Some see it as a tech leader’s pipe dream and others see it as the future of high-speed public transportation. It’s called the Hyperloop and it’s Elon Musk’s plan for making efficient country spanning travel possible in a matter of hours or minutes through a system of pneumatic tubes.
Now the concept may have just moved a little closer to reality as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has announced that investments, engineering and prototyping plans for the Hyperloop are currently underway. Does this mean we’re at the start of a transportation revolution?
Will It Work?
Now that they’ve signed agreements to work with Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum and Aecom, a global engineering design firm, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies appears to making a serious step toward validating the feasibility of their current Hyperloop model.
Originally detailed by Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, the transportation system would consist of an above-ground network of tubes running for hundreds of miles. The capsules within would carry passengers at near supersonic speeds through a low air pressure vacuum.
Substantial Promise From Industry
To determine how well this could work and even start building a passenger-ready, short span prototype in 2016, engineers from Boeing, NASA, and SpaceX are already part of a 400-member team.
While some naysayers maintain that the Hyperloop will never become a reality, this most recent backing shows some substantial promise for this new form of transportation.
Energy, Infrastructure And The Future
In simulations, the Hyperloop has been shown to be a low energy means of gaining considerable speed. The little energy it would take to clear the Hyperloop tube may be able to be generated solely by solar panels or wind turbines.
It’s still not clear just how the Hyperloop tubes would be incorporated into current infrastructure, but provided the concept evolves as many are hoping, we could see this form of transportation outshine travel by autonomous vehicles, high-speed rail, and even the fastest commercial plane.
What are your thoughts on the Hyperloop as a means of future transportation?
Would you be eager to see it come together and maybe even take a ride on it?
Article Sources:
http://www.wired.com
http://money.cnn.com
http://www.engadget.com
