Engineering news
The magnetically levitating prototype reached 308kmh in a second successful test on 29 July, Hyperloop One said. The pod, known as the XP-1, travelled 436m along the 500m DevLoop test track in the Nevada desert – more than four-times further than in a previous trial on 12 May.
The XP-1 accelerated for 300m, gliding above the track using magnetic levitation. During the record-breaking run, the tunnel was depressurised to the equivalent of air at 61km above sea level, creating ultra-low aerodynamic drag. However, the team did not hit the target of 250mph (400kmh), which it aimed for after the first successful trial.
The Hyperloop concept was suggested by Elon Musk in 2013. Hyperloop One, and many other teams developing the idea, believe it could revolutionise transport by ferrying people between cities at speeds of up to 1,200kmh.
The sound of Hyperloop is “the sound of the future”, said Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman and co-founder of Hyperloop One. The company said it is ready to start discussions with partners, potential customers and governments around the world to commercialise the technology.
“Our team of engineers continues to make history at DevLoop. Only a handful of teams would have attempted something so audacious while far less could have achieved it,” said Josh Giegel, co-founder and president of engineering. “Phase two was far more difficult as we built upon everything we learned from our initial test and accomplished faster speeds at a farther distance. We're now one step closer to deploying Hyperloop around the world.”
The latest test will be seen as “a real milestone” by those on the team, said Philippa Oldham, head of transport at IMechE. However, she said safety concerns remained around the transport hitting higher speeds.
“From the information available and as an engineer, there still seems to be more work needed in communicating how the system will mitigate the risks… when operating at speeds of 700mph (1,126kmh),” she said. “Travelling at those speeds means that any fault in the system would mean everyone on board would die - just as you would at 60,000m if you were rapidly decompressed. The safety systems will be critical to this technology ever being viable.”
The cost of design, production and maintainability all present further challenges, she said, with initial figures from Hyperloop One “already escalating”.