Richard Branson's Virgin Group Invests in Super-fast Hyperloop One Transport System (cnbc.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Richard Branson's Virgin Group is investing in Hyperloop One, a company developing the super-fast transport system originally conceptualized up by Elon Musk. Hypleroop One is re-branding itself as Virgin Hyperloop One, and Branson is joining the board, the billionaire British investor and entrepreneur announced Thursday on CNBC from London. Virgin Hyperloop One will focus on a passenger and mixed-use cargo service. Last month, Hypleroop One raised $85 million in new funding, and that includes the investment from Virgin. Branson refused to breakout the numbers. Breaking ground on a commercial hyperloop in two to four years is possible if "governments move quickly," Branson said in a "Squawk Box" interview. So far, no government has approved a plan for a hyperloop system. The Virgin founder also said that building a hyperloop tube above or below ground is "cheaper" and "faster" than a traditional rail network. The idea of the transport system -- conceived in 2013 by Musk, the head of both electric automaker Tesla and SpaceX -- works by propelling pods through tubes using magnets reaching speeds akin to those of airplanes.

Comments

Re:Musk "conceived in 2013?"

[Rei]

The system Musk conceived (Hyperloop Alpha) is not a vactrain, and more to the point, would not work in a vacuum. Hyperloop One is based on air bearings for suspension to avoid the need for (expensive) maglev and to avoid the need to maintain a hard vacuum (which requires significant pumping) - simultaneously overcoming two of the largest problems with vactrains. The drag problem for non-hard-vacuum tubes is overcome in Hyperloop Alpha via battery powered compressors, which boost the air bearings.

"Hyperloop" One, however, is a standard maglev vactrain, and an old concept. So are most of the student competitors on the "Hyperloop pod design contest" (otherwise known as "Cleverly disguised talent scouting for SpaceX" ;) )

Re:Musk "conceived in 2013?"

[Rei]

How am I supposed to prove a negative? The person is asserting that there exists an example from before Musk. It is incumbent upon them to present what they're talking about, not to ask me to search the entire Earth for evidence of something that does not exist so that that I can prove my case via exhausting the entire search space. Same with their assertion that Musk was "originally pushing a vac train". I've read everything that's come out of Musk and SpaceX about the topic of Hyperloop, and no such thing occurred. If they think it did, they need to show where it occurred.

On the other hand, are you really naive enough to think that Musk was the first to conceive a train with "air bearings?"

Hyperloop has three parts, all of which are integral to the concept, because the concept does not work with any one of them missing:

1) Craft suspended by air bearings
2) Air bearings fed by a battery-powered compressor
3) System sealed inside a a) mostly evacuated, but b) not hard vacuum tube, in order to allow for extreme speed travel.

Without any one of those, Hyperloop Alpha does not exist. Without air bearings, it has to rely on maglev, which is too expensive. Without the compressor, not only would the air bearings not work in the low pressure air, but a "wall" of air would build up ahead of the craft and present too much drag. Without 3a, high speeds cannot be reached. Without 3b, #1 and #2 don't work, and the cost for pumping becomes excessive.

If you're not talking about the integration of #1, #2, and #3, and how they all tie closely together, you're not talking about Hyperloop Alpha.

There is no meaningful invention in our modern age that invents all of its component parts. An invention is how you build off of existing technology to create something that enables new possibilities.

Again: if you, or anyone else, thinks they have prior art to a system combining #1, #2 and #3, present it. Put up or shut up.

(Note: this exact same request has been made on pretty much every single Slashdot thread since the concept came out. Not a single person has ever "put up").