News Elon Musk to reveal 'hyperloop' in August

[RGClark]

There has been alot of speculation of what this hyperloop might be that could connect Los Angeles to San Francisco with a 30 minute ride. Musk claims he will reveal an "alpha" version of the design on August 12th.
Some speculation on what it might be:

How Elon Musk’s Hyperloop might actually work: Experts guess how plans to get from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes might come to fruition.
By JAMES DANIEL
PUBLISHED: 22:22 EST, 18 July 2013 | UPDATED: 02:57 EST, 19 July 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2369993/How-Elon-Musks-Hyperloop-actually-work.html

How does Elon Musk's Hyperloop work?
By Brian Dodson
June 6, 2013
http://www.gizmag.com/how-does-elon-musk-hyperloop-work/27757/


Bob Clark

 

[SiberianTiger]

A great name for a roller coaster.

 

[fsci123]

Im curious, how would they keep vandals or terrorists attacks from destroying the line. Would it be built underground?

 

[MattBaker]

That guy reminds me of my cousin as a child: Starting stuff and then switch to something else without finishing the first one.

 

[Alfastar]

Well, good concept but I don't believe this become serious. It would cost dramatic much money to make the 'hyperloop' serious active. And the ticket cost of something like the 'hyperloop' would be just much higher then a plane ticket to SF to LA.

I don't see any serious cost source of this project, and I not believe this thing become real.

How much dream projects got Musk already? 5? 10? Become it just not too much?...

 

[Mojave]

Well, good concept but I don't believe this become serious. It would cost dramatic much money to make the 'hyperloop' serious active. And the ticket cost of something like the 'hyperloop' would be just much higher then a plane ticket to SF to LA.

I don't see any serious cost source of this project, and I not believe this thing become real.

How much dream projects got Musk already? 5? 10? Become it just not too much?...

:lol: I don't care it sounds like fun! :lol:

 

[jedidia]

And the ticket cost of something like the 'hyperloop' would be just much higher then a plane ticket to SF to LA.

At first, maybe. What price could be reached would depend on the throughput.

Of course building something of this magnitude sounds utopian. But that's majorly because people have forgotten what it took to build the infrastructure they are using
(The American interstate highway system is still the most expensive engineering project in history).

If something like this would have been proposed 60 years ago, and the technological foundations would have been at hand, it would have been built. We are living in a time where we are using the infrastructure our fathers and grandfathers built, and we forgett what it costs, and we forgett that maybe it would be time to build something for the next generation to use.

Switzerland spends 24 billion franks (about as many dollars currently) to put a new hole into a mountain to alievieate freight trafic pressure. It won't be in operation for almost another 10 years, and they're already building it for 20. That's what it means to build infrastructure: It costs a lot, and it takes long. But eventually it will be essential, and taking it away would result in a catastrophe.

I don't see why such an infrastructure project couldn't be carried out if it is feasible, even if takes 50 years until you see some return.

 

[Cras]

Some of you are seriously underestimating the demand there is for such a line. This would connect two massive metropolitan areas of LA/San Diego and SF/Oakland/San Jose. As it stands now it is about an 8 hour drive. A plane ticket? Believe me, just about everyone would see riding on a fast 'hyper coaster' to be far more preferable than going through what it takes to fly commercial from KLAX to KSFO.

Not to mention there is already an initiative for high speed rail in the US. Obama has sort of dropped the ball on it and it is actually quit scandalous how the money has been dumped and nothing is really there to show for it, it was a bit of a big deal before all the other scandals starting rolling off the line which is expected of really any second term president. But this project can serve as sort of a tent pole for bringing that kind of infrastructure to the US, which can serve the nation well.

So the bias that a lot of this board seems to have with regards to Elon Musk should have little to do with seeing how important a project this can mean to California.

