Hyperloop, the supersonic transport system proposed by Elon Musk, has taken a small step towards reality with the first public test of a prototype propulsion system.
A company named “Hyperloop One” which was previously known as “Hyperloop Technologies” successfully did an open-air propulsion test in the Nevada desert.
With the Hyperloop, passengers could travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under 30 minutes, radically transforming the speed and safety of passenger mass transit.
During the Nevada test, a bare-metal sled — not a tube — rocketed down a track, with the sled elevated slightly by magnetic levitation technology. It accelerated at 2 g-force before hitting a patch of sand 100 yards down the line.
It is the rough equivalent of accelerating from 0 to 53 miles per hour in one second.
The total test was just two seconds. But, according to Hyperloop One’s founders it was enough to show that technology similar to that used in high-speed maglev trains could be deployed more cheaply, without the steep cost of high-tech trains and rails.
Hyperloop One recently received over $80 million dollars in a second round of funding and also launched the Hyperloop One Global Challenge, a competition among individuals, companies and governments to be the first to host a hyperloop network.
Hyperloop One hopes to be moving cargo as soon as 2019 and predicts it will be ready for passengers by 2021.
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