CodeRedR51
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http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/26/8112363/hyperloop-launch-quay-valley-california-2016
Can't wait to see this thing in action.
Can't wait to see this thing in action.
Elon Musk's Hyperloop moving forward
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Agreed, I really hope this tech works as it should, large countried like the US, China and also continental Europe could use this to traverse great distances quickley and hopefully less emmisions compared to plane and train etc.
CodeRedR51
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CodeRedR51
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Edit: Delete.
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He's kind of a modern day Howard Hughes. I wouldn't want to know him personally, but he is this relentless force and I can respect that.
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To be quite honest I think it would be really cool to work for Elon Musk. When I graduate uni I'll definitely be sending a CV to both Tesla and SpaceX. I've heard the culture is very silicon valley in that they'll work you to within an inch of your life, but still, I think it'd be worth it.
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This would probably be about the loans Tesla received from the US government, which would be a valid complaint, except a lot of manufacturers have received loans (in much bigger amounts) from the US Government in recent years. And a lot of small-time manufacturers have applied for loans for building alternative-energy cars, much like Tesla, in that same time.
Of course, the difference between those other companies and Tesla is that Tesla has repaid its DOE loans. In full. Most of the others either failed to qualify for the loans or went bankrupt in spite of them. (Do note: Tesla still receives subsidies and tax breaks... but these are being offered big time to any manufacturer willing to build new production facilities inside the United States.)
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I'm still cautious as to whether Tesla will stay afloat or sink, and a lot of us watching the story of alternative energy cars over the past two decades had hedged our bets on "Sink like the Titanic", but Musk has put his money where his mouth is, investing his own money, risking personal bankruptcy, to keep the company afloat in hard times. It remains to be seen whether their upcoming third model will be able to make enough profit to keep the ball rolling, but give credit where credit is due... he's snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and has done something nobody else has done in recent times... create a completely new car company that hasn't imploded at the first sign of an economic downturn.
I still think, from time to time, that the man is either a snake oil salesman or an enormously good bluffer... but there's no denying that he's got more business smarts than most other CEOs... and he's doing what many of us futurists dream of doing: Building the future.
Whether he succeeds or fails, he's contributing something to the world. That actually warrants a little respect, whatever you may think of the man. Some days, I think he's the biggest liar in the world. Other days, I can't help but be impressed that he's still going.
Of course, the difference between those other companies and Tesla is that Tesla has repaid its DOE loans. In full. Most of the others either failed to qualify for the loans or went bankrupt in spite of them. (Do note: Tesla still receives subsidies and tax breaks... but these are being offered big time to any manufacturer willing to build new production facilities inside the United States.)
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I'm still cautious as to whether Tesla will stay afloat or sink, and a lot of us watching the story of alternative energy cars over the past two decades had hedged our bets on "Sink like the Titanic", but Musk has put his money where his mouth is, investing his own money, risking personal bankruptcy, to keep the company afloat in hard times. It remains to be seen whether their upcoming third model will be able to make enough profit to keep the ball rolling, but give credit where credit is due... he's snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and has done something nobody else has done in recent times... create a completely new car company that hasn't imploded at the first sign of an economic downturn.
I still think, from time to time, that the man is either a snake oil salesman or an enormously good bluffer... but there's no denying that he's got more business smarts than most other CEOs... and he's doing what many of us futurists dream of doing: Building the future.
Whether he succeeds or fails, he's contributing something to the world. That actually warrants a little respect, whatever you may think of the man. Some days, I think he's the biggest liar in the world. Other days, I can't help but be impressed that he's still going.
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CodeRedR51
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The soon-to-be-colonised Martians.
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I feel like The Boring Company was deliberately set up as a separate company to attract more hype & investment that it could not have done if it was part of the hyperloop project. It seems painfully obvious that the entire point of The Boring Company is to tunnel for hyperloop, and the shuttle tunnels under LA was just a marketing ploy.
zzz_pt
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Has any of you watched Thunderfoot's videos on the Hyperloop? He presents some pretty good arguments and calculations on why it doesn't and won't work.
About Elon, I think he's a role model in some sense. Trying to make the world a better place for future generations and investing his life and time to it when he could just be on holidays or creating another fast food chain or clothing brand is quite unique these days.
About Elon, I think he's a role model in some sense. Trying to make the world a better place for future generations and investing his life and time to it when he could just be on holidays or creating another fast food chain or clothing brand is quite unique these days.
CodeRedR51
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zzz_pt
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What was tested had little to do with the actual system through which humans can travel inside a capsule for hundreds of miles at 900-1200 mph.
It was a 5.3sec test of a maglev like pod going at 70mph on a straight line for a few hundred meters inside a vaccum (?) or low pressure tube.
This whole idea is one of those I'll believe it works when I can see it. Making sure it's safe is probably the toughest thing to achieve since the whole system relies on a tube that is very easy to disrupt, damage or just intentionally destroy. What happens if you're traveling at max velocity and something goes wrong (within the capsule, the tube, an earthquake, someone putting a bomb in the tube, etc, etc)? What if you just get stuck and you're far from a station? If something goes wrong between, say, San Fransisco and LA, no one can travel until it gets fixed/repaired and the people who are already inside a capsule between those two cities won't have a pleasant day, even if the problem is miles away (they're all riding capsules with limited oxygen inside a near vaccum tube).
