Virgin Hyperloop's transportation system passed the first test with live people as passengers in a capsule, and it was a complete success. Josh Gigel, co-founder of the company, and Sara Lucian, director of customer service, volunteered for a ride on a working prototype of the future hyper-network. As Lucian explained, Hyperloop is not just another form of transport, but a new understanding of how people should move in the future. Therefore, she volunteered to experience everything firsthand.
For the test, a new XP-2 capsule was used, which was specially designed to carry two passengers. It is equipped with all safety systems and has speed limiters. During the test, the capsule with passengers accelerated to 172 km / h in a pipe with a nominal vacuum of 500 m long.
Recall that the global goal of Virgin Hyperloop is to create a system in which capsules on maglev suspension will fly at a transonic speed of up to 1200 km / h. The current success is much more modest, during the tests with weights, the capsules accelerated to a maximum of 387 km / h. But this is not a minus, but rather a plus, the company notes, because safety is in the first place, and not an early entry to the market. The project has been developing for six years, obtaining a safety certificate is scheduled for 2025, and Hyperloop will begin to carry the first commercial passengers no earlier than 2030.
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