Hyperloop

[Beati Dogu]

Basically a levitating passenger or cargo transporter propelled down a low pressure tube at great speed.

Elon Musk wants this to be the future of inter-city travel, although he's not directly behind any of the companies that may put it into use. That said, he's building a 6 ft diameter / mile long test track next to the SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California. This will be used as part of a design competition for the passenger cars in the summer.

http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop


Hyperloop Technologies are also building a larger diameter, 2 mile test track out in the desert north of Las Vegas. This is to develop the technology into a usable form.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35361093


Very early days of course, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

[Toaster]

Beati Dogu said:

Basically a levitating passenger or cargo transporter propelled down a low pressure tube at great speed.

Elon Musk wants this to be the future of inter-city travel, although he's not directly behind any of the companies that may put it into use. That said, he's building a 6 ft diameter / mile long test track next to the SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California. This will be used as part of a design competition for the passenger cars in the summer.

http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop


Hyperloop Technologies are also building a larger diameter, 2 mile test track out in the desert north of Las Vegas. This is to develop the technology into a usable form.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35361093


Very early days of course, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

Not sure Elon Musk comes up with these Ideas, I am sure he must read Science fiction, then like Richard Branson has the ability to Market a concept

In this article

http://www.gizmag.com/terraspan-vacuum-tube-train-...

The first paragraph says

"In the 1800s, when pneumatic tubes shot telegrams and small items all around buildings and sometimes small cities, the future of mass transit seemed clear: we'd be firing people around through these sealed tubes at high speeds. And it turns out we've got the technology to do that today – mag-lev rail lines remove all rolling friction from the energy equation for a train, and accelerating them through a vacuum tunnel can eliminate wind resistance to the point where it's theoretically possible to reach blistering speeds over 4,000 mph (6,437 km/h) using a fraction of the energy an airliner uses – and recapturing a lot of that energy upon deceleration. Ultra-fast, high efficiency ground transport is technologically within reach – so why isn't anybody building it?"

You can see these are not new concepts and not Elon Musk's he may provide an environment to make it happen but that is not the same as having the original idea.

[Beati Dogu]

He isn't claiming they're his idea. He's just pushing others to go out and finally do it.

[Dogwatch]

This was on Click (BBC News channel), might still be there on iPlayer. Spencer did raise the question of what happens if Something Goes Wrong e.g. A power failure in mid Atlantic but they are still thinking about that one!

[Toaster]

Beati Dogu said:

He isn't claiming they're his idea. He's just pushing others to go out and finally do it.

if you look at a number of press releases you would think he does and its poor journalism or good marketing which ever way you look at it.

An interesting article can be found here http://www.fastcoexist.com/3015704/futurist-forum/...

[Beati Dogu]

The first part of the Hyperloop pod design competition is going on this weekend at Texas A&M University. The keynote is by U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx.


http://fortune.com/2016/01/29/spacex-hyperloop-com...

[mondeoman]

Toaster said:

Beati Dogu said:

He isn't claiming they're his idea. He's just pushing others to go out and finally do it.

if you look at a number of press releases you would think he does and its poor journalism or good marketing which ever way you look at it.

An interesting article can be found here http://www.fastcoexist.com/3015704/futurist-forum/...

So? What the fk is your point? No-one else is putting their money into it, he is making it happen.

[LivingTheDream]

Dogwatch said:

This was on Click (BBC News channel), might still be there on iPlayer. Spencer did raise the question of what happens if Something Goes Wrong e.g. A power failure in mid Atlantic but they are still thinking about that one!

It's not meant for crossing the Atlantic or any long journeys - Musk said that it works for inter city commutes but there's a point at which the infrastructure costs mean it doesn't stack up (so even across the US it would cost too much to build).

[hidetheelephants]

LivingTheDream said:

Dogwatch said:

This was on Click (BBC News channel), might still be there on iPlayer. Spencer did raise the question of what happens if Something Goes Wrong e.g. A power failure in mid Atlantic but they are still thinking about that one!

It's not meant for crossing the Atlantic or any long journeys - Musk said that it works for inter city commutes but there's a point at which the infrastructure costs mean it doesn't stack up (so even across the US it would cost too much to build).

