5 ms·

Sure, when they figure out how to 1) keep hundreds of miles of tunnels in near vacuum 2) keep said tunnels intact in a seismic area 3) get all the land right

by rorrr2 13y ago

Sure, when they figure out how to 1) keep hundreds of miles of tunnels in near vacuum 2) keep said tunnels intact in a seismic area 3) get all the land rights 4) all of the above at a reasonable price

vectorjohn 13y ago
1-3 are already figured out, they are not hard problems or very different than the existing proposed HSR line. 4 is addressed and the only part that you can't really know until you dive into actual implementation. It is estimated though.
- rorrr2 13y ago
  Figured out? Where do we have long near-vacuum tunnels in a seismic area?
  - vectorjohn 13y ago
    I take it you mean to imply that by "figured out" I mean we have a working example. Obviously not, or we wouldn't be lacking a hyperloop. By figured out I mean all the requisite problems have been solved. It isn't a mystery how we could build a tube and put vacuum pumps on it. And we've built plenty of complex structures in seismic areas.
loceng 13y ago
It's not a vacuum system ... I don't understand where people are getting this idea. Seismic activity will be taken into consideration. Land rights are part of proposed cost. Estimates based on current costs ... and Elon said likely to find more efficiencies to make it cheaper ...
- lisper 13y ago
  > It's not a vacuum system (S)he didn't say it was. (S)he said "near vacuum." And that comes straight from the hyperloop paper: "Just as aircraft climb to high altitudes to travel through less dense air, Hyperloop encloses the capsules in a reduced pressure tube. The pressure of air in Hyperloop is about 1/6 the pressure of the atmosphere on Mars. This is an operating pressure of 100 Pascals, which reduces the drag force of the air by 1,000 times relative to sea level conditions and would be equivalent to flying above 150,000 feet altitude."
  - loceng 13y ago
    Okay, not sure if I missed that or if edited - either way this is a far different situation from maintaining a full vacuum.
    - lisper 13y ago
      There's no such thing as a "full vacuum". 100 Pascals is 0.1% of atmospheric pressure at sea level. It's pretty frickin' close to a "full vacuum". If there's a leak anywhere in the tube you're boned.
      - loceng 13y ago
        By full vacuum I was referring to the conditions you have in space. And no - when you have even a slight allowance for a margin of 'error' or leakage - that's all you need to balance things out. And if the leakage is higher, it's a matter of efficiencies reducing - not complete failure.
- joshmaker 13y ago
  > It's not a vacuum system ... I don't understand where people are getting this idea. http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hyperloop_alpha3.pdf http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachme... Page 12: "The pressure of air in Hyperloop is about 1/6 the pressure of the atmosphere on Mars." Sounds like a near vacuum to me.

by rorrr2 13y ago

vectorjohn 13y ago

1-3 are already figured out, they are not hard problems or very different than the existing proposed HSR line. 4 is addressed and the only part that you can't really know until you dive into actual implementation. It is estimated though.

rorrr2 13y ago
Figured out? Where do we have long near-vacuum tunnels in a seismic area?
- vectorjohn 13y ago
  I take it you mean to imply that by "figured out" I mean we have a working example. Obviously not, or we wouldn't be lacking a hyperloop. By figured out I mean all the requisite problems have been solved. It isn't a mystery how we could build a tube and put vacuum pumps on it. And we've built plenty of complex structures in seismic areas.

loceng 13y ago

It's not a vacuum system ... I don't understand where people are getting this idea. Seismic activity will be taken into consideration. Land rights are part of proposed cost. Estimates based on current costs ... and Elon said likely to find more efficiencies to make it cheaper ...

lisper 13y ago
> It's not a vacuum system (S)he didn't say it was. (S)he said "near vacuum." And that comes straight from the hyperloop paper: "Just as aircraft climb to high altitudes to travel through less dense air, Hyperloop encloses the capsules in a reduced pressure tube. The pressure of air in Hyperloop is about 1/6 the pressure of the atmosphere on Mars. This is an operating pressure of 100 Pascals, which reduces the drag force of the air by 1,000 times relative to sea level conditions and would be equivalent to flying above 150,000 feet altitude."
- loceng 13y ago
  Okay, not sure if I missed that or if edited - either way this is a far different situation from maintaining a full vacuum.
  - lisper 13y ago
    There's no such thing as a "full vacuum". 100 Pascals is 0.1% of atmospheric pressure at sea level. It's pretty frickin' close to a "full vacuum". If there's a leak anywhere in the tube you're boned.
    - loceng 13y ago
      By full vacuum I was referring to the conditions you have in space. And no - when you have even a slight allowance for a margin of 'error' or leakage - that's all you need to balance things out. And if the leakage is higher, it's a matter of efficiencies reducing - not complete failure.
joshmaker 13y ago
> It's not a vacuum system ... I don't understand where people are getting this idea. http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/hyperloop_alpha3.pdf http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachme... Page 12: "The pressure of air in Hyperloop is about 1/6 the pressure of the atmosphere on Mars." Sounds like a near vacuum to me.