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."

Comments

It's Here Now

[omnichad]

This must be one of those new definitions of "here now"

Re:It's Here Now

[cayenne8]

Hmm...I"m wondering, even with liberal use of "eminent domain", it seems that digging, or above ground install and connection of this type of thing, would be quite difficult to do nationwide in the US....and that's just the private property and existing city problems. The wildly varied and often difficult terrain across the US would pose a lot of problems putting together a system like this, that requires what I'm guessing is pretty complex and massive equipment to put tube, and keep power and vacuum on such a system.

While it sounds really cool.....I'm wondering of the practicality of it in becoming anywhere near a mass transit system.

Re:It's Here Now

[nukenerd]

While it sounds really cool.....I'm wondering of the practicality of it in becoming anywhere near a mass transit system.

It will never be a mass transit system. If a Hyperloop line is built it will only ever be a novelty attraction, perhaps for tourists going to Las Vegas or some Arab Sheik's toy in the desert. At the speeds they are ultimately aiming for it will need to be built in almost straight lines, so across anything but flat landscapes it will need some spectacular viaducts or tunnels - all costly to build to say nothing of the running costs.

It could be built. Anything that does not contravine the laws of physics can be built if you throw enough money and ego at it, and Musk has enough of both. But it will not be operated for long once Musk or that Sheik get bored with it.

Re: It's Here Now

[nukenerd]

It will never move!
It will never sail!
It will never fly!
It will never break the sound barrier!
It will never make it to orbit!

Faggots like you must be exhausted being constantly wrong.. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

Your examples of "It will never .." are all technical attributes. If you actually read my post instead of knee-jerking I actually said "It will never be a mass transit system", which is an economic attribute, and you might also have spotted my words "It could be built". I'll go further and say that a Hyperloop line probably will be built, but only one or two fairly short ones - and soon becoming mere tourists' novelties.

My point was that it would fail as business proposition, only propped up by Musk's money and that of the fans who invest in him.

BTW, I don't think you know what a "mass transit system" means. It means something like the New York or London underground systems, or BART, shifting millions of people for short distances. I don't think Musk would want to comapre Hyperloop with any of those anyway.

Re: It's Here Now

[apoc.famine]

My major issue with the hyperloop is that it overlaps with planes and trains in all the wrong ways. It requires a fixed path like a train, but that path requires an order magnitude more materials and engineering to construct. Why not just lay rail? It is as fast as a plane, but constrained to its path in the tube. Planes can go to any airport, as needed. And that infrastructure is already built, along with the connection infrastructure to get people to/from the air hub.
 
It would be far, far cheaper to just lay high speed rail instead of the hyperloop. All the tech is available, well tested, and much closer to mass production. If you can't do HSR/bullet train and turn a profit, I don't see how you do so with the hyperloop. Sure, it's far, far faster, but the design, manufacturing, testing, certification, and implementation cost of what is essentially a giant pipeline with a flying submarine in it vs HSR is so much higher I can't see the ROI making the hyperloop worth it.

Re: It's Here Now Until ...

[skids]

Obviously this is just a scheme to trick investors into building a giant cannon from which to launch sharks... with lasers.

Re: It's Here Now Until ...

[Derekloffin]

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.

This is not a new idea

[Topwiz]

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.

Re:Serious question

[Strider-]

Actually, modern airliners are moving away from using bleed air for pressurization and the like. The problem with bleed air is that it's hot, dry, and potentially contains atomized lubricants and other things from the engine. (Also why you occasionally get a whiff of jet exhaust as the engines start up). The equipment to process the bleed air into breathable air for the cabin adds significant weight (and thus inefficiency), and the process itself costs engine performance.

On the Dreamliner, Boeing has switched to using an electrical pressurization system. It's lighter weight than the bleed air systems, easier to maintain, and more efficient. Airbus is likely doing the same thing on their new airliners.

Re:Serious question

[MattskEE]

Implosion bomb? What makes you think that a vacuum chamber (~14psi) will implode with bomb-like force in the event of an implosion?

Humans have built plenty of infrastructure operating at much higher pressure differentials (like water, gas, and oil pipelines) than the paltry pressure of a vacuum.

Re:For the first time in over 100 years... Segway!

[Applehu Akbar]

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.

Cool prediction, Bro.

[Brannon]

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