In its quest to equate its materials with science fiction references, the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HHT) has just come out with a material called Vibranium.
Based in southern California, HHT collaborated with c2i, a Slovakia company, to produce a material that is supposedly ten times stronger than steel and 5 times lighter than aluminum.
The name Vibranium may ring a bell for those familiar with the Marvel Comics-based Captain America and Black Panther, as the two superheroes have used the fictional rare earth metal to win their battles. It gets even better.
HHT claims that their Hyperloop pods will be made of exterior and interior Vibranium material. Slime will fill the space between the two layers to make a physical pun to Ghost Busters. The Hyperloop is a transportation vehicle that Elon Musk theoretically devised which would enable passengers to travel through tubes in capsules at over 700mph.
The high speeds make it a necessity to develop a material that can keep the capsules secure. The pod carbon-fiber coating would supposedly achieve this goal.
The HHT pods will have sensors designed to keep track of changes in stability, temperature, and integrity. Detected defects will be announced to Mission Control operator in order to suppress the negative effects before reaching the next station.
Although the plan seems to be science fiction by itself, HHT has already contacted c2i for research purposes. Just this year, HHT signed an agreement with the Slovakian government so that research could be carried out on the Hyperloop system design. HHT hopes to see a system that could connect Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest.
The likelihood of Elon Musk’s dream becoming reality could actually be high, as the competitor Hyperloop One has already revealed a prototype capsule in the United States within close proximity of Las Vegas.
