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Hyperloop One to shut down

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351–360 of 490 posts

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When folks suggest a new "changes everything" way to go fast, always remember that we used to run NY to Chicago at 120 MPH on steam power and bolted rails.

Maybe someone should just buy up some lines and run steam at 120 MPH again. If it burned natural gas it probably wouldn’t even be that polluting and it would rock hard.

there's a research institute in minnesota that is improving the efficiency of steam engines and manufacturing wood "biocoal" (charcoal) for fuel.

https://csrail.org/

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#352
The concept of hyper loop was so moronic I suspect the idea of it being a way for musk to hurt the proposal of building a high speed train in California is just a man a posteriori excuse to look less stupid

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#353
post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who is not at all well versed in this area - this surprises me. Surely if there is anywhere in our solar system we have a chance of successfully colonizing, Mars is it. It seems like the obvious first step. Where would you recommend?

The upper reaches of Venus' atmosphere is the most accessible and Earth-like environment in the Solar System. That would be the obvious first step. And for second steps you'd probably want someplace that is more useful in resources, like some of Jupiter's moons. Mars is probably the last place you'd want to go.

Wouldn't going to Venus require more delta-v since it is "downhill" and requires spending way more energy to slow down?

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#354
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the opposite problem. I'll drive from LA to SF for a conference or to visit friends and I have no place to ditch a car I don't need. Finding parking is miserable and hotels will charge $50-70/night. Heck, I saw a post last night about getting dropped off at LAX. It was taking hours to get close to the airport so they got out of their car and walked the last mile or two to the airport with their luggage. I just…

It was taking hours to get close to the airport so they got out of their car and walked the last mile or two to the airport with their luggage. This is ridiculous. Why didn't they drop their friend at the nearest Metro Line C (Green Line)? There is an airport shuttle from Aviation/LAX station.

I've been in a similar situation in chicago. when traffic is at a standstill and there's no way to uturn. you're just stuck.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people keep trying to invent more expensive, less traffic dense railroads. Did they stop teaching arithmetic in school?

Because a controversial centibillionaire didn't do the math on 0 atm tube transportation and proclaimed it to be so. Also, people hate people like Thunderf00t who tear down dumb ideas that people desperately want to believe in because feelings and tribal toxic positivity > logic.

> didn't do the math on 0 atm tube transportation

I thought of this idea when I was 14 and immediately dismissed it- long before this guy came along and claimed it was such a "great idea." Why did I dismiss it?

Terrorism. In the best case, all you'd need to do is punch a hole in the side of the tubes, and any train would hit a wall of air at supersonic speeds. In the worst case, it would derail catastrophically when it hit my hole if it were big enough.

It's a terrible idea for so many reasons.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#356
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like railroads but worse. What's the advantage? Tunneling is incredibly expensive to do, yet you're proposing it in a situation where it'd need enough coverage so as to ban large freight transport over roads.

Some advantages: - no impact on environment, birds, bugs, animals, trees, etc... - can use surface land for other things - no weather exposure

> - no impact on environment,

It requires tons of concrete, which causes lots of CO2.

Also might require ground water control, which might impact lakes etc. nearby.

Tunnels often are still beneficial, but it's not like there is no impact.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#357
post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who is not at all well versed in this area - this surprises me. Surely if there is anywhere in our solar system we have a chance of successfully colonizing, Mars is it. It seems like the obvious first step. Where would you recommend?

The upper reaches of Venus' atmosphere is the most accessible and Earth-like environment in the Solar System. That would be the obvious first step. And for second steps you'd probably want someplace that is more useful in resources, like some of Jupiter's moons. Mars is probably the last place you'd want to go.

"Most accessible" is still very much a concept than concrete. We don't know how to build a free-floating colony, and Mars has far more water than Venus.

Then again, we don't know how to build a colony on Mars any better than we can build a colony on an oil rig platform in the ocean, or build a colony in LEO. Even our colonies on Antarctica - Esperanza Base and Villa Las Estrellas - aren't able to grow their own food.

In any case, Mars is a better colonization target than both Mercury and Io.

Resource extraction does not require colonization. We have robots.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people of Singapore pay a minimum of 100K for the privilege of owning a bottom tier car and the demand for cars there is overwhelming and insatiable, despite the world class and extremely clean mass transit systems. The reality is that cars are freedom and still superior from a continence and comfort standpoint. Americans are insanely privileged to have cheap, powerful cars.

The Singapore thing is about status, not freedom. For the last 15 years I've lived in various places around the world, and for all of them a private car is the most frustrating, least enabling method of transport available. Finding parking is a nightmare, traffic is a nightmare, having to concentrate on the idiots around me is a nightmare, not being able to drink when I go out is a nightmare, dealing with the mechani…

Add riding a bike (or electric bike) in most of Dutch cities. It can be even fun.

Re: Hyperloop One to shut down

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even easier than walking through that. Just Google the costs per mile of a typical subway line extension. There's a reason subterranean rails only makes when land costs are at a premium.

Even then most subways would be better as elevated rail

That adds a huge amount of clutter to the surface, and is very noisy for anyone nearby.
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