What is Hyperloop? The game-changing transport tech explained Hyperloop is a new design of fast speed public and materials transportation. It could be capable of travelling at over 700 miles per hour. It will carry passengers in a floating pod inside pressurised tubes, both above and below the ground. The pods that passengers will be travelling on will travel through tubes that have had most of its air removed, therefor reducing friction and encouraging speed. Further reducing friction, the pods will not travel on wheels, but will float on air skis by using magnetic levitation (ZDNet, 2020). The development of Hyperloop will eliminate the exasperating stress of dealing with slow traffic across major cities. We all know how frustrating traffic on our busy roads and motorways can be, even at the best of times. What companies are currently developing Hyperloop? SpaceX Proposed Design The first hyperloop design was created in 2012 by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the man who is known for his out-of-this-world imagination and ideas. In papers drawn up the following year, the Hyperloop design was born. Musk wanted to combat the traffic that he faced every day in Los Angeles. He set out to develop a direct route to San Francisco from Los Angeles for a duration of just 30 minutes. Musk set out to address the main elements that tend to make the movement of vehicles slower: air resistance and friction. In his early design, compression vans were introduced to allow air to move around the pods in order to decrease drag and generate “air bearings” underneath them. Musk’s concept is somewhat like Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s ‘Atmospheric Railway’, created in 1847 (TheB1M, 2020). Construction has commenced in Hawthorne, California at SpaceX headquarters (SpaceX, 2020). “We have planes, trains, automobiles and boats, ... What if there was a fifth mode?” – Elon Musk (TheAtlantic, 2020). Other companies that are developing Hyperloop include Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Virgin Hyperloop One (NSBusinessHub, 2020). This is the future of transport. References Used:
NSBusinessHub, 2020. Hyperloop companies: The start-ups vying to create the 'fifth mode of transport'. [Online] Available at: https://www.ns-businesshub.com/transport/hyperloop-companies/ SpaceX, 2020. Hyperloop. [Online] Available at: https://www.spacex.com/hyperloop TheB1M, 2020. Hyperloop Explained | The B1M. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcikLQZI5wQ ZDNet, 2020. What is Hyperloop? Everything you need to know about the race for super-fast travel. [Online] Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-hyperloop-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-future-of-transport/
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