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Three Tracks Planned to Test 'Hyperloop' Transportation Idea

posted by martyb on Thursday January 28 2016, @11:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the putting-it-on-the-fast-track dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

It's a race befitting the goal of moving passengers and cargo at the speed of sound: Three Southern California companies are building separate test tracks to see how well the "hyperloop" transportation concept works in the real world.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk breathed life into the hyperloop in 2013, when he proposed a network of elevated tubes to transport specially designed capsules over long distances. Top speed: about 750 mph.

Though momentum to build a hyperloop has been growing since, the concept dates back decades.

Capsules would float on a thin cushion of air and use magnetic attraction[sic] and solar power to zoom through nearly airless tubes. With little wind resistance, they could make the 400-mile trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in about a half-hour. Musk has said that while he does not plan to develop the hyperloop commercially, he wants to accelerate its development.

On Tuesday, his SpaceX rocket launching firm said global infrastructure firm AECOM would build a one-mile track at SpaceX headquarters near Los Angeles International Airport.

If all goes well, by summer's end, the track will host prototype capsules that emerge from a design competition this weekend at Texas A&M University. The prototype pods would be half the size of the system that Musk envisioned and would not carry people.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday January 29 2016, @01:09AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday January 29 2016, @01:09AM (#296193)

    see title. s/jetpacks/hyperloop_tubes

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 29 2016, @02:32AM

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Friday January 29 2016, @02:32AM (#296210) Journal

    Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 29 2016, @07:19AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 29 2016, @07:19AM (#296279)

    Yes, but strapping a jet-powered flying wing to your back and leaping from a perfectly good airplane is safer than any other method of transportation.

    There have been zero fatalities thus far.

  • (Score: 2) by mojo chan on Friday January 29 2016, @11:07AM

    by mojo chan (266) on Friday January 29 2016, @11:07AM (#296334)

    This thing isn't actually that fast anyway. The Japanese maglev is expected to hit these speeds eventually, and to be honest that's fast enough for most purposes. As fast as a passenger jet, but much more comfortable, quiet, easy to use, cheaper and greener.

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