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SpaceX is livestreaming a hyperloop pod competition

211 points| MilnerRoute | 9 years ago |tech.slashdot.org | reply

72 comments

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[+] ChuckMcM|9 years ago|reply
So really the hyperloop is just the highway system Elon expects to have on Mars :-)

More seriously I find engineering challenges like this are the single best way to motivate students, it gives them a real problem (no spherical cows or massless pulleys) that tests their ability to create engineering solutions.

[+] aaronblohowiak|9 years ago|reply
And his idea to have the drilling solution for cities is really because you'd need to drill a lot on mars for habitats. You need 5 meters of Martian soil to provide equivalent protection to earth atmosphere
[+] sjwright|9 years ago|reply
In high school we built and competed in a model solar car race. It was great fun and we learned numerous concepts like aerodynamics and torque.
[+] seamonster13|9 years ago|reply
This was my first engineering design challenge and I have to agree with you: working on this from scratch was incredibly fun and is really what allowed me to find my love in engineering. I wish to do more of this type of design work when I graduate, but I'm aware that these things are usually reserved for more senior positions. Nonetheless it was a blast and something to work towards in the future.
[+] soheil|9 years ago|reply
Seems like there should be a separate competition for designing the tube. For example why should the radius of the tube be what it is, why have a center rail instead of two rails or side tracks, should the tube have some sort of inner coating? What if it should be a double tube, a tube within a tube, for sound/temperature isolation and to reduce vibrations, and to reduce the risk of depressurization due to outside impact kinda like a double-haul oil tanker? Can it be made out of glass (that'd be kinda cool to look at/out of)? How close to vacuum the pressure and thick the walls of the tube should be?

Can someone double check my work here: In the webcast they mentioned it will take 30mins to depressurize the tube. The length of the tube is 1mi. For example from LA to SF is roughly 400 miles if the final pump is twice stronger it'll take 6000mins or 4 days to depressurize, I'm assuming they will only need to do this once and have gates to maintain the main tube's pressure near areas of loading/unloading.

[+] nilstycho|9 years ago|reply
The tube design is not final. They included a variety of features to allow some flexibility in designing pods. The radius is smaller than a full-scale hyperloop. Depressurization is not catastropic, as it would be for an oil tanker, so there is no need for a double hull. In fact, some leakage is expected. The real tubes will have airlocks. The test track was originally going to have airlocks, but they were scrapped for complexity.
[+] the8472|9 years ago|reply
a longer tunnel would likely have more pumps along the track. I don't think you should extrapolate from this small-scale model.
[+] firefoxd|9 years ago|reply
I passed there yesterday on my way home. It was surprising to see the long 1 mile tube literally on the closed side walk.

It was past 6 and I shared an uber ride with one of the contestant. He was very secretive of his work but was excited about it.

[+] gizmo|9 years ago|reply
This is really cool. For people just tuning in: this is a test of pods in a vacuum tube travelling by their own power. Designed by students. A pod just got 94km/hr top speed.
[+] smbullet|9 years ago|reply
It's not by their own power, there's a pusher vehicle bringing them up to speed.
[+] flukus|9 years ago|reply
> A pod just got 94km/hr top speed.

Why is that impressive?

[+] imaginenore|9 years ago|reply
If you haven't seen the technical criticisms of Hyperloop, Thunderf00t has an interesting video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFesa01llk

I haven't seen most of the issues he raises addressed.

[+] zenir|9 years ago|reply
It's a partial vacuum not a full vacuum. Stopped watching at that point..
[+] erikpukinskis|9 years ago|reply
The whole video has been discredited.
[+] justifier|9 years ago|reply
they just showed a pov of a pod moving through the hyperloop

it was cool to see the tires on the pod spinning as they made contact at the beginning and the end of the loop but be still while moving through the loop

[+] frik|9 years ago|reply
1967 Bay Area Gravity Vacuum Transit next to BART track ... sounds like Hyperloop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_tube#In_public_trans...

Using the well known pneumatic vaccum tube not just for parcels but for public transport is not a new idea. There have been such transports for some time long in the past. The current question will the first such public transport in this century be built in US or in China or somewhere else. The Transrapid magnetic train was built in Shanghai China (called Maglev there) by Siemens from Germany, another such cool idea that has little usage - but it works like a charm there with 430km/h on a elevated 30km track for more than 10 years.

[+] tamal|9 years ago|reply
Hyperloop utilizes an evacuated vacuum chamber. It's different than a pneumatic tube concept.
[+] modeless|9 years ago|reply
They just said it takes 30-40 minutes to evacuate the tube every time they open it. I expected them to have some kind of airlock to help with that.
[+] ethbro|9 years ago|reply
The only airlock necessary regular operation is for the introduction of squishy meat into the pods, no?

I'd be curious what kind of compression you would need to make air bladders seal around a door.

[+] skykooler|9 years ago|reply
They only expected a few teams to pass all the checks to be ready to compete today, so that was not something they needed to focus on for this competition.
[+] coss|9 years ago|reply
Any information on how students tested their pods?
[+] baking|9 years ago|reply
There was a ten step process. There was a stationary vacuum test to assure that the components would operate in a vacuum, there was a moving open air test on a rail, and the final moving test in the mile long low-pressure tube. The other 7 steps were design and safety reviews and a check of the control system. 3 of the 27 teams passed the first 9 steps and participated in the final speed test.
[+] capkutay|9 years ago|reply
So is this a legitimate step closer to having the hyperloop or is it more of a hiring/PR stunt for SpaceX?

Has anyone confirmed that the hyperloop could survive a seismic event?

[+] robryan|9 years ago|reply
Does it matter? They have built a prototype, has anyone else done that on this scale?

Experimenting with a decent sized model seems like a pretty big step towards having something workable.

[+] djsumdog|9 years ago|reply
I feels very publicity. I wonder what they make this kids sign in order to join the competition. I bet SpaceX gets to keep the intellectual property. Seems like a cheap way to get a bunch of engineering ideas.
[+] RA_Fisher|9 years ago|reply
It's hard to celebrate achievements that can be linked back to Elon knowing that he's lending legitimacy to Trump.