Uni students float into Hyperloop finals with levitating prototype A team of students from the University of Cincinnati has passed through to the final round of Elon Musk's Hyperloop challenge by demonstrating the magnetic levitation of hover engines. A loud whirring sound was emitted on October 17 as the 14-foot-long Hyperloop prototype floated above the ground by a quarter of an inch. The …
Forgive me if I'm underwhelmed. In Shanghai they do that every 15 minutes.
Snark aside, good for them, but it isn't really any kind of news.
The levitation part - yes, the overall concept, not so much.
Shanghai has ridiculous operating costs - 67% of the operating costs are energy because the train operates on the surface. Musk is quite right to try something a lot of people have observed before him - the incremental cost on top of the mag-lev infra to encase the track and reduce the air pressure will repay itself in operational savings in a couple of years time.
I do not see this carriage attaining anything near the desired speeds though - the aerodynamics of the maglev support are horrible.
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