Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

spacex.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 132 posts

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#121

Post by socceroos »

mrfusion wrote: post #115
imglorp wrote: post #52

I wonder what they will do about claustrophobia? > The capsule itself would need to be small—4.43ft (1.35m) wide and only 3.61ft (1.10m) high. No standing room No windows, pod inside a metal tube, seats reclined with minimal head room. There's no rational reason to panic in that position, but many people will not be comfortable. Video displays might help, but only to a point.

I've been worried about the same thing. Also the idea that if the pod stops you have no way out for hundreds of miles.

I'm pretty sure the plan would include service access every few KM.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#122

Post by michaelbarton »

abc_lisper wrote: post #100
michaelbarton wrote: post #63

This immediately reminded me of the early days of steam when, very similarly, at Rainhill a one mile test track of railway was constructed and people were invited to compete their different locomotives. The winner was Stevenson's rocket which amazed the large crowd by travelling at a heady top speed of 30mph. An "also ran" was the amusing cycloped, the only non-steam entry, a horse on top of a treadmill walking the c…

Hoping you were not old enough to know this first hand ;) This is fascinating? Where did you come across this info?

There's an excellent book on the start of the railways "Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain". It's very interesting and full of side stories about how people adapted to the start of the steam age.

For example the one of the first railway lines was more like a toll road. A company built the tracks, and then other companies paid to run their locomotives on them. This lead to chaos where two locomotives would meet on the single track, neither was willing to back up, and so the passengers would often get out and fight each other over it.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#123

Post by peterbraden »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #109
martinald wrote: post #75

The projections of capacity seem way too low. It says it can do 840passengers/hour. In the UK each 11 car train on the West Coast Mainline can take about 600 passengers seated + maybe slightly over 100 more standing. So around 700. We have 3 trains per hour between London and Birmingham, which adds up to a rough capacity of 2200 per hour. This doesn't even take into account the multitude of slower trains that go betw…

Rather than 2 parallel hyperloops would it be more efficient to make passing points? Orgainse timings so pods pull off at a platform and then car traveling in the opposite direction or overtaking can go past.

but that would prevent using the pressure in the loop?

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#124

Post by icc97 »

imglorp wrote: post #52

I wonder what they will do about claustrophobia? > The capsule itself would need to be small—4.43ft (1.35m) wide and only 3.61ft (1.10m) high. No standing room No windows, pod inside a metal tube, seats reclined with minimal head room. There's no rational reason to panic in that position, but many people will not be comfortable. Video displays might help, but only to a point.

This is actually fairly close to the Eurotunnel between England and France. There are windows in the trains but they are very small and entirely useless for the 30 minutes whilst you're inside the tunnel. In the Eurotunnel you have to remain in your car - i.e. no standing.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#125

Post by thrill »

jessriedel wrote: post #39
odonnellryan wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't these meant to be underground?

The costs of an underground tunnel connecting LA with SF would be prohibitive.

Yes probably cheaper than acquiring the property rights for above ground in that area.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#126

Post by thrill »

mrfusion wrote: post #115
imglorp wrote: post #52

I wonder what they will do about claustrophobia? > The capsule itself would need to be small—4.43ft (1.35m) wide and only 3.61ft (1.10m) high. No standing room No windows, pod inside a metal tube, seats reclined with minimal head room. There's no rational reason to panic in that position, but many people will not be comfortable. Video displays might help, but only to a point.

I've been worried about the same thing. Also the idea that if the pod stops you have no way out for hundreds of miles.

Pod proposals (more like musings at this point) I've read include sufficient self contained locomotion ability to move slowly between egress points.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#127

Post by mixmastamyk »

netfire wrote: post #92
mixmastamyk wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would, however I didn't realize until now how small the tubes and cars are, might make a metro-type system challenging. Or, it could be widened for metro usage, like the disneyland monorail.

Yeah, I wondered if some sort of on-ramp/off-ramp or multi-lane system might work, but given the distance it would take to get up to full-speed (or decrease speed to stop), that could greatly increase the cost of construction, especially if there are a lot of stations. For the Hyperloop to make any sense in a shorter distance metro setting, you'd probably want to have no stops between where you start and your destina…

Looks like it would be a lot cheaper than an underground metro though. But perhaps a standard monorail would be better for short distances.

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#128

Post by abc_lisper »

michaelbarton wrote: post #122
abc_lisper wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoping you were not old enough to know this first hand ;) This is fascinating? Where did you come across this info?

There's an excellent book on the start of the railways "Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain". It's very interesting and full of side stories about how people adapted to the start of the steam age. For example the one of the first railway lines was more like a toll road. A company built the tracks, and then other companies paid to run their locomotives on them. This lead to chaos where two locomot…

>> neither was willing to back up, and so the passengers would often get out and fight each other over it.

Hahahaha..

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#129

Post by abc_lisper »

michaelbarton wrote: post #122
abc_lisper wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hoping you were not old enough to know this first hand ;) This is fascinating? Where did you come across this info?

There's an excellent book on the start of the railways "Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain". It's very interesting and full of side stories about how people adapted to the start of the steam age. For example the one of the first railway lines was more like a toll road. A company built the tracks, and then other companies paid to run their locomotives on them. This lead to chaos where two locomot…

Adding it to my reading list. Thank you!

Re: SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

#130

Post by imglorp »

socceroos wrote: post #121
mrfusion wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been worried about the same thing. Also the idea that if the pod stops you have no way out for hundreds of miles.

I'm pretty sure the plan would include service access every few KM.

Somehow that's a little more scary.

It's not clear how the hatch on a stopped pod would open between service points, if at all. So you're stuck in the pod, possibly with no lights or power either to the pod or the tubeway in the case of damage.

Rescuers have to enter at the station and travel some KM to the pod, how, by crawling? If they need a rescue pod, it would have to be lifted from the ground to the service door, so they need a crane now; that's more hours.

Then there's the small matter of air supply for passengers.

Post reply on HN