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Hyperloop deal would link three European capitals
One of the companies vying to make Elon Musk's transportation dream a reality has signed a deal with the government of Slovakia to explore building a three-country Hyperloop. Crowdsourced engineering project Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) will look into a route that links three European capitals. From Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia, and from Bratislava to Budapest, Hungary.
MIT students win Hyperloop pod design competition
Crews are already building the first Hyperloop tracks, but how about the vehicles to run on those tracks? Don't worry, they're coming soon: MIT has won a SpaceX competition that challenged students worldwide to design a pod for the ultra-fast tube transportation. The school's team gets to build a vehicle that will run on a yet-to-be-built test track near SpaceX's California headquarters. Not that some of its rivals will be left out, mind you. All told, at least 22 teams will advance to the next round and eventually build pods. There could even be as many as 10 more, if further judging deems others to be worthy.
What you need to know about Hyperloop
Elon Musk has a plan for humanity that covers clean energy, electric cars and spreading out amongst the stars. The billionaire also wants to do away with the tired and slow railways of the past in favor of pushing people around like parcels in a mail tube. That's what Hyperloop is: a series of vacuum tubes that'll enable travelers to get from A to B in minutes rather than hours. But Musk himself didn't have the time to develop the concept beyond his original idea, so in 2013 he open-sourced the project for anyone to have a go. Less than three years later, the first strides toward a global network of near-supersonic travel tubes are being taken.
Hyperloop gets a little closer to reality
One of the firms competing to turn Elon Musk's tube-based alternative to high-speed rail has taken a small step towards making it a reality. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has signed deals with vacuum pump business Oerlikon Leybold, engineers Aecom and the architectural business Hodgetts+Fung. As with all of HTT's deals, these firms will offer their expertise in exchange for stock options in the hope that the company will become successful further down the line. The latter two won't have much to offer just yet, but the first one has already started work on the project.
Mythbusting with 'Mr. Hyperloop'
Dirk Ahlborn is two hours behind schedule, and it's no surprise, since the project that he represents has the potential to change the world. He's the CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of the firms that's dedicated to building those high-speed tubes people of the future are always traveling in. It's got so much potential that you can even see hope in the eyes of the people standing in his presence, waiting for their turn to speak to the German. You might have heard that Elon Musk dreamed up this idea, but it's Ahlborn who's most likely to make it a reality. Say hello to Mr. Hyperloop.
Hyperloop test track likely bound for Texas
Tesla CEO and SpaceX CTO Elon Musk took to Twitter this afternoon to provide a bit more info on his Hyperloop project. According to the tweet, the 700-MPH transit system will get a test track where both companies and student teams can visit to test pod designs. What's more, he says Texas will be the likely home for it. SpaceX announced in August that its new rocket facility would be built in Brownsville, and The Lone Star State was a consideration for Tesla's Gigafactory, so it's clear Musk and Co. fancy the area. There's also the possibility of an annual student competition, similar to the Formula SAE Series. Let's be honest: who wouldn't want to see some super high-speed pod racing?
Engineers are working for free to make Elon Musk's Hyperloop a reality
Nobody laughs much at Elon Musk anymore, but plenty of people snickered at his Hyperloop idea (okay, also the killer robot thing). To remind you, the Hyperloop is a series of underground trains powered by compressed air that transport folks between cities in tubes at around Mach I. While that may sound certifiably insane, a company called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) doesn't think so, and with the help of some UCLA students, has made considerable progress developing the idea. According to Wired, the startup (assisted by JumpStartFund investors) has enlisted top engineers from companies like Boeing, Airbus and SpaceX willing to work on Hyperloop in their spare time in exchange for stock options.
Elon Musk details Hyperloop: public transit via aluminum pods and electric motors
Elon Musk is into transportation, whether it's an electric car or a spaceship. Today, he detailed a plan to revolutionize a portion of public transit. It's called the Hyperloop, and it's meant to get folks from SF to LA (or any two cities less than 900 miles apart) in 30 minutes seated in aluminum pods that are hurtled to and fro at 800 miles an hour in a pair of steel tubes. To keep things safe, pods will be spaced five miles apart so that they can stop without running into each other, which means a total of 70 pods could operate simultaneously. Of course, the real question is how to get the pods moving at those speeds? One main issue with such transport is wind resistance (and associated friction) that increases as the speed of the pods inside the tube escalate. Naturally, one could operate the tubes in a complete vacuum to eliminate the problem, but keeping such a system free of air would be difficult over such long distances. Instead, the proposed Hyperloop system works as a low air pressure environment that is easily maintained with standard commercial compressors. Additionally, "an electric compressor fan on the nose of the pod that actively transfers high pressure air from the front to the rear of the vessel" is there to relieve what air does build up at the front. This compressor fan would also generate an air bearing around the pod to keep it suspended in the middle of the tube, much as an air hockey table suspends a plastic puck. As for power? Well, that comes from external linear electric motors positioned every 70 miles to keep the pods humming along at subsonic speeds.
