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Hyperloop One Conducts First Full Systems Test But Only Traveled 70MPH (jalopnik.com)
Thelasko shares a report from Jalopnik about Hyperloop One's first full systems Hyperloop test: In the test, Hyperloop says its vehicle traveled the first portion of a track using magnetic levitation in a vacuum environment, and reached 70 mph. It's a significant leap past the company's test a year ago, which sent a sled down a track for a grand total of two seconds. And while that's not the lighting-fast speed that Hyperloop Ones says its futurist transport system could go, the company says this test -- conducted privately on May 12 -- is only Phase 1. Hyperloop One's in the process of the next phase, now aiming for 250 mph. "By achieving full vacuum, we essentially invented our own sky in a tube, as if you're flying at 200,000 feet in the air," said Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Hyperloop One. "For the first time in over 100 years, a new mode of transportation has been introduced. Hyperloop is real, and it's here now."
This must be one of those new definitions of "here now"
If there's no air in the tube, how do you breathe? I mean, there is air in the capsule but I assume that is finite. So how do they refresh the air and what do they do if there's a rupture?
What about the Segway? That massively changed how people take tours of downtown areas.
Vacuum rarely kills people. I mean, it'll fucking hurt, but you don't go pop like in a Bond movie or something.
And if it is closed system, you would be able to detect loss of vacuum quite quickly, I imagine, and do something about it (e.g. open a bunch of small emergency valves to flood the tube with natural air quite quickly, also slowly the train in the process).
That said, it's still a stupid idea that nobody really wants or needs.
Quick, let's ground all aircraft before everyone dies.
Obviously this is just a scheme to trick investors into building a giant cannon from which to launch sharks... with lasers.
Someone had to do it.
You're right... you'd have about 15 seconds of useful consciousness and death in a minute or two, and you're not going to get rescued in that minute or two, sorry. But don't worry, this isn't a very likely scenario. Far more likely is the vacuum of the tube being compromised, in which case the on rush of air will hit you at approximately mach 1 and you'll likely be dead instantly as it is basically like getting hit by a bomb's shock wave. Worse case you survive long enough to realize you're now the bullet in a very large gun that is capped at either end... and then you die on impact.
In the 1973 Gene Roddenberry movie 'Genesis II' they have an underground transportation system very much like the hyperloop. This is also the movie where Mariette Hartley famously has two belly buttons. When she appeared on Star Trek the censors wouldn't allow her to show a belly button so Gene decided to give her two as a middle finger to the earlier censors.
What about the Segway? That massively changed how people take tours of downtown areas.
It also allowed employment of 500-lb men as mall cops.
You're right... you'd have about 15 seconds of useful consciousness and death in a minute or two, and you're not going to get rescued in that minute or two, sorry.
Considering that you should have air for the entire journey in tanks I imagine you'd have oxygen masks dropping down like in airplanes, that should buy a little more time unless the cabin is cracked wide open. And I don't think emergency pressurization is such a big deal, more on that below.
But don't worry, this isn't a very likely scenario. Far more likely is the vacuum of the tube being compromised, in which case the on rush of air will hit you at approximately mach 1 and you'll likely be dead instantly as it is basically like getting hit by a bomb's shock wave. Worse case you survive long enough to realize you're now the bullet in a very large gun that is capped at either end... and then you die on impact.
There's a reason most bombs are surrounded by shrapnel, yes air has a weight of 101 kPa = 101 kN/m^2 = 10300 kg/m^2 at 1G. But it's also just air, it'll quickly rush around any obstacle and create a pressure on the other side. I saw the supposed "scientist" that "proved" this was impossible and it was a joke that wouldn't even pass for Mythbuster science. He literally made it like a bullet in a gun barrel.
The only thing you'd have to do to totally change the outcome of that experiment is to not let the pod fill the whole tube. There's no reason for that and that air rushing past would then have to accelerate many tons of train in the brief period there's a significant pressure differential. After that it'll just become air resistance helping the pod stop. Seriously, I laughed so hard at this "proof"...
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always so convinced that they've found the fundamental flaw that all those smart people actually working on the technology have completely missed.
So part of the tube is at near vacuum and part of it is at 1 atm? That's a neat trick, how do you plan to keep the air to stay put so you can create that perfect "air wall"? I'm no big city lawyer, but it seems to me that any leak or rupture would cause a gradual increase in air pressure over a long segment of the tube. The train would encounter this and start gradually slowing down. Also, the pod would be aerodynamic, I'm not sure what makes you think it would be flattened by an increase in external air pressure. Are planes flattened when they descend?
I'll put that one right next to: 1. Electric cars will never happen 2. Self driving cars will never happen 3. Solar power will never happen 4. SpaceX will never happen
I have zero interest in participating in certain type of discussion with certain type of people (with certain type of knowledge, expectations, attitude, etc.), but I haven't been able to refrain myself from writing something about this new dishonest PR attempt (one quick joke-for-me-but-kind-of-serious-for-some-people: "We are at 77 and want to reach 255, how should we proceed?" - "Scale it up! Do I have to do all the thinking here or what?". If you don’t get it and/or think that it makes sense, please try to avoid dealing with me).
Below these lines, I am writing what I expect this whole Hyperloop thing to be now and in the near/far future. I invite any person to quote me on any part of this post at any point. Note that I haven't performed a proper analysis of this whole situation and that delivering long-term guesses under these conditions isn't precisely my style, but I do feel like making an exception here.
What you will never see:
- Crazily-high speeds as advertised. Current high-speed trains can be considered as way above the maximum speed that any system on these lines will ever reach.
- A vacuum-based system on the lines of the one being proposed for big enough sizes and long enough stretches. With big enough, I mean something suitable for comfortable transportation of people (i.e., train-like size); and, with long enough stretches, I mean anything over 200 km even under ideal conditions (e.g., desert) and much less in more difficult scenarios (e.g., mountains).
- Commercial trips even of much more restricted versions (as described below) transporting people, animals or any other delicate/dangerous/similar stuff.
Honestly, I don't think that any version of this approach will ever become a commercial reality; but with enough money, contacts and persistence (not precisely of the good kind, understood as motivated by common sense, being the objectively best approach and cheaper/safer/more reliable than other alternatives), a much more restricted version might become a reality at some point.
That quite-unlikely-to-happen highly restricted version would be defined by the following points:
- Its operating conditions would be much more limited than the ones being currently advertised: much slower speeds (as said, speed of current trains represents an unreachable upper threshold), much smaller sizes (anything bigger than 1 metre seems already too much), much shorter distances (anything over 100 km seems already too much), etc.
- It would be focused on the transportation of not-living, resisting, not-dangerous substances/goods. Or, even more likely, it would be some kind of toy or commodity for either rich people or companies eminently using that system as some kind of promotion.
- Minimising its (huge) construction/risk costs would be a top priority and, consequently, the orography/climate would be extremely relevant. It would most likely run though dessert/plain areas with a quite stable/moderate weather.
- An approach on these lines is extremely unlikely to ever become profitable. The limited number of income-generation alternatives associated with this system would probably never be in a position to return the required investments (compensating the huge building/maintenance costs, much higher than the ones needed by other transportation systems which usually have an important governmental support).
Custom Solvers 2.0 = Alvaro Carballo Garcia = varocarbas.