A bright spark named the new super material Vibranium!

In a development that could possibly raise the hackles of the lawyers for Marvel, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has announced the creation of a carbon fibre composite material, developed in collaboration with c2i, a Slovakian materials company that will cover the outside and inside of its capsules.

Although this is great news, some bright spark however decided to name this new material Vibranium, as in the Wakandan rare earth metal that helps Captain America and Black Panther beat down their foes.

Unlike in the comic book, this real-world Vibranium will be embedded with a series of sensors which will monitor its integrity, temperature and stability. These sensors will provide continuous feedback to headquarter, so that in the event of a pod getting damaged in transit it can be pulled for servicing as soon as it docks in its bay.

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies claims that the material is 5 times lighter than aluminum and 10 times stronger than steel. It plans on encapsulating the pods with a skin made of this material.

The reason Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is working with a Slovakian company is because earlier in March, it signed an agreement with a local government to this effect.

It plans on building two Hyperloop routes: while the first will connect Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital with it Vienna, the other would link Vienna to Budapest.

Given the fact that the distances are reasonably small, this could be the ideal testbed for this technology.