[Urban_Sky]

Originally Posted by acottawa

More of a 2 isn’t it? None of the “tests” have actually tested the thing hyper loop is supposed to do (they have either not been in a vacuum or at ridiculously low speeds for ridiculously short distances). It would be like calling the Goddard experiments of the 1920s a test of the Saturn V.

For certain essential aspects, it’s not even TRL 2:

Yet bringing a new transport system into service is a formidable task that requires all parts to be at technology readiness level (TRL) 8, which means undergoing active commissioning.

In tests in a 500m tube, the maximum Hyperloop pod speed achieved to date is 387km/h. Such research facility testing is at TRL 4. Moreover, many aspects of the system are only at the stage of establishing basic principles (TRL 1). These include vehicle suspension, air locks, vacuum-tight tube expansion joints and switches.

Switches are required for proposed Hyperloop networks that need to route pods between tubes. Yet neither Musk’s paper nor any of the Hyperloop companies describe how their switches would work at 600km/h, the turnout speed needed to maintain the capacity of the system.