There is not a science fiction story by Jules Verne or fantastic idea of a Hollywood blockbuster. Its name is Hyperloop, a supersonic train that will fly almost 1,223 km / h. This is a real project and the opening date set in 3 years. The transport of the future is here and is as fast as a bullet.
Hyperloop will be a supersonic train moving inside a vacuum tube developing speeds closes to the sound barrier ones. Its main driver is the visionary Elon Musk, president of Space X and owner of the increasingly known automotive brand Tesla. His dream is to unite cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 30 minutes. The first tests with prototypes have already been conducted with quite remarkable success. Just over a month ago an experimental vehicle about the size of a car was able to reach 160 km / h based on this technology. The construction company, called Hyperloop One, has promised a test with a full-scale vehicle and an actual speed in a tube length of two kilometers later this year. There is already a team working on it with a budget of over 80 million.
Trusted sources have declared that the project will transport cargo in 2019 and in 2021 will be able to move passengers safely. The acceleration forces that people would experience would be very similar to those of an airplane during starting of the train and much smoother during the rest of the trip, with significant energy savings during the journey. The center of this project is the technology known as “passive magnetic levitation”. It is a theory developed from studies in 90 of the Lawrence National Laboratory US Livermoore. Basically it consists of a more efficient system and certainly the version of maglev train (magnetic levitation) already operating in Japan’s famous bullet train.
Among its improvements highlights removing power stations along the line, a figure which would improve substantially costs. Hyperloop technology is based on a passive magnet in each train and a post of aluminum with wire loops. This system acts as a pair of regular magnets, instead of an electromagnet which requires constant supply of electricity to operate. As far as safety is concerned, this means that the levitation occurs solely through movement. So, if a power failure occurs, the Hyperloop continue levitating trains and only would set on the floor at minimum speeds.
