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Here's something to mull over during your glorious four day weekend: Elon Musk, the guy behind SpaceX and a lot of other awesome things, publicized his plans for this strange thing called the Hyperloop in August. Its purpose was to replace the high speed rail system that California was going to implement between San Francisco and LA. It's a really radical design, involving a partial vacuum instead of a complete vacuum, and other really cool things. The Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.
What do you guys think? Is it plausible? Does it actually solve the problem (what is the problem he's trying to solve?)? How can we improve it? Do you love it/hate it?
Seems legit - in theory solves obvious issues (air resistance/friction as speed limiters).
ReplyDeleteSome worry about instability (if one of the air fans degrades but not the other)
But actual tech outline seems weird - very concrete, especially with costs.
Needs actual prototyping.
It seems so obvious to think of a partial vacuum but it's true, this is the first time it's been used. Ok, hasn't been used yet, but still.
ReplyDeleteSafety is an issue. The safety of the passengers. I know he mentions some safety precautions but with this radical of a design that goes at such high speeds and high risk, safety is HUGE. He really brushes it off by saying the system saves itself, but what about if the cabin loses oxygen? How long can it be sustained? How long can the pressure in the cabin be sustained? And if they lose power? With something this crazy all the extreme situations need to be considered.
Also the amount of thought he gave to the entertainment system was really unnerving. I don't really know why.