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Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

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Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#191

Post by Pxtl »

ant6n wrote: post #156
Pxtl wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And honestly, if you want to solve the USA's environmental problems, 200kph commuter rail would probably be a better investment than HSR or Hyperloops.

Definitely agree that more, better transit would have a much bigger impact. But I'd say the problem of commuter rail is frequency, coverage station locations, acceleration, level boarding, dwell times etc etc. Given that line speed is dictated by acceleration and dwell times, top speed is really far down the list of priorities. Also, top speed of commuter rail is already up to 200km/h (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/w…

I guess it's just my own experience in Ontario - the GO transit trains look like they travel at about 110kph or so, and once you figure in their slow acceleration and frequent stops that means they're quite slow. Outside of the worst part of Toronto rush hour (which is notoriously bad) they're actually slower than the comparable coach bus from my area (Hamilton).

The overall average speed is a paltry 50kph.

When the train is slower than the coach bus, why even have a train?

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#192

Post by delecti »

iamgopal wrote: post #20
ginko wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The LHC's vacuum pipes are 6.3 cm in diameter..

What, really? What's with all those mega photos we see everywhere ?

This picture shows a cross section of part of the LHC. Those two yellow lines sticking out are the actual tubes. Everything else is equipment to manage the particles (detectors, containment, magnetic propulsion).

And for a sense of scale, a human can comfortably stand in that tunnel next to it.

Image: http://www.tut.fi/cs/groups/public_news/@l102/@news/@p/docum... From here: http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/news-and-events/tut-and-cern-...

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#193

Post by lisper »

pasta wrote: post #70
lisper wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why do you think he did not think about that? Because this issue has been brought up many, many times since the Hyperloop paper was first published and no one has yet proposed a viable solution. > curves in the track can eliminate this when they can slide a little But you can't curve the track. The track has to be very nearly straight or the G forces become intolerable. This is the thing: lots of people glibly prop…

Elon has proposed a solution as others also already comented. And why would large diameters not work?

> Elon has proposed a solution

Really? What is it?

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#194

Post by KGIII »

aswanson wrote: post #74
ferdbold wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite is Dropbox. "Store all my personal and/or corporate files on some third-party server?! DOA."

I remember that thread. Hilarious.

One of my favorites is on Slashdot. If you go there and search for 'VMware' then you can find it.

When VMware was first announced and demoed, the commenters at Slashdot declared things like it was fake, it was stupid, it was a waste, it would never work, or that dual booting was a better solution. They largely concluded that virtual machines weren't a thing and happily congratulated themselves for their brilliant insights.

I'm on a tablet or I'd dig the link out for you. It's one of my favorite discussion threads on the Internet.

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#195

Post by drawnwren »

daemin wrote: post #165

Just as a thought experiment, could the promotion of these "hyperloop" projects be a clever political ploy to misdirect/divert attention and prevent a viable high speed rail network from being built? Elon's main business is electric cars and (one of) Branson's is airlines. So a reasonable competitor to both is fast and cheap(er) public transport along a major travel corridor in the USA. This means that by promoting t…

More likely, it's Elon worrying about how to colonize Mars than anything else.

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#196

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #183
daemin wrote: post #165

Just as a thought experiment, could the promotion of these "hyperloop" projects be a clever political ploy to misdirect/divert attention and prevent a viable high speed rail network from being built? Elon's main business is electric cars and (one of) Branson's is airlines. So a reasonable competitor to both is fast and cheap(er) public transport along a major travel corridor in the USA. This means that by promoting t…

Why would Elon have sparked the idea in the fist place, then? It wasn't entirely novel, but he gave the idea legitimacy beyond the normal fantastic imaginary future one is wont to see from time to time. So I don't think this was an attempt to head the tech off at the pass or some alternate reality like that. I think it was genuine and continues to be.

[deleted]

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#197

Post by manigandham »

rz2k wrote: post #180
manigandham wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, we did get rovers to Mars decades ago so I'm sure you know what I mean here, but you seem to be making my point that it's not worth it. Simple isn't the same as easy, but an evacuated train tunnel with air or magnetic tracks does not require new science. The physics are well understood and simple. The hard part is evolving the tech to be reliable and cheap so that people will use it and pay for it - but that does…

I had the same reaction to the comment though I don't think I disagree with you. I think it was referring to engineering as simple rather than just calling the science and even a proof of concept as being relatively simple. Reducing the amount of steel used in a bridge or a building is part of engineering. The Concorde wasn’t just a failure to understand what level of demand the world economy could support, it was th…

In the end it's all the same. New science, tech, or strategies, it all takes investment which requires a return of some sort so it's hard to imagine any business take this on considering the alternatives that already exist (and are continuing to get better). Maybe governments can invest in this for public good but that seems unlikely politically.

For example, nuclear is a great power source and we can definitely invest much more but suddenly solar and wind have beaten the economic curve through constant evolution and are better candidates to explore today.

Re: Hyperloop One Becomes ‘Virgin Hyperloop One’

#200

Post by [deleted] »

maxerickson wrote: post #134
alexozer wrote: post #40

Keeping a plain miles-long tube at at least 90% vacuum seems pretty hard to me, especially when needing to deal with evacuations and possible breakages. Why not divide the tubes into discrete sections gated by movable airtight caps that side away while passing through? If one section repressurizes due to evacuation or some other fault, so be it.

If you have a breakage or stopped capsule you anyway have to shut the whole thing down.

[deleted]
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