Would it make sense to build one instead of HS2?

[Beati Dogu]

Anything makes more sense than that.

Musk thinks they'll be best for journeys of less than 500 miles. After that, it makes more sense to get on a plane.

[hidetheelephants]

Musk's fagpacket costing was $25m(£18m) per mile, so a route linking Glasgow/Edinburgh to London via the big cities is about 500 miles, $12.5bn(£9bn) and a end to end time of 50 minutes. Where do I sign up? fk this iron rail 19th century bks, I want to travel at 600mph in a vacuum tube.

[annodomini2]

hidetheelephants said:

Would it make sense to build one instead of HS2?

Buying every person in the UK a car makes more sense than HS2.

[MitchT]

hidetheelephants said:

fk this iron rail 19th century bks, I want to travel at 600mph in a vacuum tube.

Indeed. Quite like the idea of being sucked off (to work) every morning.

[Beati Dogu]

Near where I live are the remains of Brunel's atmospheric railway dating back to the 1840s. Instead of having a big heavy steam engine at the front of the train, they built static ones in trackside buildings. Between the two broad gage rails they laid an iron pipe with a slot in the top, which was sealed with a series of leather flaps. The train was attached to a piston which rode the central pipe and was pulled along by a vacuum generated by the pumping stations.

While it did work ok, it didn't turn out to be as practical as they hoped. The had problems with the leather seals in particular. They abandoned the system after a couple of years and used steam locomotives instead.

While this is not quite the same as the Hyperloop, there were ideas to have passenger carriages within the vacuum pipe even in Victorian times. A working pneumatic railway was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1864.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Palace_pneum...

[anonymous-user]

There must be a challenge in keeping low pressure in the transit part of the tunnel but normal atmospheric pressure at the loading points. I guess you'd need a system of airlocks, but that is going to slow down the whole stopping/unloading/loading/setting off process quite a bit. Can't see it would be efficient as a London tube replacement.

[stew-S160]

Anyone watch Futurama? They use those tubes for individual movement within cities.

Ok, it's a cartoon, but that's beside the point.

[tapkaJohnD]

Musk's idea is a limited version of an SF concept - the Tunnel through the Centre of the Earth.
This would work by gravity, with very little extra power if the tube were a vacuum. The capsule falls downwards, but is going so fast at the centre that it overshoots, and will reach the surface, only limited by friction or other losses en route.

This trip would take 42 minutes. What is interesting and counter-intuitive is that a lesser tunnel, through the surface of the Earth, say from London to New York, would work just as well and take exactly the same transit time.

John

[Beati Dogu]

They had that in the Total Recall remake. Made for a nice zero-g fight part way through.

At least the Futurama tube system would dump you out into the street as well.

Greg66 said:

There must be a challenge in keeping low pressure in the transit part of the tunnel but normal atmospheric pressure at the loading points. I guess you'd need a system of airlocks, but that is going to slow down the whole stopping/unloading/loading/setting off process quite a bit. Can't see it would be efficient as a London tube replacement.

The feeling seems to be that the technology already exists, it's just a matter of putting it together. They are getting technical help from related industries though.


http://www.wired.com/2015/08/elon-musk-hyperloop-p...

http://www.oerlikon.com/leyboldvacuum/en/media/new...

[Mojocvh]

tapkaJohnD said:

Musk's idea is a limited version of an SF concept - the Tunnel through the Centre of the Earth.
This would work by gravity, with very little extra power if the tube were a vacuum. The capsule falls downwards, but is going so fast at the centre that it overshoots, and will reach the surface, only limited by friction or other losses en route.

This trip would take 42 minutes. What is interesting and counter-intuitive is that a lesser tunnel, through the surface of the Earth, say from London to New York, would work just as well and take exactly the same transit time.

John

It's
not
Musk's
idea.

However, for the cost and disruption why the hell are we building a slow inconvenient and limited railway line?

Edited by Mojocvh on Tuesday 2nd February 17:49

[jammy_basturd]

Someone has Musk envy!