Startup company Hyperloop One began with a question asked by Elon Musk in 2012: Can people travel in supersonic vacuum tubes? Yesterday, it came back with an answer: yes.
In the Nevada desert, Hyperloop One successfully demonstrated rocketing a sled down a short section of track using magnetic levitation technology. The aluminum sled reached 120 mph in 1.5 seconds and hit 300 mph before in came to a halt in a sand berm, according to a report filed by Wired.
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Rob Lloyd, the CEO of Hyperloop One, said of the test, “This was a major technology milestone." The Hyperloop One engineers believe this is proof of concept that they can eventually build a pipeline that would propel pods at speeds of 750 mph (nearly the speed of sound). With speeds like that, travelers could make the usual six-hour trip from L.A. to San Francisco in just 30 minutes. That's not nearly enough time for an in-tube movie, but we're hoping they will at least pass out snacks.
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