Author Topic: 'Hyperloop' would link LA-SF in 30 mins, if built (& another longish bet) (Read 43608 times)

Buster's Uncle · « **Reply #30 on:** July 01, 2017, 02:36:12 PM »

Elon Musk's 'Godot' machine cuts its first LA tunnel segment
Engadget
David Lumb June 28, 2017

Elon Musk's 'Godot' machine cuts its first LA tunnel segment

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk just tweeted that his tunnel-carving operation, The Boring Company, just completed cutting out its first segment with its Beckett-homaging drill, Godot. While the plan is to build an entire subterranean network underneath the streets of Los Angeles, it's unclear where this first tunnel portion was cut and how far it went. Last we heard, negotiations for permits to start digging under city soil were promising but not concrete.

Location is important: Back in February, The Boring Company was safely and legally cutting test tunnels in the SpaceX parking lot, but anything beyond the borders of the organization's land would require getting permission from the city. The founder tweeted that he'd had "promising conversations" with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti two weeks ago -- and that getting permits was harder than developing the tech for his future tunnel network -- but we haven't seen official confirmation that Musk got the green light to start digging on city grounds.

That network isn't for a new public transit system, mind you: The Boring Company's tunnels will haul cars, bikes and pedestrians on electric sleds at up to 125 miles per hour, according to a concept video released in April, that will shrink half-hour drives aboveground to five-minute blitzes below. The first leg of the network is slated to run from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Culver City, Santa Monica, Westwood and up to Sherman Oaks.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-apos-apos-godot-012900502.html

Buster's Uncle · « **Reply #31 on:** July 14, 2017, 09:42:56 PM »

Hyperloop One speeds forward with its first full-scale test
Digital Trends
Trevor Mogg July 13, 2017

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woaQdXLb1z0" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woaQdXLb1z0</a>

There may be those who continue to raise an eyebrow or two at the idea of the Hyperloop One becoming a reality, but at least one of the companies behind the super-fast transportation system is intent on seeing the project through to completion.

Hyperloop One announced this week that it has taken a major step forward after successfully testing a full-scale version of its technology in a vacuum environment for the very first time.

Conducted recently at the company’s DevLoop test track in Nevada, the trial run saw an “actual size” passenger pod coast above the track for just over five seconds using magnetic levitation technology — better known as maglev — while reaching nearly 2Gs of acceleration.

But if you’re imagining the vehicle hurtling along at Hyperloop’s planned top speed of around 750 mph — a speed that would cut the time of travel between, say, LA and San Francisco from six hours to a mere 35 minutes — then stop right there. It didn’t go anywhere near that fast.

Instead, it reached the test’s target speed of 70 mph, though the successful run means it can now move toward the next phase that will push the pod to a more exciting 250 mph.

Describing it as Hyperloop One’s “Kitty Hawk moment,” the team wrote about the moment the pod started moving:

“’Fire in 5. 4. 3. 2, and 1.’ There was a half-second delay. A clench in the throat. Then, sure enough, the sled shot off down the track, chased by the electromagnetic force from the stator. The wheel mounts rumbled along for a second, and then the rumbling stopped as the pod lifted off the track and glided for 3 seconds before coming to a halt on its own.”

The experimental run enabled the team to put various parts of the technology through its paces, including its highly efficient motor, vehicle suspension, maglev tech, electromagnetic braking, and vacuum pumping system, “proving the full system’s components operate successfully as a single integrated unit in a vacuum,” Hyperloop One said in a release.

Shervin Pishevar, co-founder and CEO of Hyperloop One, was keen to praise his team following the trial run, saying that it had “accomplished what no one has done before by successfully testing the first full-scale Hyperloop system. By achieving full vacuum, we essentially invented our own sky in a tube, as if you’re flying at 200,000 feet in the air,” adding, “For the first time in over 100 years, a new mode of transportation has been introduced. Hyperloop is real, and it’s here now.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hyperloop-one-celebrates-first-full-122550082.html

Buster's Uncle · « **Reply #32 on:** August 04, 2017, 02:40:08 PM »

Hyperloop's First Test Is An Overwhelming Success
Architectural Digest
By Nick Mafi August 3, 2017

After a major test, the technology is one step closer to sending passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in roughly 30 minutes. Photo courtesy of Hyperloop.

Hyperloop is a new technology that is so ambitious, it seems impossible. Yet, after a successful test over the weekend, the three year old company advanced one major step forward in realizing its ultimate goal—safely shuttling passengers between cities at a rate of nearly 200 m.p.h. On a track in a Nevada desert, the Hyperloop One XP-1 (the name of the first-generation pod), successfully accelerated nearly 1,640 feet in 5 seconds at a shocking speed of 192 m.p.h.

"This is the beginning, and the dawn of a new era of transportation," said Shervin Pishevar, Executive Chairman and Co-founder of Hyperloop One, in a statement. "When you hear the sound of the Hyperloop One, you hear the sound of the future." His company's product works by using an electric propulsion system (generating more than 3,000 horsepower) that accelerates a pod through a tube 11 feet in diameter. The pods glide over the surface as they move within a tube that's been stripped of air, which translates to almost frictionless motion during the commute. In more digestible terms, this means a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in roughly 30 minutes (a statistic the company says is possible) is that much closer to actually happening.

Last weekend's test, however, is what Hyperloop One is calling a "proof of concept." And while it was a tangible step in the right direction, there is still much more that needs to be worked out before any human can climb aboard for an inaugural trip. Quickly and efficiently loading people and/or cargo into the tubes without interrupting the motion and weight during a trip, and building stations are a few significant details that need to be understood before the technology can be used for the masses. What's more, if Hyperloop One cannot find a way to compete with the ticket rates found in airlines, trains, or buses, the mode of transportation will only be used by the uber-wealthy.

The concept for Hyperloop was first introduced in 2013. But since then, others have come to take the reigns of the project, as Musk has been increasingly busy advancing other revolutionary projects such as Tesla cars and SpaceX rockets.

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/hyperloops-first-test-is-an-overwhelming-success?mbid=synd_yahootravel

Buster's Uncle · « **Reply #33 on:** February 19, 2018, 03:54:25 PM »

Elon Musk is one step closer to his Hyperloop
Mashable
By Heather Dockray 1 day ago

Image: peter parks/AFP/Getty Images

It's been far easier for Elon Musk to send a rocket to the Mars than move a pebble in Washington, D.C.

That could be changing, according to The Washington Post. The SpaceX entrepreneur's tunnel digging company, The Boring Company, recently received vague permission to do some exploratory digging at 53 New York Avenue NE.

Musk is hoping to build a high speed hyperloop between New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and D.C. The loop will be capable of moving passengers at very high speeds thanks to depressurized tubes and magnet-levitated pods.

The digging site could become a hyperloop station, though plans remain mostly theoretical at this point.

"We’re just beginning, in the mayor’s office, our conversation to get an understanding of what the general vision is for Hyperloop,” John Falcicchio, chief of staff to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, told The Washington Post.

Musk's permit was the only good thing to come out of [Sleezebag]'s infrastructure week. So. Yay.

https://mashable.com/2018/02/17/elon-musk-hyperloop-permit-dc/#rp49I2K5ySq5