02/03/2020 / News
Side glances: Travelling in a vacuum
At 482 km/h through a tube: this is what allowed the team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to win the “SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition” for the fourth time in a row. Every summer, students from all over the world compete against each other in California with vehicles they have developed themselves. The prototypes are intended to give an idea of the track-based, high speed transport of the future.
Elon Musk devised how this future might look. Running on solar power, vehicle capsules (pods) transport people and goods through a tube system (Hyperloop) maintained at a partial vacuum. The tubes would connect large metropolitan areas and permit virtually the speed of sound.
The trip from Berlin to Hamburg would then take only 16 minutes. The TUM Hyperloop team are researching the mobility concept with regard to feasibility, sustainability and profitability.
There goes the tube mail! In 16 minutes from Berlin to Hamburg; this is what is promised by the Hyperloop Project, based on an idea by Elon Musk. Vehicle capsules transport people and goods through a tube system maintained at a partial vacuum. Also on board: a speciality plastic from Ensinger. Illustration: TUM Hyperloop Team
Alongside the competition pod for summer 2019, the students also developed a test track with a diameter of 30 cm. Ensinger is supporting the current project by donating materials. Rings and end caps made from TECAFORM AH natural are used to seal the vacuum tube which consists of high-strength concrete segments.