Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (Hyperloop TT), the company that designed the technology for the very high-speed trains, able to travel at 1.200 kilometers per hour inside a very low pressure tube (and therefore, for example, to cover the distance between Palermo and Ragusa in 20 minutes), presented the first passenger capsule, built in Spain by Airtificial, which will now arrive at the research and development center in Toulouse, France, for optimisations, before being operational within one of the first commercial links, the date of which has not been brought forward for now. The presentation event was also an opportunity to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the founding of HyperloopTT and to illustrate its results to date, as the first company in the world to have created the Hyperloop system.
The “Quintero One” capsule is built almost entirely with Vibraniumtm of HyperloopTT, a purpose-built dual-layer intelligent composite material. The capsule was built in southern Spain by Airtificial, partner of HyperloopTT: a new company born from the merger between Carbures, an expert company in composite materials, and Inypsa, engineering company working for many leading aerospace companies such as Boeing and Airbus. The capsule design was developed in collaboration with world-renowned transport design and consultancy firm, PriestmanGoode, and won the 'Gold' award at the 2017 London Design Awards.
Here are the features of the passenger capsule:
Length: 32 meters (105 feet)
Interior cabin length: 15 meters (50 feet)
Weight: 5.000 kg (5 tons)
Others details:
- 21.000 man hours of expert engineers
- 5.000 hours of specialized assembly
- 82 carbon fiber panels
- 72 sensors
- 75.000 double-headed nails (rivets or rivets)
- 7.200m2 of carbon fiber (1.8 acres)
There is also a bit of Italy in the HyperloopTT project, which is part of the portfolio of Digital Magics, the most important "Made in Italy" digital startup incubator active throughout Italy, which has Bibop Gresta (co-founder and Chairman of HyperloopTT) among its founders. Digital Magics has invested 320.000 euros in Jumpstarter, a crowdsourcing platform that owns 93,57% of HyperloopTT. “Working together with HyperloopTT engineers, we are proud to have made a major contribution to the use of intelligent materials in transportation and manufacturing,” said the Founder and President di Artificial Rafael Contreras. “Today we presented a new type of transport built with a high percentage of composite material, which makes the HyperloopTT capsule probably the safest mode of transport in the world”.
“The creation of this capsule represents a year-long journey of the best expertise in design, engineering and development of cutting-edge materials,” he said. Dirk AhlbornCo-Ffounder and CEO di HyperloopTT. “In just five years we have solved and improved all the technology needed for Hyperloop, with our new levitation system, vacuum pumps, batteries and smart composites. This capsule will be part of one of the most efficient transportation systems ever built." “In 2019 this capsule will be fully optimized and ready for passengers,” he says Gresta Bibop, Co-Founder and President of HyperloopTT. “As we made major strides in resolving government regulations with our certified safety and insurance guidelines, we are now closer than ever to bringing Hyperloop to the world.”