I don't find any info on how any of the companies working on these systems would address those (and there are so many other) scenarios.
It was a 5.3sec test of a maglev like pod going at 70mph on a straight line for a few hundred meters inside a vaccum (?) or low pressure tube.
This whole idea is one of those I'll believe it works when I can see it. Making sure it's safe is probably the toughest thing to achieve since the whole system relies on a tube that is very easy to disrupt, damage or just intentionally destroy. What happens if you're traveling at max velocity and something goes wrong (within the capsule, the tube, an earthquake, someone putting a bomb in the tube, etc, etc)? What if you just get stuck and you're far from a station? If something goes wrong between, say, San Fransisco and LA, no one can travel until it gets fixed/repaired and the people who are already inside a capsule between those two cities won't have a pleasant day, even if the problem is miles away (they're all riding capsules with limited oxygen inside a near vaccum tube).
I don't find any info on how any of the companies working on these systems would address those (and there are so many other) scenarios.
CodeRedR51
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zzz_pt
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Steam trains were not a first step to maglevs. They were their own thing. Back in the 1800s no one had come with the idea of a levitating magnetic train. When that idea came about, in the early 1900s, it took ~60/70 years to have people officially / openly taveling on those trains, even though sucessfull tests had already been done years earlier.
The hyperloop idea (vactrain) has been around for quite some time already. Also this.
Planes, on the other hand, have gone from almost paper toys to the safest means of travel in around 140 years.
CodeRedR51
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BobK
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So -- we can expect to see this working in 150 years or so?
CodeRedR51
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Keep in mine we also went from barely being able to get something to orbit the planet to landing people on the moon in approximately 10 years, and that was long before the first home computers became practical. The two subjects seem unrelated, but there have been a lot of technological advances in terms of materials and propulsion that can likely be applied to the Hyperloop idea directly.
I'm not saying it'll be in the next 5 years or something, but at the rate technology is expanding I wouldn't be surprised if this was at least feasible in the next couple decades if it can receive enough support.
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It didn't take approx. 10 years for one. It was much longer than that, people don't seem to actually know history or want to check beyond the well known dates of the 1969 moon landing and the 1957 Sputnik launch. Development for both were many many years in the works before this. Not sure about the Home computer part, it's confusing what point you're trying to prove with that. If you're saying that personal computers took far more time to be as readily available as they are now to anyone, I'd agree it probably took longer than it should have.
The technological hurdles for this though, aren't always the same, nor should they be laughed at or knocked. Space X has some pretty brilliant engineers.
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I don't care how long it takes to get built, what I want to know is how much taxpayers money will be eaten up in the process and has anyone ever worked out whether travel is economically viable in this contraption.
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Why?
(I'm sure there are others, as well, who are impatient to 'see this thing in action', and it would be interesting to read their thoughts too. 👍 )
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We, of course, know how to magnetically levitate trains. We know how to build sealed capsules and vacuum chambers.
There is nothing in this technology that is beyond what we are capable of, at this point.
The big question is "hamachizzit?"
An apt analogy isn't orbiters to a moon landing.
More like from sub-orbital flight to planting a colony on Mars.
On the face of it, a vacuum train will give you the best cost per mile in terms of fuel/electricity anywhere.
It's the other costs that will be killer.
Every mile of that tunnel is going to cost a fortune in induction coils, vacuum seals, sensors and safety equipment. (Looking it up in Google, it's between $100 million to $150 million per mile of tunnel.)
This is not far out of line with what regular high speed rail costs. But the basic problem is the same: Demand versus ROI.
I don't know of any major high speed rail system that does not rely on subsidies. There are supposedly some subways and metros in Japan that are not directly subsidized, except through loans, but... have you tried riding one of those? "Packed like sardines in a can" is an insult to the fine, spacious accomodations most packaged fish get.
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If it gets built, the Hyperloop will be a luxury project, will offer airline level speed and convenience, will cost an arm and a leg to ride (if I recall, our Shinkansen tickets a few months back were comparable to air fare), and will probably not make money without subsidies... or at all.
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Still, I hope he builds the damn thing. I'd like to try it myself, if just once.
There is nothing in this technology that is beyond what we are capable of, at this point.
The big question is "hamachizzit?"
An apt analogy isn't orbiters to a moon landing.
More like from sub-orbital flight to planting a colony on Mars.
On the face of it, a vacuum train will give you the best cost per mile in terms of fuel/electricity anywhere.
It's the other costs that will be killer.
Every mile of that tunnel is going to cost a fortune in induction coils, vacuum seals, sensors and safety equipment. (Looking it up in Google, it's between $100 million to $150 million per mile of tunnel.)
This is not far out of line with what regular high speed rail costs. But the basic problem is the same: Demand versus ROI.
I don't know of any major high speed rail system that does not rely on subsidies. There are supposedly some subways and metros in Japan that are not directly subsidized, except through loans, but... have you tried riding one of those? "Packed like sardines in a can" is an insult to the fine, spacious accomodations most packaged fish get.
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If it gets built, the Hyperloop will be a luxury project, will offer airline level speed and convenience, will cost an arm and a leg to ride (if I recall, our Shinkansen tickets a few months back were comparable to air fare), and will probably not make money without subsidies... or at all.
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Still, I hope he builds the damn thing. I'd like to try it myself, if just once.
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