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Just a few days after Elon Musk publicly objected to the newly-approved "high speed" railway in California...[1] Is this supposed to make people sceptical abou

by tsenkov 13y ago

Just a few days after Elon Musk publicly objected to the newly-approved "high speed" railway in California...[1] Is this supposed to make people sceptical about Hyperloop? 1. http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop

vermontdevil 13y ago
The article was published in 2011.
- tsenkov 13y ago
  Ooops, it is indeed. I feel so stupid. My apologies.
TheAnimus 13y ago
No, it's more about the fact we've had some interesting ideas in history before. Some were even built in small scale, my personal favourite is one of Brunel's: http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/atmospheric_railway.php http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/atmospheric_railw... There was even the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Pneumatic_Despatch_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Pneumatic_Despatch_Compa... It is more a case of whilst this is in the public interest, how about some interesting history and tails of dreams lost.
jussij 13y ago
> Is this supposed to make people sceptical about Hyperloop? China announced plans to build a transport system very similar to Hyperloop some 3 years ago: http://www.dailytech.com/China+Plans+1000+KPH+Super+Train/article19268.htm http://www.dailytech.com/China+Plans+1000+KPH+Super+Train/ar... Now we have a link suggesting the idea is centuries old. I guess all that proves is the idea is nothing new and will not be revolutionary, that is until someone actually builds it!
- lambda 13y ago
  There have been many variations of these basic ideas for a while. Hyperloop is different in that it does not require a full vacuum, but just a low-pressure atmosphere, which make the tubes much cheaper to build an maintain. It also does not require magnetic levitation along the full length of the tube (like the Chinese proposal uses), as it uses an air cushion provided by that a compressor that sucks in that low-pressure atmosphere, further reducing the cost of building the tube. It merely uses occasional magnetic linear motors spaced out along the route to accelerate and decelerate the pod, spending most of its time coasting on its air cushion. So, while it does share design features with many previously proposed systems, it is not exactly the same as what has been proposed before. There's a good reason why people have been talking about evacuated tube transport for centuries but no one has actually achieved it on a practical scale; the hope is that the low-pressure design will be much cheaper than the evacuated tube design. Now, I am somewhat skeptical of the incredibly low numbers that Elon Musk quotes, especially relative to the much more well understood high-speed rail he's comparing it to. But you shouldn't dismiss it just because there are some superficial similarities to previously proposed systems; as far as I know (and I haven't done much research, so I could be wrong), this is the first such system that proposes using low pressure, a compressor on the front of the pod to deal with the problem of the air mass not being able to flow around it, and an air cushion to support the pod taking advantage of the air taken in by the compressor.

by tsenkov 13y ago

vermontdevil 13y ago

The article was published in 2011.

tsenkov 13y ago
Ooops, it is indeed. I feel so stupid. My apologies.

TheAnimus 13y ago

No, it's more about the fact we've had some interesting ideas in history before. Some were even built in small scale, my personal favourite is one of Brunel's: http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/atmospheric_railway.php http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/atmospheric_railw... There was even the London Pneumatic Dispatch Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Pneumatic_Despatch_Company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Pneumatic_Despatch_Compa... It is more a case of whilst this is in the public interest, how about some interesting history and tails of dreams lost.

jussij 13y ago

> Is this supposed to make people sceptical about Hyperloop? China announced plans to build a transport system very similar to Hyperloop some 3 years ago: http://www.dailytech.com/China+Plans+1000+KPH+Super+Train/article19268.htm http://www.dailytech.com/China+Plans+1000+KPH+Super+Train/ar... Now we have a link suggesting the idea is centuries old. I guess all that proves is the idea is nothing new and will not be revolutionary, that is until someone actually builds it!

lambda 13y ago
There have been many variations of these basic ideas for a while. Hyperloop is different in that it does not require a full vacuum, but just a low-pressure atmosphere, which make the tubes much cheaper to build an maintain. It also does not require magnetic levitation along the full length of the tube (like the Chinese proposal uses), as it uses an air cushion provided by that a compressor that sucks in that low-pressure atmosphere, further reducing the cost of building the tube. It merely uses occasional magnetic linear motors spaced out along the route to accelerate and decelerate the pod, spending most of its time coasting on its air cushion. So, while it does share design features with many previously proposed systems, it is not exactly the same as what has been proposed before. There's a good reason why people have been talking about evacuated tube transport for centuries but no one has actually achieved it on a practical scale; the hope is that the low-pressure design will be much cheaper than the evacuated tube design. Now, I am somewhat skeptical of the incredibly low numbers that Elon Musk quotes, especially relative to the much more well understood high-speed rail he's comparing it to. But you shouldn't dismiss it just because there are some superficial similarities to previously proposed systems; as far as I know (and I haven't done much research, so I could be wrong), this is the first such system that proposes using low pressure, a compressor on the front of the pod to deal with the problem of the air mass not being able to flow around it, and an air cushion to support the pod taking advantage of the air taken in by the compressor.