While initial trials for the Hyperloop technology are being conducted in the West, the Indian sub-continent is being considered a very significant market for the implementation of the same. With regards to this immense traction, a team is building a pod in Bengaluru to participate in the competition being conducted by SpaceX.
The widely popular team, called Hyperloop India has collaborated with Bengaluru’s Workbench Projects to build the pod through the months of June and July. The ‘Hyperloop Pod Competition II‘ will take place between August 25 and 27 in Hawthorne, California. If the work is successfully completed on the pods, which are being built in Bengaluru, then we may soon witness it traverse through the mile-long vacuum tube built outside the SpaceX headquarters.
Speaking on the partnership, Pavan Kumar, CEO and founder of Workbench Projects said,
We are Hyperloop India’s primary partner and sponsor for space and pod building. We will provide the team with mentors and fabricators to help build the OrcaPod at our main maker space.
Hyperloop India is one of the most aggressively dedicated 80-member strong team, which was born out of the BITS Pilani college in Rajasthan. Started back in early 2016, this non-profit is dedicated to promoting their Mumbai-Chennai corridor and building pods to accelerate the presence of Hyperloop in the country. They’re also one of the most well-known Indian teams, who were shortlisted for Hyperloop One Global Challenge.
After conquering on the said front, the team is now planning to make its mark at SpaceX’s competition as well. For the same, they’re now designing a lightweight scaled down pod prototype, named OrcaPod. On their website, Hyperloop India mentions that their pod will be capable of achieving speeds of up to 460 kilometers per hour in a vacuum tube. The website further mentions,
It [the pod] promises to be India’s first indigenously built safe, feasible, Hyperloop pod prototype designed to be tested and raced on the Hyperloop test track built by SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Our design has cleared SpaceX’s Preliminary Review stage and will represent the country at the Final Design Stage.
Talking about the Hyperloop pod, Kumar continues to mention,
We are looking at building a 4×2 meter pod. The entire pod will be built at our main space in Ulsoor and we will help the team connect with fabricators and experts from places like Peenya and Electronic City for this build.
This will be the second Hyperloop competition that’s being organized by Elon Musk-backed private space agency. While the first one was focused on judging the pods on multiple criteria, the upcoming competition will prominently place the focus on speed. The pods traversing through the vacuum tubes will have to achieve a maximum speed with successful deceleration (i.e. without crashing). This will be the very first trial run of prototype pods, built by students, professionals, and researchers from across the globe.
As for India, the forerunners of Hyperloop technology development are highly interested in the Indian sub-continent. They want to convert the country into a testbed for their innovations, which they’re currently working on aggressively, and have already met with the government official numerous times.
Back in February, Hyperloop One called upon everyone to share the vision for the future of their technology, five potential corridors in the country. The company’s CEO Rob Llyod said that they were currently exploring partnerships with local manufacturers and the government to built their tracks in India, once their preliminary tests are completed in the midst of Nevada deserts. It arch-nemesis Hyperloop Transportation Tehcnologies, on the other hand, has committed a $100 million investment into the country and plans to simplify traveling at high-speed, greater than those of airplanes.
Source: Factor Daily
