the actual announcement
My comment on the other thread: "Here's the complete proposal:
http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-201....
It's absolutely incredible. Low pressure tube that overcomes air pressure in a tube by having lateral fans push the small amount of air through the capsules, while the capsules is elevated on a small cushion of air produced by the capsule itself, essentially like an air hockey table, but the puck is providing the air. With electric motors like the ones in the Tesla Model S, as well as solar panels on the top of the tube, it would be completely capable of providing all the energy needed to power it. The tube would be built on pylons following I-5 (essentially a straight line) from SF to LA and be capable of covering the distance in half and hour. Since the tube is on pylons, there is little cost in buying land, drastically reducing cost. The entire proposal would cost $6 billion dollars, compared to the current proposed "bullet" train that would cost 68 billion. A one-way ticket would cost around $20. Since the tube is extremely simple, upkeep would be extremely minimal, and the chance of failure in the tube or capsule is very small. Absolutely astounding."
The link you provided is cut, ends in "..." But yea, you nailed it. 68 billion for the bullet train? Whew. For less than 10% of the cost, you could revolutionize transportation. The only thing I wonder, is 840 passengers per hour enough? That isn't nearly enough traffic. How many thousands travel between LA and San Fran every day?Assuming an average departure time of 2 minutes between capsules, a
minimum of 28 passengers per capsule are required to meet 840 passengers per
hour. It is possible to further increase the Hyperloop capacity by reducing the
time between departures. The current baseline requires up to 40 capsules in
activity during rush hour, 6 of which are at the terminals for loading and
unloading of the passengers in approximately 5 minutes.
Strange it didn't work, but this one does: http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-201... It actually is. He addressed it in the paper, but the current yearly number of travelers between them is 6 million people. This facilitates 7 million and some change. He also noted that this would obviously increase the desire to make that trip, and the Hyperloop is capable of increasing the number of passengers as that occurs.That isn't nearly enough traffic. How many thousands travel between LA and San Fran every day?
I would be interested in knowing capacity vs need. How many can fit in the vessel etc. Also, you can't define "need" just in the terms of how many people currently travel from LA to SFO. This type of speed and reduced cost will have people flying in to SFO to go to surrounding areas as well. Also, demand will increase with lower cost and quicker ease of travel. Got to think big, cross country travel. I see some eminent domain in the future of this and eventually LA to NYC. LA and SFA is a good start though.
From now on I'm referring to Elon Musk as "Space Jesus". Though he did say he doesn't plan to build this himself, he's just trying to do the PR for it and maybe the test platform. Exciting stuff none the less, and makes sense if they can actually build a working prototype.
I think that is half the story really, how he presented this. He wants to solve a problem, he has a potential solution but has so much on his plate that he puts it out there, open sourced to the world and says, "here, solve this, build it, this needs to exist." -That's amazing stuff.
I think this is two fold too. This works in his advantage and solves two issues. 1. He gets to be involved with and help another company build this and get some profits off it. He gets to hype it, and help with the initial stuff it sounds like. Win win for them, for Elon, and us humans. 2. This thing is going to be lined with solar panels, he even said it can generate more power than it needs and will have an excess of power that needs to be dumped somewhere. Hmmmm, who owns Solar City... who owns an electric car company that is dying for recharging stations on the West Coast... Think about this. He gets the government land to have whoever/him build this, and throws a couple charging stations along the route to boot, and it's all conveniently located on an interstate. He gets charging infrastructure which helps his other business Tesla. Everywhere they build one of these loops, right along the freeway, could also come some charging stations. He eluded to this in another interview that I can't currently find. This is more than just the Hyperloop, this is infrastructure that pairs well with his other projects. The man is a genius.