Hyperloop's first flight
Rutkin investigates the first tests of Elon Musk's ambitious high speed transport system. Over the past week, several groups in the US unveiled early models for the Hyperloop, Musk's imagined "fifth mode" of travel after planes, trains, cars and boats. Musk, co founder of SpaceX, first published his sketches for the Hyperloop in Aug 2013. In his vision, pods of people would shoot down low pressure tubes at speeds up to 1220 kilometers per hour, propelled by linear induction motors similar to those used on roller coasters. Musk claimed the commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which takes about 6 hours to drive or more than an hour to fly, could be cut to 35 minutes.