The Hyperloop, once a dream transportation project of moving people through a pressurized tube, appears to be picking up steam with an announcement by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies that more than 400 people are working on the project.
The company is moving toward its groundbreaking in Quay Valley, California on 2016 and has signed on businesses like Oerlikon, AECOM, and Hodgetts & Fung to provide technological and infrastructure support,
according to a release on Thursday.
Elon Musk detailed his dream of transporting people at high speed through above-ground tubes using low air pressure in a 57-page white paper in 2013. The tubes would cover hundreds of miles and move people at uninterrupted at impressive speeds,
said Wired magazine.
"Our team continues to grow and, along with these new alliances, is representative of the collaborative spirit of HTT and are key to our success in breaking ground in 2016," said Dirk Ahlborn, chief executive officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.
"We receive applications from professionals and are approached by industry leading companies every day," he said.
Engineers from Boeing and Musk's SpaceX are already lending their expertise to the project, noted Wired
"It's a validation of the fact that our model works," said Ahlborn. "It's the next step."
Martin Fuellenbach, chief executive of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, said the thought of working with so many engineers from diverse field for one project was exciting.
"Here is a chance to have the best minds in the world working together on an idea for the future," sais Fuellenbach. "As a pioneer of vacuum technology, this is a very special obligation for us, and our staff welcomes this challenge especially."
"We contribute in delivering our extensive expertise, as well as the necessary calculations and technology to create and maintain the partial vacuum that is needed to reach such high speeds,"he said.
Dean Peterson, a senior scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, told
PBS earlier this month, though, that he was still skeptical that the Hyperloop can actually work.
"It's still too far out there in terms of being shown to be viable," said Peterson, a former director of the Super Conducting Technology Center. "It has potential but some of his concepts still need further work."
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