3 Dec 2021

Super speed magnetic levitation and the vision behind the hyperloop

9 min Source: TED TALK

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A hyperloop is a transit system with a vehicle inside a vacuum tube, allowing ground-level travel at airline speeds but without turbulence and for a tenth of the energy used by an aircraft.

Summary

In this TED Talk, Josh Giegel CTO of Virgin Hyperloop makes the following points:

The human obsession with speed and volume is destroying the planet.
In the United States, the transportation industry is the biggest creator of greenhouse gas emissions.
A hyperloop system can change this by transforming short-haul journeys and commutes from hours to minutes.
In 2013 Elon Musk released the "Hyperloop Alpha" white paper that proposed an idea with an open invitation for anyone to take it from a concept and design it to reality.
Virgin Hyperloop designed and built the world's largest vacuum structures, passive magnetic guideways and created pods capable of withstanding a space environment.
The pods are powered by next-generation batteries, using state-of-the-art magnetic levitation and the world's most efficient linear electric motor.
Virgin Hyperloop built a test track and, in November 2020, successfully operated the system with actual people.
Nations around the world are looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions, and this technology will help.

Worth noting the following references:

Learn more about the hyperloop.