SpaceX and space-relevant hyperloop updates and discussion thread

[su27k]

rLoop, the team from the other website won the best non-student team award, I guess this proves they have some capable engineers over there, instead of just lolcatz lovers as some here seem to believe...

[woods170]

The winners of the Hyperloop competition have been announced. MIT won with the TU of Delft coming in second. In total 22 teams (with possible 10 more) will get the change to test their pod on the testtrack currently under construction.

More information and source : http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/30/10877442/elon-musk-spacex-hyperloop-competition-awards

Winning team: http://hyperloop.mit.edu/

Very nice to see Delft coming in  at second place in the Hyperloop competition. But then again they do have a bit of reputation to protect after former astronaut Wubbo Ockels firmly set TU Delft in the direction of "everything sustainable". For example, TU Delft entered the World Solar Challenge eight times. Six times they won. On the other two occassions they finished second.

[CuddlyRocket]

Elon said that the Hyperloop technology could be used on Mars; except that because of the low atmospheric density you wouldn't need a tube and would just need a track or even just a road.

[TomTX]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

[Nine_thermidor]

In terms of relevance to SpaceX's long term profitability (and therefore space travel) I've often wondered if this is one of Elon's synergy plays - if you are going to build a very long, very sealed tube, you are presumably going to need a parts manufacturer with experience of building segments of long metal tubes, with with a few metres diametre. A bit like how the home battery storage product arose out of Tesla and the gigafactory, could earth-bound hyperloop component construction be spun out of their stir-friction welding metal cylinder knowledge? 

Or maybe the tube will be concrete and I'm barking up entirely the wrong pylon?

[Beittil]

Hmm, is it just me or would actually building a tube on Mars not be a bad idea after all? It just doesn't have to be nearly as sophisticated as here on Earth since there is no need to actually pump out any air.

The main benefit, I think, would be maintetance. There is often a lot of dust in the air on Mars, seems like a good idea to me to me that if you build a track on Mars that you do it inside a cheaply constructed tunnel that is just sitting on the surface. That way you avoid having to clean up the track all the time.

[starsilk]

seems to me the pods will be heavily dependant on having a tube around them, for steering but also for the flow of very thin 'air' around them. removing the tube would require completely different pod design..

[Jdeshetler]

There is often a lot of dust in the air on Mars, seems like a good idea to me to me that if you build a track on Mars that you do it inside a cheaply constructed tunnel that is just sitting on the surface. That way you avoid having to clean up the track all the time.

Mars dust might be more like abrasive & electrically charged talcum powder which will be much hard to clean up than typical Earth dust.

[Beittil]

Which would seem like another reason to build a tube for the pods anyway. Easier to maintain and clean that way, especially on Mars.

[Ludus]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

[GORDAP]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

Err, wouldn't that separate one large chunk of ocean from being accessible to another large chunk (wrt shipping)?

[JamesH]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

Err, wouldn't that separate one large chunk of ocean from being accessible to another large chunk (wrt shipping)?

20m down is quite a long way, even for the largest ships.  This beast had a draft of 24m, and was unable to traverse many places normal shipping would go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawise_Giant


Fishing would be a problem.

[Hotblack Desiato]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

Err, wouldn't that separate one large chunk of ocean from being accessible to another large chunk (wrt shipping)?

20m down is quite a long way, even for the largest ships.  This beast had a draft of 24m, and was unable to traverse many places normal shipping would go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawise_Giant


Fishing would be a problem.

Going down to 50m would virtually solve all problems with ships (except submarines, fishers and cable laying ships). The fishers don't actually need to cross the line while having their nets out in the water. Cable layers however need to traverse the route with the cable. I have two solutions so far for this: Route the tube above the water for short distances (essencially build a bridge in the middle of the water). Or, since they just need to get the cable over to the other line, add a way to temporarely raise the tube to the surface, and route the cable below the tube. It's bit more complicated, may require to cut the cable and reattach the two ends, but that's a standard procedure during repairs.

The big advantage of maritime hyperloop: Transatlantic routes. Hop into hyperloop in Paris, and ride to New York (Might require a few stops in swimming cities, being locked up in a hyperloop-cabine with 30 other persons for 10 hours, there are plenty of things that are way funnier. and hyperloop-cabines are not equipped with a toilet ;-).

EDIT: added the word solve in italics.

[Robotbeat]

...that's why the hypersonic variant would come in handy!

(According to Musk speaking at Texas A&M Hyperloop design competition, that's where the "hyper" in Hyperloop comes from...)

[AncientU]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

Not sure how this oceanic discussion 'space-relevant'...
But, I've spent considerable time submerged to well below 20m and can report that storms are quite violent at 20m, and still strong 100m.  Buoyant tubes, suspended on cables won't be stable at 20m.

[llanitedave]

I think you're dramatically underestimating the difficulty of obtaining rights-of-way, and how curvy even main roads are.  Take 101 from LA to SF.  Have a look a this one spot between them:

https://goo.gl/maps/sWO90

Which is why you would route largely along I-5.

The Hyperloop Q&A at Texas A&M yesterday was interesting. Elon apparently thinks that Hyperloop will basically work as-is on Mars (likely minus the tube, maybe minus any tracking.... just a road. Going fast...)

Hyperloop Tech also seems to be looking at routing through the ocean. The tubes would be buoyant and would be anchored with cables sort of like a reverse suspension bridge. No right of way issues. Very straight routes. Better security. Better earthquake isolation. Down 20m in a 100 or 200m of water it would be below storms and ship traffic.

Not sure how this oceanic discussion 'space-relevant'...
But, I've spent considerable time submerged to well below 20m and can report that storms are quite violent at 20m, and still strong 100m.  Buoyant tubes, suspended on cables won't be stable at 20m.

Agreed.  I have been on a submarine submerged well below 300 feet, and it was still rocking quite significantly from a storm on the surface.

[Semmel]

Submerged hyperloops are not a good idea in my opinion. Alone the dangers of a leak at 20m or more below the surface is prohibitive. How would you get people out? How would you get the water out? How would you repair the corrosion of the salt water in case of a leakage?

Additional: hyperloop is not as good as an airplanes at long distances. Its just not cost efficient.

[Hotblack Desiato]

Another idea: How about hyperloop through the bering strait? It's just 80km with 2 islands in the middle, and would allow passenger and cargo transfers between japan, korea, china, russia and canada, usa, mexico and the south american countries on the other side.

The underground at the bering strait is plain granite and well suited for drilling tunnels.

One hyperloop track (passenger and cargo, 4m wide, enough for a TEU-container) for each direction, one regular railway for non-express-cargo (if required), and pipelines for oil and gas.

This would connect two of the largest economies in the world.

[Chris Bergin]

I think the idea of this thread is for the space related elements, as opposed to Hyperloop itself. So let's get this one back on track

[Robotbeat]

I think the idea of this thread is for the space related elements, as opposed to Hyperloop itself. So let's get this one back on track

I see what you did thar...