SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Hyperloop One claims that its prototype ultra-fast train has completed a first full systems test in a vacuum, reaching a speed of 70 mph. The sled was able to magnetically levitate on the track for 5.3 seconds and “reached nearly 2Gs of acceleration,” according to the company.
The test was conducted privately but Hyperloop One offered some video that included footage from testing. Based on that footage plus a few seconds of additional b-roll shared with media, a lightweight skeleton sled uses a linear motor to accelerate, levitates briefly, and then comes to a halt as the brakes are applied.
Hyperloop One was created as an answer to a challenge from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wrote a white paper envisioning a mode of transportation that would send pods at speeds greater than 700mph using a low-friction environment and levitation using air bearings.
Source: Ars Technica
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 14 2017, @05:29PM
Because there's no alternative to air transport (except short reach, as illustrated by airlines not competing with high-speed train)?
Because people understand falling from the sky, or being in a stopped train, but getting trapped in a dark vacuum tunnel for hours because some external impact way ahead caused the tube to fold under the pressure, crushing the next few pods, is the stuff of nightmares (what I always say about Mars trip simulators: how long before that door opens?). There's a reason why hollywood tube transporters are always transparent, it's not just an excuse for cool futuristic CGI.
Also because the air is always available. With Hyperloop, like with any tunnel, every tube accident will shutdown the system for a while, threatening the financial viability of the whole platform.
Hyperloop's commercial viability, at the kind of throughput numbers implied by the pods, and limited by vacuum procedures/costs and maintenance shutdown, is highly questionable. Those tickets will be extremely expensive, such that even the the rich and thrill-seekers will take the plane.