Hyperloop is a new type of travel in which passengers and cargo are loaded into pods that travel through a low-pressure tube at over 700 mph. A hyperloop is a proposed passenger and freight transportation mode that would propel a pod-like vehicle through a nearly airless tube at very high speeds. It is proposed to work at speeds of up to 760 mph.
If this doesn’t trigger your immobile adrenaline system into a frantic rush similar to that triggered by cliff or skydiving, then what does.
“Travelling in a pod propelled through a vacuum tube.”
CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has no particular political inclination to Democrats or Republicans, is entirely devoted to cutting-edge technology ideas. Besides Tesla and Space X, he is also the founder of Zip2, Neuralink, and OpenAI. As of July 23, 2020, Elon Musks’ net worth was estimated at $73.4 billion, and Forbes has listed him the 6th-richest person in the world. In December 2016, Musk ranked 21st on the Forbes list of The World’s Most Powerful People.
What is Hyperloop?
Hyperloop is an advanced passenger and freight transportation mode that would catapult a pod-like vehicle via a reduced-pressure tube that could exceed airliner speeds. These pods would gradually accelerate to cruising speed with the help of a linear electric motor and glide settled above their track using passive magnetic levitation or, in simpler words, air bearings. These tubes can even go above ground on columns or underground, thus, eliminating the dangers of grade crossings. This system is expected to be quiet, highly energy-efficient, and autonomous as well.
Can Hyperloop solve the biggest problem of transportation?
Traffic, indisputably, is the biggest problem faced by most developed economies across the globe, which never seems to settle. With an increase in the number of vehicles, the traffic woe is getting out of hand. High-speed trains are considered the best solution for this problem, but the obstacle here is that they are far more expensive. Hyperloop is the next alternative, similar to high-speed trains, but works on different technology and costs less.
Update – 23rd Aug – VIRGIN HYPER LOOP EXPLAINED
How does Hyperloop Technology work?
Elon Musk, the visionary behind this concept, is, without doubt, has hailed to have a different can-do spirit. Still, for this technology to perceive, it will take a complete transport infrastructure turnover.
Reduced pressure tubes with highly pressurized pods or capsules running on air cushions will provide cheap transport and be expeditious. The partial vacuum, running with linear compression motors and air compressors, would help minimize the air drag, ergo increasing energy efficiency. With the removal of almost all friction from the pods, the Hyperloop speed could reportedly carry passengers at the speed of 760 miles per hour – within 10 miles per hour of the speed of sound – with unmanned pods able to top 800 miles per hour.
Having this extraordinarily top speed means the Hyperloop could ferry passengers between London and Edinburgh in less than 30 minutes, which, at present, would take over four hours of travel time by train. Likewise, the 400 mile trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco along the California coastline will take a similar travel time.
These pods are meant to transport human passengers and freight at a speculative cost of $60 billion between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a mile-long track being covered within 35 minutes. Arriving early at work surely sounds promising, but so does the aspect of paying lesser travel costs along with living in a healthy green environment without any carbon emissions.
When we think of how the world would shape up to be within five decades or even a century, we visualize hover cars, space travel, and more of such energy-efficient vacuum pods being utilized, both as carrier lifts in a building and a substitute to underground rail tubes. However, we fail to visualize what comes from the green environment? What happens to the greenhouse effect? How do we develop electricity and energy efficiency that can power all these works of science fiction technology?
Benefits of Hyperloop Technology
A major benefit of a Hyperloop pod will be quick transportation from one place to another. With a complete turnover of our transportation infrastructure, carbon emissions would become lesser with minimum cars on the roads. Therefore, there will be a rapid decline in the greenhouse effect and Global Warming. If it realizes, it would mean that we can furnish enough electricity on sustainable standards. Hyperloop technology, firstly, will outpace the maglev trains, conventional rail trains, and airplanes because of its cutting-edge sleek design and minimum time delay.
It will be the fastest commute possible overall. As it would wholly or partially run on electricity, it will leave a minimum or no carbon footprint at all. Airplanes require gallons of fuel, and coal-powered trains add to the carbon footprint further. Maglev trains have been considered energy inefficient. For any technological innovation to be regarded as successful, a multi-tiered analysis is a requisite.
Is Hyperloop technology a near reality?
The standard argument surrounding this technology is that it is only a long shot with a globally rampant energy crisis. Still, it is not helping a green transport; the complexities to overcome in its wake are far immense. In-depth research brings us to the following conclusions; there are chances of leftover carbon footprints, so the environment says no. In a case of a minor or significant glitch, all passengers would kick the bucket.
Hence, safety is a substantial question, as is the tube’s flexibility, which is supposed to be thin and long. Still, the capsule should also be resilient to vibrations produced by a 15-ton capsule with around 800 passengers moving through it at the speed of sound. At such rates, an all-metal body and vacuums are bound to generate excessive heat as per the fundamental laws of entropy and thermodynamics, so the integrity of tracks ballots against it.
A new hyperloop passenger pod could reach speeds of 760 mph. Elon Musk’s dream of hyperloop travel is getting closer to reality. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies unveiled its first full-scale passenger capsule that it says will be ready to transport people in three years. Tesla is also working very closely on innovative technologies for transportation in the EV market.
Hyperloop is an innovative new mode of transport that combines the convenience of a train with the speed of an airplane. It uses a partial vacuum to reduce aerodynamic drag, and electric engines accelerate and decelerate the vehicle, which means it requires no fuel. While it was originally conceived to transport freight, the hyperloop is now also being developed as a passenger transport system. As a result, it can lower the cost of long-distance travel dramatically and take over from air travel in the long term.
