UPDATE: Aug. 12, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
The cat is out of the bag. Bloomberg Businessweek has released new details on the concept known as “Hyperloop.”
First things, first. Being the “Hyperloop” design is “open sourced,” presumably it will be refined over time and anyone wanting to participate in the discussion, as I understand it, can.
What I gathered from my reading is tube “pods” will be able to both carry people and cars via two different pod design platforms.
The “Hyperloop” description presented in the Bloomberg Businessweek article does differ somewhat from the “tube travel” explanation of operation I outlined earlier today; I would say mainly in the way air and air pressure are to be utilized. (A more detailed “Hyperloop” operating explanation can be found here. Reference paragraph 3 in particular).
What I see as the really unique feature of “Hyperloop” is that pods are to ride on what in the article in question are referred to as “thin skis” of “inconel.”
It was also expressed that speed capability of up to 800 miles per hour is not out of the question according to what I understood and system application for city pairs separated by distances of no more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) seems ideal.
Finally, as far as I am aware, “Hyperloop” is still in its infancy – the conceptualization stage, in other words.
For more, see: “Hyperloop Alpha.”
– Alan Kandel