Companies and students are looking for ways to move people between cities, starting them in giant tubes. Sounds strange? Possible. But it’s not so bad. Because this idea was introduced one of the most famous and talented entrepreneurs of our time, Elon Musk, the one who first planted the rocket (returned from space) on solid ground unharmed; the Creator of SpaceX and Tesla. The future of ultra-fast moving through the pipes is solved in this room on the third floor of the center Edgerton at mit in which a group of graduate students sitting at computers.
They carry out calculations and modeling, engineering levitation capsule that will transport people at speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour. Chris Marion, chief engineer, holding a model of their concept, which won first place in the initial round innovative global competition.
Now students at MIT need to build it. They plan to start next month. This summer, they will test your magnetic similar to sled bobsled prototype in the finals Hyperloop Pod Competition, organised by SpaceX — rocket building company Elon musk, which encourages team to do the capsule.
The good news: people will not participate in the tests.
What was initially concocted the idea of the Mask — the visionary who dreams to colonize Mars, has gained ground for two and a half years from the moment he proposed this “fifth mode of transportation”. Then he had a dream: to make possible the journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco in half an hour.
“I’m beginning to suspect that this will actually happen… Obviously, the people and the world want something new,” said Musk in late January on the weekend of the competition, held at Texas A&M University. He told the students: “the Work you guys are doing, will blow people’s minds”.
“We actually build it,” says Rob Lloyd, CEO of Hyperloop Technologies, one of at least two companies that plan to create their own version of tube travel. By the end of the year he plans to create a full-scale demonstration plot length of 3 kilometers near Las Vegas.
“It’s a viable system”, says John Mayo, project Manager of the Massachusetts team Hyperloop, although he admits that initially was skeptical. He expects some kind of “hyperloop” — for freight or passengers — one day Yes will appear. And believes that engineers are quite capable of figuring out how to make it work. The real problem, however, is cost: is it possible to build a fairly cheap pipe and get government approval?
Why a Hyperloop?
“I’m stuck in Los Angeles traffic. Was an hour late, and I thought, man, there must be a way to deal with it,” said Musk in an unexpected appearance on the week of the Hyperloop design. Students who first released the tweets with the hashtag #whereisElon, welcomed the 44-year-old entrepreneur as a rock star.
Musk, not a boy, but her husband, billionaire black leather jacket, told them what happened to mention the idea in conversation, but then felt the obligation to furnish it with details. Therefore, in August 2013, his 58-page white work has been published on the SpaceX website. He says he didn’t expect the idea will fly off the virus.
But she fled. He suggested something unheard of: the system is solar-powered, which delivers capsules (“pods”) with passengers on a sort of air cushion in the pipe at the speed of sound. He described the Hyperloop as “a cross between Concorde, resource and table air hockey” and said that the system could become a “fifth form” of transportation after planes, trains, ships and cars.
Musk said the proposed California high-speed train, designed to accelerate to 220 mph and to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours, was too slow. His alternative is to make a 640-mile journey in half an hour. Estimated Mask, the cost of the alternatives varies between 6 and 10 billion dollars — a trifle, compared with the high-speed train for 60 billion dollars.
“You could live in one city and work in another… it gives people more freedom,” said Musk to the students. The others agreed with him, and in a year already at least two companies decided to implement the vision of the Mask in reality.
“The definition of a city is changing,” says Lloyd, a former CEO of Cisco, who now heads Hyperloop Technologies, and stay on the pipe with the speed of sound could cut the time needed to get to work. A California startup has attracted big-name talents, including Babagana Brogan, a former SpaceX engineer; Jim Messina, campaign Manager for the reelection of Barack Obama in 2012; David Sachs, who once worked with Musk at PayPal, and servina of Pishevar, an investor of Uber, which gave the Mask an idea to bring to the public the idea of the Hyperloop.
“We definitely went further than the others,” says Lloyd about the race commercial embodiment of races in the pipe. In Apex Industrial Park in Nevada and his company began the construction of the engine is open air and this spring will begin construction of a track and testing the system.
“When people visit us here, they said, Oh, fuckin, started, says Lloyd. By the end of the year, after conducting a full-scale demonstration, his company plans to choose the three best projects and start construction in 2017 or 2018. — There is interest around the world.” Especially Lloyd notes the interest of Europe and Russia. In ports, for example, there is enormous potential for near-term implementation of handling the large containers.
Another entrepreneur, Dirk Ahlborn, last year stated that Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will begin to build a five-mile test area this year in California along Interstate-5. HTT is a network of experts working in universities and companies like Boeing and SpaceX, and in his spare time working on a project in exchange for future profits.
His version uses magnets and fans to push aerodynamic aluminium capsules through pipes under pressure. Steel pipe covered with solar panels and equipped with batteries to store the energy and then use it at night or in cloudy weather.
Alborn says Hyperloop is cheaper than the train, because its supports are arranged in parallel to the existing highways, and the necessity for Railways and the purchase of additional land. Also, this system can operate regardless of weather conditions or natural disasters.
Of course, there are a lot of skeptics that are questioning the advantages of Hyperloop: will supports to withstand earthquakes? Can solar panels provide enough power? Will passengers cope with the nausea when the capsules are sharply to move, brake, turn, or fly up?
Call SpaceX
Musk said that while he does not encourage a separate company and does not build its own system Hyperloop, but wants to promote the idea. So last summer, SpaceX has entered into the stream of interested persons and promised to build a test section length of a mile next to his headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Students all over the world participate in this Grand event. The design-weekend has hosted over 1,000 students. They presented more than 120 teams from 20 countries, including India, USA, China, South Africa and Germany.
“One of the benefits of such competition is that all in the win, as all involved make the future”, — said one of the participants.
Groups of students demonstrated different ways to get your capsule to soar. Some used air bearings that allow the washers to slide on the table air hockey, others have used magnets. Musk chose the latter option.
“It’s like a magnet on the fridge. Hangs indefinitely, says Mayo, noting that the magnets on the bottom of the capsule of his team looking in the direction of the aluminum track. — The higher the speed, the better it works.” The capsule is levitated with less resistance at high speeds. To break away, he says, the capsule must move at the speed of minimum 40 km/h and accelerate to 400 km/h on the test track odnoralova SpaceX. Given the short track, the capsule has a “failsafe” hydraulic brake system.
Mayo says he was a little surprised that the MIT team won, since it has focused almost exclusively on engineering issues, not on appearance. Its design even included seats, although in the final version they will certainly be.
Other teams that were highly praised SpaceX, in descending order, represented the Technological University of Delft in the Netherlands, the University of Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and the University of California in Irvine. Another 25 teams will compete this summer in the final test phase, although SpaceX has not yet set a date.
“The knowledge gained here will be open to all,” said SpaceX on its website. Musk told the students that he expected more events in the future Hyperloop.
MIT students, like other teams, attract investors and raise funds, which will be able to build your capsule and the test site. They plan to raise about $ 100,000 to meet their needs.
“None of us expected it to be this way, says Mayo who plan to work in the jet propulsion Laboratory of NASA after graduate school in the spring. — This is a great opportunity to learn and possibly change the future of transport”.