High-speed Sky Pod unveiled at Sharjah SITP’s test track

High-speed Sky Pod unveiled at Sharjah SITP’s test track

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Sharjah Innovation and Technology Park (SITP) witnessed the launch of a high-speed sky pod capable of traveling at 600 kilometers per hour, on its $14 million test track.

The research continues as a 20 KM test track for the high-speed “uFlash” pods is being developed. In January, a working test track for the sky pods that were designed by Belarus-based Unitsky String Technologies (UST) was unveiled. As a functional model, the company launched high-speed passenger pods suspended on a track above the desert in Sharjah to show the potential for string-rail transport.

The pods ran successfully previously in wind tunnel tests, and designers believe that a longer track will allow the technology to advance even further. A longer track is expected to cost around $230 million, while funding is still a long way off.

“We need to get land and finances to build a longer test track. We cannot build this at our own expense. It will cost $230 million to build a 20 KM test track to take the pods up to 500kph. To get to 600kph, it would need to be even longer,” said Dr. Anatoli Unitsky, General designer of string transport systems, UST.

USky pays the SITP ground rent in