i would say that it is marketing if the guy did not own SpaceX. Still I am skeptical. Every child can draw neat pictures and speak about vacuum.
I would read the pdf before commenting, this is a little more than some pictures.
Hyperloop
241–250 of 983 posts
Re: Hyperloop
#242OK, so he says it's much cheaper than high-speed rail mostly because pylons require taking much less land through eminent domain. Can anyone explain to me then why high speed rail can't be built on pylons?
Weight of the rolling stock.
Re: Hyperloop
#243I'm impressed, but I'm afraid Hyperloop's operation is modeled after airplanes, while the actual use of the system would be closer to a city bus. >All capsules would have direct radio contact with station operators in case of emergencies, allowing passengers to report any incident, to request help and to receive assistance. In addition, all capsules would be fitted with first aid equipment >Typical times between an e…
Regarding suicide bombers: all pods are equipped with emergency brakes, and wheels as a (slow) backup transportation method. Life support on each pod is powered by redundant batteries. Capsule depressurization can be dealt with airplane-style, with oxygen masks, or by doing an emergency repressurization of the whole tube.
Re: Hyperloop
#244Thought this was amazing: $20 for a one-way, 35 minute trip from SF to LA.
That's the estimated cost to build it. I'd guess double it for operating expenses - maintenance, security personnel, etc.
Re: Hyperloop
#245"In the case of the Hyperloop, Musk started focusing on public transportation after he grew disenchanted with the plans for California’s high-speed rail system." And who says that big government stifles entrepreneurial innovation? If ALL Musk does with the Hyperloop announcement is shed more light on the potential debacle that is to be our $70b+ high-speed rail in California, we owe him a debt of gratitude. PS - Dire…
Can you please clarify why the high speed rail is likely to be a debacle ? It seems pretty clear that California needs it and generally HSR is a pretty sensible infrastructure investment.
As currently envisioned CA HSR is likely to be more expensive and slower than current air travel. This is before the virtually certain cost overruns. To be competitively priced it would require large subsidies but still would be no faster than alternatives.
That said like you I would love to see a superior alternative to the current situation but CA HSR is probably not it.
Edit: added some references
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_15746975
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/08/01/3419259/high-speed-rail-...
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-califor...
Re: Hyperloop
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
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If the California high speed rail project is completed (or even makes progress) it will likely stifle any similar projects for decades. Competing against government projects is hard enough because the goverment has the incentive (from voters, contractors, workers, unions) to "succeed" regardless of costs and has access to vast resources thru taxation as well as control of the rules of the game (laws, regulation). Pro…
> If the California high speed rail project is completed (or even makes progress) it will likely stifle any similar projects for decades.
Building railroads (road networks, etc.) over non-trivial spans of land is practically impossible without active government support. Even if California doesn't build HSR, private efforts without government involvement would be pretty much impossible.
Re: Hyperloop
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, there's a low grade vacuum outside so you probably don't want to. It's a failure of the onboard steam tanks that scares me. ("The steam is stored onboard until reaching the station. Water and steam tanks are changed automatically at each stop") I don't want to think about what the result of that would look like for the cleanup crew. Eeeewww.
It's a big self-contained pod, they'd just pull it off the line and bury the whole thing.
Well the pod might contain the steam initially, but I doubt it would be engineered to survive the increased heat and pressure for very long.
They're just gonna have to send in a crew of astronauts to chisel the freeze-dried human stew off the inside of the tube.
Re: Hyperloop
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, but the Hyperloop journey as proposed is 35 minutes long. It seems a reasonable trade-off to me.
And at a cost of ~$20. That's pretty good.
That cost is the infrastructure cost, amortized over a long time, not counting R&D, maintenance, marketing, ticketing, and various personnel costs, assuming it's near capacity.
Translation, it's going to cost more than $20.
Re: Hyperloop
#249So one question that hasn't really been mentioned yet... What happens in the event of a fire?
Do you just keep going? Stop the Fire suppression systems?
Given any worst-case scenario.. how do you escape from the tunnel?
Re: Hyperloop
#250"In the case of the Hyperloop, Musk started focusing on public transportation after he grew disenchanted with the plans for California’s high-speed rail system." And who says that big government stifles entrepreneurial innovation? If ALL Musk does with the Hyperloop announcement is shed more light on the potential debacle that is to be our $70b+ high-speed rail in California, we owe him a debt of gratitude. PS - Dire…
but why to ask California State for subsidy? Why not to build it using private funds? I'd imagine that if this is economically sound idea there must be potential investors lining up to have their share in the Project? The estimated cost is $7B. Now, Musk just needs to make a few calls to his friends at Google, Amazon, etc. Can't these guys just form a company together just to build it? Maybe I'm naive... or maybe Mus…
> but why to ask California State for subsidy? Why not to build it using private funds?
Because you can't, in practice, acquire the rights of way necessary to build a substantial railroad/hyperloop/freeway or other major infrastructure project of that type without government (specifically, without use of eminent domain).