Hyperloop project is going according to plan

In August 2013, Elon Musk from SpaceX published the technical specifications of Hypeloop , a unique vehicle that is planned to be launched first between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Transport in Hyperloop is capsules that move in thin air. The project indicated a working pressure in the tunnel of 100 Pa; this is practically a vacuum, as in the upper stratosphere. The acceleration of the capsules is carried out using magnetic accelerators (stators) in the tunnel and the rotors on each capsule. The distance between them in 20 mm is maintained due to the electromagnetic field. The maximum speed of 1220 km / h is achieved at an acceleration of not more than 0.5g for the comfort of passengers.

A year and a half after the announcement, many have already forgotten about the ambitious plans of Mask. But not 100 engineers who work on the project.
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Shortly after last year's announcement, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc. was registered, organized according to the innovative business model JumpStartFund , where each employee is paid only if the company has made a profit.

JumpStartFund’s 100 employees include experienced engineers from Boeing, NASA and SpaceX, who work here in their spare time.

To date, they have already made some progress, writes Wired.







At the moment, completing the engineering study of the technical feasibility of the project. At the same time, students of the Department of Design and Architecture at the University of California at Los Angeles built several tunnel models that can be shown to the public at the presentation (in the photo above).

In addition to engineering research, staff are exploring the possibility of laying Hypeloop routes throughout the US. Some of them are technically much easier to pave than the path between San Francisco and Los Angeles announced by Muskom.



Engineers also made several improvements to the original design of the capsules. For example, instead of opening up the doors, they propose to implement a double-skinning scheme: an inner capsule and an outer protective cover (with an air compressor, batteries, etc.) where the inner capsule is loaded.

The problem with the design of a partially evacuated “soft vacuum” tunnel has been practically solved.

Employees of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies confirm the estimated cost of the project of $ 6-10 billion, voiced by Maskom, for the 640-kilometer section between San Francisco and Los Angeles, which is about 10 times cheaper than the high-speed railway project, which for many years cannot California.

The final technical specifications will be published in mid-2015.