Yesterday, in the Nevada Desert, Hyperloop One made their first public test of the propulsion system that would drive the futuristic mass transport system. It may not look very exciting at first glance, but the test was a great success with the company able to accelerate a small metal sled from zero to 100 miles per hour in just 1.1 seconds or approximately 2.4 Gs of force. Considering the distance of the test track was only 100 meters, this was rather short-lived with the sled proceeding to continue on at speed, kicking up a cloud of sand as it collided with the desert floor.
The propulsion system used in this test has been described by Hyperloop’s senior vice president of engineering, Josh Giegel, as like two magnets repelling one another. The sled, or luge, itself is magnetic and as it sets off from its initial position, a series of electromagnets (named stators) are switched on in sequence, repelling the luge and pushing it down the track at increasing speeds.
This test was just the first of many that will be needed to fully develop the mass transit system envisaged by Elon Musk. They recently revealed their new passive maglev system, but this test only focused on the propulsion system that would drive the sleds, with the final version of the technology expected to be able to push pods to as fast as 700 mph. A true test of the initial hyperloop system is currently scheduled to take place later this year, which will include a full pod inside of an enclosed tube.
