The first big test facility for HyperLoop, a kind of gigantic pneumatic tube system for both people and goods, was recently inaugurated.
HyperLoop is based on the idea that was presented a few years ago by Elon Musk, best known as the founder of the car company Tesla Motor and indeed SpaceX.
Hyperloop will enable train rides to take place inside ‘capsules’ with space enough for around thirty people, who will speed through giant tubes evacuated of air to decrease resistance.
According to Musk, a trip between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a distance of nearly 400 kilometers would take 35 minutes.
Propelled using electromagnetism, this magnetic field will also keep the ‘capsules’ suspended in the tube. The reduced air resistance will allow for speeds in excess of 1,100 kilometers per hour.
So far, however, the track consists of a 600-meter long uncompressed air test track, used to test the electromagnetic system rather than a vacuum track.
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