERLOOP TECHNOLOGY
On Monday, however, some of the initial plans for the Hyperloop, which has been in the works since 2013, changed: Now, the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of the two that want to make Musk's dream come true, is working on a "cheaper and safer" passive magnetic levitation system as explained by the company. This system would replace the active magnetic levitation system, as it was initially conceived, and is being developed by the ** Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory .**
What does this mean? To begin with, what the need for power plants will be avoided along the Hyperloop track, which will lower costs. Likewise, the levitation of the capsules containing the passengers now occurs "exclusively through movement" , which translates to, in the event of any type of power failure, the transport would continue to function , and only after reaching minimum speeds would it touch the ground.
What remains the same for now is the basic idea of this transport, which could change the world by disrupting concepts of space-time as we know them (following our example, a person could live in Malaga and go to work in Madrid every day without any problem). Thus, Musk planned that the capsules (the wagons, to understand us) would house 28 people each, leaving the station at two-minute intervals (or even 30 seconds at peak times) .
"From Washington to New York in half an hour", they announce from HTT
CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST SECTIONS OF HYPERLOOP TUBES
And do not think that the matter is a thing of the future: Right now there are three tracks under construction for the Hyperloop in the United States. One of them is being carried out in Texas by the aforementioned company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), and it's a test , while another is being developed in ** Quay Valley , located in California, a model city for the 21st century ** that is being built with a view to being a reference in sustainability. There, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the lifting of the real section will take place that will host, if everything goes according to plan, the first functional version of this supersonic land transport.
However, the company has warned that the maximum speed that the Hyperloop will reach in this space will still be far from the more than 1,000 km/h promised, and it will stay at about 300 km/h, given its short distance -about eight kilometers-. "Speed is not what we want to try on this stage" They explained last year.
The huge tubes have already reached the Nevada desert
SUCCESSFUL TEST OF THE HYPERLOOP PROPELLER
On the other hand, the third line in discord has been launched these days by Hyperloop One, the other company that is fighting to make this invention a reality, and that has already raised 80 million dollars in investments. In fact, while HTT has not yet presented its prototype, Hyperloop One did so yesterday, successfully testing its propulsion system in the Nevada desert. So the company managed to accelerate the capsule from zero to 160 kilometers per hour in just one second.
With this beginning, Hyperloop One announced the construction of its test line, which will be 3.2 kilometers long and which - sadly for us - doesn't look much like the final designs Musk dreams of. Thus, it is about an opaque cylinder (there will be no windows), which from the outside resembles a transfer pipe and not to _ Back to the future ._
HYPERLOOP WILL BE STARTED IN SLOVAKIA
For the rest, perhaps we can rejoice: both companies They want to carry out their project in Asia or Europe! and actively seek governments that want to buy the technology . HTT, in fact, has already found your first customer in Slovakia : the idea is to create a path that follows the Danube, and allows you to tour the country in... eight minutes!
If everything goes as expected, the conglomerate would be ready in 2020 . In addition, it is contemplated that the ticket is free in off-peak hours, and is worth less than a train ticket in peak hours. Will all this finally come true? And if so, will anyone be interested, or will result in a fiasco like the Concorde ?
Can you imagine that structure crossing the Danube?