This. The real issue isn't the technology or even the money required to build it. The issue is acquiring the land and permits from all over the country for this large super speed rail to come through someone's town.
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Hyperloop - LA to NY in 45 Minutes
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This. The real issue isn't the technology or even the money required to build it. The issue is acquiring the land and permits from all over the country for this large super speed rail to come through someone's town.
That estimate is laughable.
It won't even be enough to bribe all politicians involved.
-t
I'VE got an idea! When the soldiers come home from Afghanistan, let's give them jobs as workers on a futuristic coast-to-coast transportation system, and replace the contractor's projects from bombs to building parts for the hyperloop!!!
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Underground baby...
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Underground baby...
How would the people be able to slow down going that fast without turning them into goo? Did they invented a gadget to to cancel the effects of inertia on the human body?
It's not the speed that kills ya, it's the abruptness of the stop. They decelerate the same way they accelerate: gradually.
Suppose 5 m/sec/sec acceleration and deceleration, i.e. 1/2 g. Then do the math. This is left as an exercise for the reader.
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A sure way to reduce costs. Not.
4000 km distance as the crow flies at +/-5 m/s/s would be about 42.163 min
45 min seems quite reasonable at a comfortable rate
Add in TSA and it shouldn't take more than 5-6hrs!
Those are going to be some expensive tickets - how many "trains" do you think can go down this same tube at any given time? How close do you want trains running in the opposite direction (time schedule wise) really running, with relative velocities of 4,000 MPH... ?
An air-tight tube, spanning the entire US... even pretending we had some magical walls and interconnects that didn't leak even a little - just the materials inside the tube will outgas - requiring vacuum pumps running 24/7 365. That's going to eat up some grid power, for sure. Now back in reality - where it's very hard to seal vacuum systems - how many more pumps will be needed?
What happens if a train moving @ 2,000MPH slams into atmosphere because of earth-quake, accident, terrorism - something resulting in vacuum loss. That's going to be no better than a brick wall...
If the train becomes immobilized due to an on board failure / hazard - how long to bring this tunnel to atmosphere, so that people can be evacuated?
I think this is a fantastic idea, just like a space elevator, it's going to be awesome, some day... eventually...
An air-tight tube, spanning the entire US... even pretending we had some magical walls and interconnects that didn't leak even a little - just the materials inside the tube will outgas - requiring vacuum pumps running 24/7 365. That's going to eat up some grid power, for sure. Now back in reality - where it's very hard to seal vacuum systems - how many more pumps will be needed?
What happens if a train moving @ 2,000MPH slams into atmosphere because of earth-quake, accident, terrorism - something resulting in vacuum loss. That's going to be no better than a brick wall...
If the train becomes immobilized due to an on board failure / hazard - how long to bring this tunnel to atmosphere, so that people can be evacuated?
I think this is a fantastic idea, just like a space elevator, it's going to be awesome, some day... eventually...
Here's a semi-relevant What-If, courtesy of xkcd (with link to NASA compressive heating calculator):
http://what-if.xkcd.com/28/
Keywords: Pittsburgh rare.
I tend to believe Musk himself:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/statuses/224406502188916739
We'll know a lot more real soon now. Hopefully it'll be far more revolutionary than Segway.
B
I tend to believe Musk himself:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/statuses/224406502188916739
We'll know a lot more real soon now. Hopefully it'll be far more revolutionary than Segway.
B
In that case, it would have been nice if Wired.com corrected their article - provided they were made aware of this.
No vacuum, but it's going to move over 2,000 MPH @ sea level, and be much more efficient then aircraft? Has he not seen all the time / effort / energy that's gone into just breaking the 1,000 MPH barrier @ sea level - just once? Let alone doubling it, and maintaining it for thousands of miles, and hauling more cargo, and being safer...
Ignore that entirely - no vacuum - and supersonic speeds @ ground level. You think people had a problem with Concord's sonic boom 30,000 feet (or more) away? This is going to be on the ground.
I'm going to side with physics, rather than that Twitter feed...
Ignore that entirely - no vacuum - and supersonic speeds @ ground level. You think people had a problem with Concord's sonic boom 30,000 feet (or more) away? This is going to be on the ground.
I'm going to side with physics, rather than that Twitter feed...
Does seem suspicious! At least the vacuum tube makes sense, even if its basically unaffordable.
Astronomical costs and hundreds of years of legal battles over land rights aside. Wouldn't being in a tube cause massive problems with wind resistance and compression of air ahead of the train traveling at such speeds through the tunnels? Since Musk says it does not use a vacuum. I'd think open air would be better then you have problems with a sonic boom.
$6 billion to build some supersonic maglev track across the entire US? The estimated cost to build a new football stadium here in town is around a billion. $6 billion to build a cross-country brand-new technology mag-lev track with cars going 4,000mph on it all the way across the country. Come on.
We can't get a freaking 5-mile track added to our subway system in Atlanta without mounds of controversy and protest and several hundred million dollars.
If I'm wrong, I'll admit it. But I'm going on record as saying there is no way that this project would cost $6 billion. I'll also go on record as saying that it will never happen, at least not in my lifetime.
Well today is the day that Musk is supposed to release details of his grand idea...
Personally I suspect the biggest hurdle isn't going to be technical, but rather the lobbying power of the entire air industry. From airlines to manufacturers.
Personally I suspect the biggest hurdle isn't going to be technical, but rather the lobbying power of the entire air industry. From airlines to manufacturers.
Valid point. I think it would be easier to build a Hypersonic Airliner, with much less infrastructure requirements, but again, it's all about money and would something like this be able to make it? The Concord (not hypersonic) as I recall was subsided and not transport for the masses.
And lets not forget:
- Airline pilot & flight attendants unions
- ATC Unions
- Aircraft mechanics
- Network & communication companies (no more video confering)
- Jet lag cure pill manufacturers
- Guys tired of their SO (no more excuses to not be back by nightime)
- Jiiffy Lube & the oil changing lobby
- and the all important peanut and pretzel packaging conglomerates
Elon Musk @elonmusk 1h
Pulled all nighter working on Hyperloop (as did others). Hopefully not too many mistakes. Will publish link at 1:30 PDT.
Pulled all nighter working on Hyperloop (as did others). Hopefully not too many mistakes. Will publish link at 1:30 PDT.
The problem with the Concorde was that it wasn't allowed to make transcontinental flights because of the sonic booms it created. This severely limited its market. Hypersonic aircraft wouldn't have this problem since they would be flying above the atmosphere.
