One tiny crack in the tube and boom everyone inside will be squirted out like toothpaste. Now imagine if this thing was above ground and some loon with a powerful gun thinks it'd be fun to shoot at it. Plus they want to seal off sections every 1/4 mile with a big sliding door that has to open on time 100% of the time but doing that in a vacuum will make it not want to open. I honest think this whole thing is a Pipe Dream...^^
The amount of energy needed to maintain a vacuum over tubes in such long distances is mind boggling and economically not viable .Not to mention the safety challenges that come with vacuums as such.
The pressure difference isn't anywhere near high enough for that, more likely a slow death through asphyxiation. P.S google crab sucked into underwater pipe to see what a real pressure difference does XD
I can't believe how many people here, even in an enthusiast tech website, have such unimaginative minds. When we talk about a possibile future tech, we shouldn't be limited to what is possbile or what would be the costs nowadays or in the near future, we should look much, much farer, as things can change rapidly. Sooner or later something will replace trains for what concerns mass transportation via land. only by testing and experimenting we will find a better solution, not to mention that working on crazy things can bring innovations in areas that aren't even remotely connected. The fact alone that someone is actually working on this thing is awesome for me. Most Leonardo Da Vinci projects never seen the light, as they were unpractical or hindered by the limited tech of the time, but still inspired generations of engineers.
You misunderstand us then. Nobody is saying that you should not research futuristic tech, quite the contrary. What we are against is the hype, the "OMG a tech CEO dude" fanboyism, the PR, the insanely obnoxious attempts to sell things as more than they are, the super, incredibly dumb tech zines and news sites that pick it up and further spread what is essentially propaganda/misinfo for clicks. The consumerist society is pretty lame already, without tech bros&sis and their startups trying to milk everyone further.
I see it then, and agree with you on that. Still, propaganda and clicks can bring funds and help projects going on. Elon Musk surely isn't doing all this kind of things for the good of all, he's doing it for the good of his already very big pocket. Still, even if Musk is a greedy impostor, it is also thanks to him that we are speaking again of space expolaration, and that brilliant people can work on crazy projects that, even if they will never be viable, can light the road for others.
THats not going to happen because pressure inside is not that low. Bigger concern are vacuum pumps ( i know a bit about them) , they said they need vacum pumps every 100m ( if i heard correct ). Vacuum pumps take enormous amount of energy, maybe they can use very small one but still ....
...Using tax payers money to do it...besides, what do you want to light the way for? So that Elon can light up the road into a dead end, or, off a cliff? Space exploration...you must be kidding, you have to be kidding...explore what? Another dead and lifeless planetary body? For what? For how much tax payers $$$ to be totally and utterly wasted so we can find out exactly what we already know? Gimme a break. If HE wants to waste his own money, go the F ahead - wasting other peoples money so he can increase the share value of his vanity company - line drawn in sand. By the way, the planet Earth is already in space, as is the solar system and everything in it. Exploring Earth is the same as exploring space, in fact, it's more interesting, as there is more on earth than there is on Mars or even, every single other object orbiting the sun. Going to Mars is a death sentence and, a ****ing expensive and pointless death sentence - so if EM wants to go there himself using his own money and then die there like a fool, I guess I could live with that as, the world would be lighter by one moron. EM's life is not to be lived vicariously. It's just not worth your time, like...BS vacumn train ideas that other people came up with, but, have a new 'hyperloop' badge on them...
The winning recipe has always been - the govts money for fundamental research. And if/when something pops up, only then you spend your own money, patent it and involve private capital and angel investors. Also known as socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the rest. That's why its "open-source", because they got nothing except that embarrassing pamphlet that a slightly smarter high-school kid could have came up with. Otherwise it would have been rounded up and patented loooong ago.
Something doesnt make sense. If governments are willing to invest billions in such projects, you would think they've also put in tons of money in feasibility studies. I'm not sure who to believe, the naysayers or those who think it can be done.
You are unimaginative, friend. People thought land was flat, and there was no need to go and check.. because we knew. And Earth was at the center of the universe and everyhing turned aroud it... any time spent trying to prove it was time wasted... because well... we already knew. I could go on for hours. Now... I'm sure you are laughing, those people were silly troglodytes, we are now so adavanced and know everything.... Yeah... for sure... History tells us that every time we assume we know something... time, be it decades or centuries, tells us we were wrong, that's the case for biology, medicine, astronomy etc. Centuries from now we will look as troglodytes as those that painted Earth as a flat mass on a paper sheet. The differencre between us and past troglodytes is that we can see a bigger picture, bigger yes but still very small and incomplete. The truth is that we don't know.
That's fallacious...but understandable. We do know. We have known for years...centuries in fact. Mars is dead rock. A big waste of time, and I am tired of this ancient and...provincial view of achievement to support a narrative that states: we need someone to do X to show that it can be done. We do NOT need to go to Mars to know that we can go to Mars. I know we can/could go there, because we're Man, and Man can do anything...except accept truth, it seems.
I'm sorry, but you don't know this. Everything you're saying is assumption. Until 2 years ago we didn't even know liquid water exists on Mars, and neither did we know that organic molecules exist on the planet's surface. If we hadn't sent Curiosity on Mars we'd still be none the wiser. I agree that we're not spending enough on exploring our own planet (mapping the ocean floor for example), but no matter how you look at it space exploration is one of the next large steps in humanity's history. If anything, we're completely trashing our planet right now so discovering potentially habitable planets (even with man-made infrastructure) would be a good thing.
No offense man, but you seem to have a limited view in this aspect. You are too focused on Mars. You see Mars, I see beyond Mars. Mars is just one step, a step like landing on Moon, building a permanent space station etc. Steps by steps techs and knowledge will improve and things will happen. Maybe you don't care because these small steps will not bring anything valuable during the course of your life, but humanity as whole should think in a much bigger scope and should care.
You dont understand. Independent feasibility studies by top engineering firms should be enough to outline whats involved, the costs, the risks, to see if the project is worth it or not. Any Joe Blow can appear on Youtube and dismiss it out of hand. How about a synopsis from the top experts in the field? Govts dont usually spend $ billions for nothing unless extensive, in-depth studies by qualified engineering firms were done.
Hyperloop seems to be one of those concepts, that is great in theory but then falls apart in real life...
