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It's a race befitting the goal of moving passengers and cargo at the speed of sound: Three Southern California companies are building separate test tracks to see how well the "hyperloop" transportation concept works in the real world.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk breathed life into the hyperloop in 2013, when he proposed a network of elevated tubes to transport specially designed capsules over long distances. Top speed: about 750 mph.
Though momentum to build a hyperloop has been growing since, the concept dates back decades.
Capsules would float on a thin cushion of air and use magnetic attraction[sic] and solar power to zoom through nearly airless tubes. With little wind resistance, they could make the 400-mile trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco in about a half-hour. Musk has said that while he does not plan to develop the hyperloop commercially, he wants to accelerate its development.
On Tuesday, his SpaceX rocket launching firm said global infrastructure firm AECOM would build a one-mile track at SpaceX headquarters near Los Angeles International Airport.
If all goes well, by summer's end, the track will host prototype capsules that emerge from a design competition this weekend at Texas A&M University. The prototype pods would be half the size of the system that Musk envisioned and would not carry people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 29 2016, @12:25AM
I know a guy that help Musk lobby CA for the Hyperloop. Cool stuff.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Friday January 29 2016, @12:38AM
http://iveybusinessreview.ca/blogs/mzawalskyhba2014/2014/01/15/hyperloop-a-100-billion-boondoggle/ [iveybusinessreview.ca]
http://iveybusinessreview.ca/blogs/mzawalskyhba2014/2014/07/16/a-20-dollar-hyperloop-ticket/ [iveybusinessreview.ca]
I doubt hyperloop will be able to conquer California, but it would be neat to see it happen.
I'm glad that Musk is investing a little money to make a working prototype rather than dumping the idea into the public domain and backing off as it first appeared.
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(Score: 2) by Gravis on Friday January 29 2016, @02:05AM
I'm glad that Musk is investing a little money to make a working prototype rather than dumping the idea into the public domain and backing off as it first appeared.
i'm not because it seems like a money pit and a waste of time! the other projects have pitfalls but this project has nothing but pitfalls!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Friday January 29 2016, @02:29AM
Elon Musk is all about pitfalls.
If hyperloop can beat high speed rail, test tracks are a good start towards finding that out and dealing with the pitfalls. And California's money won't be blown on this test track.
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(Score: 2) by Gravis on Friday January 29 2016, @02:49AM
the pitfalls i'm talking about are environmental study requirements for installing things anywhere. however, it might be a good idea for places like... Mars.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday January 29 2016, @03:13AM
http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/2013/09/03/is-the-hyperloop-the-greenest-track-for-rapid-transit [thomasnet.com]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 29 2016, @04:06AM
Solar? Batteries? Fuck that expensive shit, use the grid to power the system and Gasoline engines to power the capsules.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by gman003 on Friday January 29 2016, @04:58AM
Something tells me that burning hydrocarbons inside a sealed tube full of people is a Bad Idea.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WizardFusion on Friday January 29 2016, @10:05AM
We won't know until we try!
(Score: 2) by AnonymousCowardNoMore on Friday January 29 2016, @10:47AM
Depends. Are they lawyers?
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Friday January 29 2016, @10:36AM
a relatively small environmental footprint...... The steel tubes ... are set on 20-foot concrete pylons placed every 100 feet. This elevated configuration avoids the environmental disruption involved with underground construction.
Depends on what you mean by "envirionmental disruption". If you only ever walk around looking at your feet (as introspective geeks are reputed to do), you will only notice the hyperloop if you bump into a pylon. However, if you look up sometimes, these things will be eysores of the first order.
avoids the environmental disruption involved with underground construction
Eh ?? Must have taken a lot of nerve to spin that somersault. In the UK here, underground tunnelling is used as a way of minimising disruption, not just constructional, but environmental and all other forms of it as well. The only disruption is around constructional access points which can be miles apart, and such tunnelling is now routine. OTOH, constructing an overground hyperloop, with a pylon every 100 ft, is going to be a lot of disruption during construction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 29 2016, @03:12AM
I'm glad that Musk is investing a little money to make a working prototype rather than dumping the idea into the public domain and backing off as it first appeared.
i'm not because it seems like a money pit and a waste of time! the other projects have pitfalls but this project has nothing but pitfalls!
Exactly. Because public transit is for poor people, not those who can afford mighty ICE vehicles. Those are the future! And with gas being so cheap now, you should go out and buy one with the biggest engine you can find and remove the catalytic converter -- it just makes things worse.