Some Facts About the Hyperloop

Back in 2013, Elon Musk unveiled his concept of a modern transportation system, which if implemented, could truly revolutionize the future of human transportation. The concept, known as the Hyperloop remained a concept till the innovator decided to make this idea open source, after which, a whole plethora of developers have stepped forward with their own versions of the Hyperloop, in a bid to impress not only Elon Musk, but the rest of the world as well. In this article, I will tell you everything I know about the Hyperloop concept, in as easy a language as possible.
So, lets begin –

1. Its all about the SPEED. The USP of the Hyperloop, as outlined by  Musk as well as the interested parties is the speed. The Hyperloop, once ready, will be able to travel at speeds faster than the speed of sound !
   So, if you were to, say travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a Hyperloop , it would take you a mere 35 minutes. If you come to India, assuming everything gets done in time, one would be able to travel from Delhi to Mumbai in almost an hour and 14 minutes!!
2. Passengers will be required to travel inside giant steel tubes, using the simple concept of magnetic pressure. According to the briefing given by Elon Musk, magnets will be used to propel aerodynamic capsules ( containing the passengers ) through giant steel tubes. All this will ignore any and all friction, by keeping the capsule afloat on a constant, pressurized cushion of air. Simple yet super sophisticated.
3. Elon Musk is known to be a man of action, and despite the fact that he open sourced his Hyperloop idea, he still takes a wide interest in its development. Recently, his aerospace firm, SpaceX hosted a competition for students, wherein 120 schools and colleges were told to come up with their own Hyperloop pod designs. If reports are anything to go by, a test circuit in the works in Nevada, where Musk plans to give the winning pod designs a test run !!
4. Earlier, we saw that the main talking point about the Hyperloop was its speed. Another fact worth noting is that the Hyperloop will be completely self sustaining. The idea is simple – the Steel tubes will be lined with solar panels which will store the energy that powers the air compressors that cushion the pods, as well as other vital components. The intention is that the Hyperloop should function normally even under cloudy conditions.
5. Human beings can withstand only about 0.2 Gs of acceleration up and down or side to side. Now, that value will increase if the Hyperloop is cranking away at 800mph. Thus, it is imperative that the Hyperloop run along a straight line without any turns or sudden change in direction. To do this, a lot of tunnels will have to be constructed, which will cost significant amount of money. Also, another factor to consider is the overall safety of the system. Now, Musk himself has called the Hyperloop the safest fifth mode of transport, but anyone could point out that should there be even a slight disturbance in the path of the pod, and its Game over for everyone on board.

 

All in all, the Hyperloop is a concept that will surely revolutionize the transportation industry for the better. The concept has been put forward by a man who does not believe in the second best, so rest assured, whatever be the issues at hand, Elon Musk will get them ironed out before we get to the final product.