 

[N_Molson]

Seems feasible in places like Japan, where you have a huge lot of people on a relatively small area. Seems insane in a country like the United States, where building such an infrastructure on thousands of miles (including mountains, hills, rivers, chasms, all sort of natural obstacles) would cost a near-infinite amount of time and money. Maintenance & security issues would also be a nightmare. At this point I would rather invest into spaceplanes. :2cents:

 

[Cras]

there is already a road network that is quite vast that connects both these metropolitan areas so it is my guess that that would be utilized somehow, so you are not faced with having to create brand new tunnels and such, but rather looking at laying rail inbetween the inbound and outbound lanes, or maybe even taking the existing rail lines, which again there are plenty, and replacing them with this new system he is talking about.

This is not the wild wild west now, there is plenty of development for various forms of transportation, there is just not high speed rail atm.

But space planes are also fine with me.

 

[N_Molson]

Well, we have high-speed rail here (TGV) and the lines really require a careful maintenance, nothing in common with "standard" lines. Conversion is impossible, you have to move terrain to have smooth slopes and turns. There is a lot of stress on everything when a train rolls on rails at more than 300 km/h (190 mph). Anything laid on the track and it's game over. And still, it would take a lot of time time to cross the USA at that speed. TGVs can still be put on standard rails, but then they don't go much above 100 km/h (65 mph).

Actually, TGV set a record of speed on rails in 2007, with 574,8 km/h (357.2 mph), but of course in a "record" configuration, without the cars.

 

[Artlav]

What about a plain simple maglev line?

I rode a maglev train from Shanghai to it's airport - 450km/h cruising speed, cars on the highway parallel to it going by like they are racing backwards.
It feels like flying a plane - the train is buffeted by the air.
And when the opposite-going train passes by it's THUMP-THUMP as the windows goes out and back again in a fraction of a second. Blink and you'd miss it.

Quite a ride. A few minutes instead of an hour of driving, under $10 of ticket price, no security fuss.

They were planning to extend the line to Beijing, but something didn't work out.

 

[RisingFury]

The sources are DailyMail, Gizmag and a collection of rumors...

 

[MattBaker]

Well, LA to San Francisco is 550 kilometers so if you want to connect them in 30 minutes...Good luck with a maglev line like that.
And Musk also said it wouldn't be a train and doesn't need rails.

Sounds a bit too futuristic to be true.
Also, 550 kilometers in half an hour? With acceleration that would be super-sonic.

 

[jedidia]

The sources are DailyMail, Gizmag and a collection of rumors...

Well, no one actually proposed a project yet... all that's going to happen is Elon Musk revealing a concept, so there probably isn't going to be anything of it anyways.

We just managed to sideline the discussion into what would or wouldn't be economically feasible to build nowadays...

 

[N_Molson]

They were planning to extend the line to Beijing, but something didn't work out.

Isn't the main problem with MagLev energy consumption ? I think I remember it is pretty insane, and again, on great distances, it's difficult to carry and distribute that kind of power, you end up loosing a lot...

 

[Capt_hensley]

Energy stations are strategicaly placed along the route to distribute local power, and prevent a surge loss. Heat disapation is an issue, but cooling can moderate accumulation and avoid heat damage. Frictionless pods or cars are more efficient when an air buffer is used. Data cables, or fiber optics permit moderation and control in real time.

 

[Andy44]

Seems feasible in places like Japan, where you have a huge lot of people on a relatively small area. Seems insane in a country like the United States, where building such an infrastructure on thousands of miles (including mountains, hills, rivers, chasms, all sort of natural obstacles) would cost a near-infinite amount of time and money. Maintenance & security issues would also be a nightmare. At this point I would rather invest into spaceplanes. :2cents:

This isn't about crossing the United States, it's about crossing a heavily populated portion of California. Much of the terrain between the two cities is fairly flat. It's not like you're going through the Rocky Mountains.

As for spaceplanes, that might be Musk's plan after all: a suborbital hop between cities...probably not, but it would make for a cool add-on.

 

[malisle]

It would make sense to use variation of existing maglev technology but with tracks enveloped in vacuum tube. Maglev uses only a small amount of power to levitate while the rest goes on overcoming air-friction. Maglev tracks already have to be build with gentle turns, off-the-ground to conquer terrain and they demand lot of power that will in this case be needed to power both the tracks and the vacuum pumps. Also, maglev train is a passive element, while the track is active which means there should be no serious cooling in vacuum issues that would arise with classic electric motors.