What Is the Hyperloop?

The internet has been buzzing with news of the first Hyperloop test. But what, exactly, is the hyperloop?

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Let’s first take a 10,000 foot view of what exactly the Hyperloop is. In 2013, Elon Musk first made his idea of the Hyperloop public. If you recognize that name, that’s because I’ve mentioned him in my podcast on the Tesla Powerwall. He’s the founder of many tech giants, such as Tesla, PayPal, SpaceX, and zip2. He’s a pretty extraordinary billionaire, which I’m sure we will see much more of in the years to come.

The Hyperloop is similar to the small vacuum tubes that can be found at banks and retail stores that are often used to move money quickly in sealed containers. Now if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I’ve posted a link in the show notes to one of these small vacuum tubes working. Now the concept is to make the tubes and capsules much larger in order to carry passengers and maybe even other vehicles.

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Instead of using just air pressure alone to move, the Hyperloop will have similar technology to bullet trains that use magnets to propel themselves forward. The tube that the Hyperloop will travel through will have some of the air pumped out of it. This will allow the capsule to travel through much more easily without having to deal with a significant amount of air pressure.

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