Elon Musk to unveil alpha Hyperloop high speed rail plans next month. - Polidicks

[img]http://i.imgur.com/fqlTfjN.jpg[/img] [quote]Tesla Motors CEO and co-founder Elon Musk started off his week on Monday by tweeting an announcement that, from anyone else, would have sounded like a tease for a bad sci-fi movie: "Will publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12. Critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated." If you still think electric cars or rocket ships are cool, you haven't been keeping up with Musk. His "hyperloop" is a proposed "really rapid transit system" that he says will be able to get a passenger from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half-hour. That would mean travel at 800 miles per hour, or about twice the speed of conventional aircraft. [/quote] [url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/07/16/tesla-motors-hyperloop-transit-electric-car/2521215/[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pRB_aG5b-E[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qox_m6jyfmA[/media] Mr Musk is at it again!

Shuttle/train in vacuum tunnel? That's what I'm thinking. I love Elon Musk, I hope this works and becomes very usable and well known, whatever it might be.

You know, if anyone else said it I'd consider it wishful thinking but honestly with the shit this guy has pulled off then why the fuck not just blam out some filthy super trains?

Train riding on an air cushion, powered by electromagnetism? In supersonic speeds?

[QUOTE=DooHoop;41483857]Train riding on an air cushion, powered by electromagnetism? In supersonic speeds?[/QUOTE] The air will only slow it down, remove the cushion of air.

Please let this happen. I was so disappointed by that California measure that passed about the high speed train. Hopefully, if I still live here by the time its done, I can live in the Bay Area and commute to work in LA if I so choose.

[QUOTE=bravehat;41483900]The air will only slow it down, remove the cushion of air.[/QUOTE] No, I think a vacuum might be too complicated so an air cushion will reduce the friction compared to say a railroad track

Some sort of magnetized train in a vacuum could work? Based on my rudimentary understanding of physics, at least.

[QUOTE=DooHoop;41483926]No, I think a vacuum might be too complicated so an air cushion will reduce the friction compared to say a railroad track[/QUOTE] Are you kidding me? Remove the air, use some super cooled magnets and you're golden, that train will fly.

[quote] What Musk has said so far is that the Hyperloop would be a "a cross between a Concorde, a rail gun, and an air hockey table," [/quote] :v:

[QUOTE=bravehat;41483943]Are you kidding me? Remove the air, use some super cooled magnets and you're golden, that train will fly.[/QUOTE] Yeah, but how safe is that? What happens if for some reason the train you're in starts leaking air? Also quite expensive, need to have air locks and so on

It's a bit shitty but this is what i think of when he said all that [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/PA5QrpW.png[/IMG]

The thing about super high speed travel is that the ideas are there (maglev, Concorde, this) but it's just too expensive, and the infrastructure is too cemented into place that it would be very hard to get momentum going for the idea. [sub][sub][sub][sub]Also the Concorde sort of broke windows and was super fucking expensive and shit but that's beside the point [sub][sub]P.S. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq0wgBRIQ60]we sort of rectified the whole sonic boom breaking windows thing so can we have another supersonic transport tia.[/url][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

[QUOTE=DooHoop;41483996]Yeah, but how safe is that? What happens if for some reason the train you're in starts leaking air? Also quite expensive, need to have air locks and so on[/QUOTE] Pretty safe, just have the tunnel running in massive kilometre/half kilometre long blocks with air locks at each end, if something happens on the train then you can just bust open some hatches on the tunnel, let air in and evac the train. The air cushion only serves to slow down the train and reduce the efficiency of the magnets.

[QUOTE=bravehat;41484073]Pretty safe, just have the tunnel running in massive kilometre/half kilometre long blocks with air locks at each end, if something happens on the train then you can just bust open some hatches on the tunnel, let air in and evac the train. The air cushion only serves to slow down the train and reduce the efficiency of the magnets.[/QUOTE] Yep expensive as I said, not to mention that you have to construct a long ass tunnel that can hold a vacuum, that's very expensive indeed. Of course a vacuum is better than an air cushion but you have to be aware that this is supposed to be commercially viable

[QUOTE=DooHoop;41484127]Yep expensive as I said, not to mention that you have to construct a long ass tunnel that can hold a vacuum, that's very expensive indeed. Of course a vacuum is better than an air cushion but you have to be aware that this is supposed to be commercially viable[/QUOTE] Elon musk doesn't do things in the standard way to make them commercially viable dude, don't get me wrong he might just use a standard maglev idea but I don't see any reason to not just cut out the air and make it even faster.

