9781422282977

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S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

The Hyperloop is a system of steel tubes and futuristic-looking pods that Musk says will cut travel time between San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, to less than 30 minutes. Currently, it takes an automobile about 6 hours to make the 382-mile (614 km) trek north along Interstate 5—the most direct route. Flying takes about an hour, while traveling by train is a 12-hour ride.

The Hyperloop’s pods would zip through the tubes nearly as fast as a supersonic jet, roughly nine-tenths the speed of sound.

Concept drawings for the Hyperloop include the idea of passenger pods that would travel in and out of the long tubes that form the system.