Hyperloop One Reveals Test Track Progress (computerworld.com.au)

Hyperloop One has released the first photographs of its "proof of concept" test track near Las Vegas, Nevada, and there's now also a couple short videos online. Slashdot reader angry tapir quotes Computerworld: The company revealed its progress on Tuesday at the Middle East Rail conference in Dubai, sharing pictures and footage of its Nevada development site dubbed "DevLoop." Taking Elon Musk's Hyperloop concept of a levitating pod in a low-pressure tube, Hyperloop One has developed what is so far the only full-scale, full-system Hyperloop test site...and says it plans to test the entire apparatus this year.
In addition, Investopedia reports that Hyperloop One has now also signed letter of intent agreements to investigate the feasibility of building more hyperloop systems in Finland and the Netherlands.

Comments

Re:Emergencies?

[religionofpeas]

How do you get out of an airplane when something goes wrong ?

Re:Emergencies?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I never cease to be amazed how many people think vacuum exerts a massive amount of pressure; Hollywood has a *LOT* to answer for for all those ridiculous explosive decompression scenes.

In space the pressure is an outward force, in atmosphere it's an inward force.

Vacuum can create the exertion a LOT of pressure. Try the old experiment where you lay a ruler hanging halfway off of a table and cover the end on the table with a sheet of newspaper. Now bang on the end of the ruler that's off the table and see what happens. The ruler stays right where it is because the pressure of the air against the newspaper is actually very significant. Figure 15lbs per sq inch on a 20"x20" sheet of paper (400 sq inches) is 6000 lbs.

People who haven't seen this demonstration are always shocked when the ruler doesn't fly up and take the newspaper with it. You're much more likely to break the ruler off at the edge of the table. Try it if you don't believe me.

Or if you're lazy, watch a demonstration here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I worked with high vacuum quite a bit in my younger days and the forces involved can be immense. The forces involved with the hyperloop are really quite insane and the possibility of an accident is very, very high. The results could be catastrophic to say the least.