IRL Cave Johnson

ITT: Just remove the air and use magnets! It'll work! A vacuum tunnel would be extremely hard and expensive to maintain. There's plenty of faster methods of travel if we want to have that kind of upkeep.

if you put a maglev train inside a vacuum tube how fast can it go?

[QUOTE=bravehat;41484148]Elon musk doesn't do things in the standard way to make them commercially viable dude, don't get me wrong he might just use a standard maglev idea but I don't see any reason to not just cut out the air and make it even faster.[/QUOTE] Because money. But yeah I will be extremely impressed if he actually found a way of doing a vacuum train cheap and gets someone to invest in it.

[QUOTE=bravehat;41484148]Elon musk doesn't do things in the standard way to make them commercially viable dude, don't get me wrong he might just use a standard maglev idea but I don't see any reason to not just cut out the air and make it even faster.[/QUOTE] Then he builds one tunnel, loses a tonne of money and the idea never takes off and forever remains a pipe dream. No escaping reality.

[QUOTE=meppers;41484174]if you put a maglev train inside a vacuum tube how fast can it go?[/QUOTE] Pretty fast. The limiting factor usually is that you have to accelerate slowly, otherwise the passengers will become grumpy. So depends how long tube you have

[QUOTE=meppers;41484174]if you put a maglev train inside a vacuum tube how fast can it go?[/QUOTE] The only limit would be how much power you can supply to it.

[QUOTE=acds;41484190]Then he builds one tunnel, loses a tonne of money and the idea never takes off and forever remains a [B]pipe dream.[/B] No escaping reality.[/QUOTE] I couldn't stop laughing.

There's no need for a vacuum if you move the air between point A and B at the same speed as the train. This is also a lot safer because if the train hull would be breached the people inside wouldn't explode. The pressure difference could be created using solar panels and some big ass air pumps/fans. Just need to cover up the track with a nearly air tight tunnel for it to work well.

[QUOTE=bravehat;41483790]You know, if anyone else said it I'd consider it wishful thinking but honestly with the shit this guy has pulled off then why the fuck not just blam out some filthy super trains?[/QUOTE] Because most people with ideas aren't Elon Musk. The only reason Musk has been able to get as far as he has with things like Tesla and SpaceX is because he has the capital to back it up and doesn't have to answer to idiots who want to get in the way since it would fuck up their profit margins.

why don't we vote Mr. Musk the president of the World already, he seems to be chock full of amazing ideas

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;41485421]Because most people with ideas aren't Elon Musk. The only reason Musk has been able to get as far as he has with things like Tesla and SpaceX is because he has the capital to back it up and doesn't have to answer to idiots who want to get in the way since it would fuck up their profit margins.[/QUOTE] Elon built that wealth by building and selling companies, each one bigger than the last. First Zip2, then he used the money from that sale to make PayPal, and from that sale he made his pride and joy SpaceX, and joined the Tesla team and basically rebuilt the company saving it. He also invested heavily in Solar City making him the largest share holder. When you own that much a good day on the stock market can make you a few hundred million richer. Right now his wage is around 30 grand but he owns $4.6 billion worth of assets making him a billion dollars more wealthy than Donald Trump. [editline]16th July 2013[/editline] There was a time when he invested most of his money in Tesla and he had to crash on a friends couch for a few days despite technically still being a billionaire.

I still think Linear Induction Motors are the far cheaper and more econimocal way to run high speed rail. At the cost of levitation you still get high speeds using conventional rails. You can even add it to existing rail networks for a lot cheaper than the alternatives.

Can't . . . husk the Musk? v:v:v