World's first full-scale Hyperloop passenger capsule unveiled
San Francisco, Oct 2 : US-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) on Tuesday unveiled its first full-scale transportation capsule at Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, which will be ready for passengers in 2019.
The 32-metre "Quintero One" passenger capsule will be delivered to HyperloopTT's research and development centre in Toulouse, France, for additional assembly and integration into the system before it is used on one of the first commercial tracks, the company said in a statement.
"In 2019, this capsule will be fully optimised and ready for passengers," said Bibop Gresta, chairman and co-founder of HyperloopTT.
"Since we have taken major steps in solving government regulations with our safety certification guidelines and insurance frameworks, we are now closer than ever to bringing Hyperloop to the world," Gresta added.
The 5-tonne capsule has 72 sensors, 75,000 rivets and 7,200 square metres of fibre. It is constructed completely out of HyperloopTT's "Vibranium", a specially made dual-layer smart composite material.
"The creation of this capsule represents over a year long journey of the best expertise in design, engineering and the development of cutting edge materials," said Dirk Ahlborn, HyperloopTT co-founder and CEO.
HyperloopTT in May this year proposed to set up the Hyperloop transportation system in India's Andhra Pradesh state, connecting Anantapur-Amaravati-Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam as part of 700-800-km-long integrated public transit system.
The Maharashtra government earlier signed a pact with the Richard Branson-led Virgin Group to build the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop.
HyperloopTT is also set to build the first Hyperloop system in China as the company struck a deal in the country to build a test track in Guizhou province.
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India is amazing from space, for sure going back to my father's home country: NASA astronaut Sunita
New York (PTI): India is amazing from space, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams said and voiced optimism that she will visit her “father's home country” and share experiences about space exploration with people there.
Williams was responding to a question on how India looked from space when she was in the International Space Station and on the possibility of her collaborating with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on space exploration.
"India is amazing. Every time we went over the Himalayas, and I'll tell you, Butch got some incredible pictures of the Himalayas. Just amazing,” Williams said.
The 59-year-old NASA astronaut and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore addressed reporters at their first joint press conference days after they returned to Earth as part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, having been stranded in space for over nine months.
"And you can see, like I've described it before, just like this ripple that happened, obviously when the plates collided, and then as it flows down into India. It's many, many colours," she said.
"I think, when you come from the east, going into like Gujarat and Mumbai, the fishing fleet that's off the coast there gives you a little bit of a beacon that here we come, and then all throughout India, I think the impression I had was it was just like this network of lights from the bigger cities going down through the smaller cities. Just incredible to look at at night as well as during the day, highlighted, of course, by the Himalayas, which is just incredible as a forefront going down into India,” she said.
William's remarks echoed the observation made 41 years back by Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, who lifted off on a Soviet rocket to become the first Indian in outer space. Asked by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from there, Sharma said, "Sare jahan se achcha."
Williams added “I hope, and I think for sure, I'm gonna be going back to my father's home country and visiting with people and getting excited about the first, or not the first, but the Indian national who's going up on the Axiom Mission coming up, pretty awesome,” she said.
She made those remarks while referring to the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station that will include Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India.
Lucknow-born Shukla will be India’s second astronaut after former Indian Air Force officer Rakesh Sharma to go to space in 1984.
"They'll have a hometown hero there of their own who will be able to talk about how wonderful the International Space Station is from his perspective. But I hope I can meet up at some point in time. We can share our experiences with as many people in India as possible because it's a great country, another wonderful democracy that's trying to put its foot in space countries. We'd love to be part of that and help them along,” she said.
Williams's father Deepak Pandya hailed from Gujarat and came to the US in 1958 where he did his internship and residency training in Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.
She was born in Ohio to Deepak and Ursuline Bonnie Pandya.
When Wilmore asked Williams if she planned to take her crew members on the trip to India with her, she replied with a laugh "Absolutely. You might stick out a little bit but that's okay. We'll get you all primed with some spicy food, will be good.”
NASA astronauts Williams, Nick Hague and Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth on March 18 onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which splashed down in the sea off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.
