Hyperloop - Elon Musk

Colm R

There is a discussion on AH, but I thought this would be a good forum for it.

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf

Firstly, I do not have enough knowledge on the subject matter to say this is workable or not. However, the idea, even as a discussion is good IMO.

My gut feeling, is even it could work, the cost of it, when compared to high speed rail is a bit optimistic. Elon Musk says it will come around $10B to connect SF to LA. The proposed high speed rail is going to hit 75 Billion mark.

Any opinions on this - pie in the sky or a new revolution on human mobility?

fly_agaric

Colm R wrote: »

There is a discussion on AH, but I thought this would be a good forum for it.

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf

Firstly, I do not have enough knowledge on the subject matter to say this is workable or not. However, the idea, even as a discussion is good IMO.

My gut feeling, is even it could work, the cost of it, when compared to high speed rail is a bit optimistic. Elon Musk says it will come around $10B to connect SF to LA. The proposed high speed rail is going to hit 75 Billion mark.

Any opinions on this - pie in the sky or a new revolution on human mobility?

1 brief opinion from a non-expert; its a new idea (well, an old sci-fi type idea; recall something like this making an appearance in the Starship Troopers film), never implemented before. It might be great but I don't see how it could work out to be cheaper (at least to get up and running as opposed to over a 50-100 year lifespan) than the high speed rail technologies already proven in other countries. Even a mag-lev rail line should be cheaper than it imo since it has been done before.

iamstop

I'm loving the basic concept. I'm just wondering how people get in and out of the pods without stopping the whole thing. I've not found it explained anywhere properly.

munchkin_utd

it has a laughably low capacity which knocks the idea clean out of the water.

One person every 30 seconds is a mere 120people per hour so 2 bus loads between 2 massive cities or less than a single normal 737 sized airplane and a fraction of a larger airplane.
And its not scalable.

If you build a railway (or airport) you can always add extra vehicles if demand increases.
With this you have a very low capacity that cannot be altered.

Colm R

munchkin_utd wrote: »

it has a laughably low capacity which knocks the idea clean out of the water.

One person every 30 seconds is a mere 120people per hour so 2 bus loads between 2 massive cities or less than a single normal 737 sized airplane and a fraction of a larger airplane.
And its not scalable.

If you build a railway (or airport) you can always add extra vehicles if demand increases.
With this you have a very low capacity that cannot be altered.

Its not even a POC yet, but the document says the Pod would carry 28 people or a car. That a could be a whopping 3360 people a hour.

Positives:

- the land grab is small and could possibly be build alongside existing interstates - in fact he thinks for the POC, it should run along Interstate 5.

- building along existing roads means construction is easier in remote areas.

- if it works, the energy requirement after construction is small.


Negatives:

- its not even a proof of concept yet.

- it will be very hard to get investors to back a new concept like this.


I think if anyone is serious about taking this on, SF to LA is too ambitious as a first build. I think they need to look at something smaller, possibly in the desert. A distance whereby you can prove the system launches, maintains speed and slows down again.

theSHU

Virgin Galactic's new spaceplane is said to be able to fly from London to Sydney in 2hrs.

danotroy

theSHU wrote: »

Virgin Galactic's new spaceplane is said to be able to fly from London to Sydney in 2hrs.

really? is it going to do this? or will a similar craft be built to do this?

steve-o

danotroy wrote: »

really? is it going to do this? or will a similar craft be built to do this?

Branson's spaceplane is no more than a toy. It will fling people high in the sky for a few minutes, just high enough to reach a technical line that let's them brag at the golf club that they've been in space. It's a cool machine, but has no practical use at all.

Musk, on the other hand, is building real spacecraft for a fraction of the cost that NASA used to.

Carawaystick

Sort of a Demo in Nevada
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/12/hyperloop/

LeinsterDub

Carawaystick wrote: »

Sort of a Demo in Nevada
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/12/hyperloop/

Not sure the relevance of that test to hyper loop it's a sled on a track