It's a little more exotic than most of the solutions the article discussed, but I think the orbital ring is worth mentioning in a discussion on high speed travel. Had a thread on it here a while...
It's a little more exotic than most of the solutions the article discussed, but I think the orbital ring is worth mentioning in a discussion on high speed travel. Had a thread on it here a while back, but it's basically a cable encircling the planet at an altitude of 100-200Km, with cables linking it to the ground, supported with centrifugal force generated by spinning the main circular cable. A couple dozen rings that precess to hover over various meridians could be used to establish a global rail network capable of operating at speeds exceeding mach 50.
While the up front capital investment is quite high, somewhere in the neighborhood of $400Bn with current launch costs, it's comparable to other big infrastructure projects like the Interstate Highway System and utterly dwarfed by things like the Belt and Road Initiative. And it's probably easier and cheaper to build than an extensive ground-based high speed rail or hyperloop network, since you don't have to build tens of thousands of kilometers of evacuated tunnels, or lay just as much expensive track over valuable land. Instead, any town within a couple hundred kilometers of a ring could get a hookup for the cost of a cable. And for any town that's not, once the first ring's up, you can use it to build additional ones for 20 million plus labor.
That actually sounds fascinating. Colorado is on the short list for Musk's hyperloop and that is a technology I am really interested in. I really hope we move forward on it. But, the orbital ring...
That actually sounds fascinating.
Colorado is on the short list for Musk's hyperloop and that is a technology I am really interested in. I really hope we move forward on it.
If you're interested, here's a link to the discussion on them we had here a couple weeks ago. More focused on their use as a space launch system than as intercity transport though.
If you're interested, here's a link to the discussion on them we had here a couple weeks ago. More focused on their use as a space launch system than as intercity transport though.
You seem to know a lot about this. What about dangerous weather and other natural disasters like earthquakes? Won't that shift the cables and potentially mess up a whole line?
You seem to know a lot about this. What about dangerous weather and other natural disasters like earthquakes? Won't that shift the cables and potentially mess up a whole line?
You can just retract the ground cables back to space in the event of extreme weather, takes maybe ten minutes. For Earthquakes, vibrations and stuff could just be absorbed by the suspension, the...
You can just retract the ground cables back to space in the event of extreme weather, takes maybe ten minutes. For Earthquakes, vibrations and stuff could just be absorbed by the suspension, the cable to the ground isn't directly connected to the orbital one, it's using magnets to hang off it. Even if it were to somehow impart significant momentum into the ring, the ring is capable of correcting its movements; the model I talked about was slightly oversimplified. In reality you'd have two counter-rotating cables that could have their velocity modified to act as a giant reaction wheel.
Every time an article like this pops up I can't stop but think if we really need a "faster travel" method. Hear me out - I fly semi-frequently, and if my flight takes 4 hours, that means that I'll...
Every time an article like this pops up I can't stop but think if we really need a "faster travel" method. Hear me out - I fly semi-frequently, and if my flight takes 4 hours, that means that I'll have to spend another 4 hours in the airport, and these 4 hours in the airport are going to feel like 12 hours, because I'm going to stand in lines, get my bags checked, I would be forced to undress, I'll have to it all with a lot of time to spare in case anything goes wrong, etc, etc. I think if we could find a way to cut down this massively unpleasant airport time - that's going to improve traveling for everyone, without having to invent a new technology or burn tons of environment-hurting rocket fuel.
Pretty much! I haven't lived through these times to see them, but that would've been really cool. But I have no idea how you could prevent hijacking of planes, and that might be the real invention...
Pretty much! I haven't lived through these times to see them, but that would've been really cool. But I have no idea how you could prevent hijacking of planes, and that might be the real invention here. Of course modern technology like face recognition and biometric data could help, but that's an entire other can of worms.
Yeah, if I'm going to the US I'm getting a full system wipe, then I'll download my backup from the cloud once I'm past the security. I have a plan ready since I've heard how bad you guys have it.
I've heard a lot of people express dismay at American security measures as one reason they won't visit, e.g. forced unlocking of phones and laptops to search electronic data.
Yeah, if I'm going to the US I'm getting a full system wipe, then I'll download my backup from the cloud once I'm past the security. I have a plan ready since I've heard how bad you guys have it.
Yeah, I assumed that much, but Google does that for you if you are on Android - it would re-download your contacts and apps back, so the phone is going to look busy enough without any files and data.
Yeah, I assumed that much, but Google does that for you if you are on Android - it would re-download your contacts and apps back, so the phone is going to look busy enough without any files and data.
It's a little more exotic than most of the solutions the article discussed, but I think the orbital ring is worth mentioning in a discussion on high speed travel. Had a thread on it here a while back, but it's basically a cable encircling the planet at an altitude of 100-200Km, with cables linking it to the ground, supported with centrifugal force generated by spinning the main circular cable. A couple dozen rings that precess to hover over various meridians could be used to establish a global rail network capable of operating at speeds exceeding mach 50.
While the up front capital investment is quite high, somewhere in the neighborhood of $400Bn with current launch costs, it's comparable to other big infrastructure projects like the Interstate Highway System and utterly dwarfed by things like the Belt and Road Initiative. And it's probably easier and cheaper to build than an extensive ground-based high speed rail or hyperloop network, since you don't have to build tens of thousands of kilometers of evacuated tunnels, or lay just as much expensive track over valuable land. Instead, any town within a couple hundred kilometers of a ring could get a hookup for the cost of a cable. And for any town that's not, once the first ring's up, you can use it to build additional ones for 20 million plus labor.
That actually sounds fascinating.
Colorado is on the short list for Musk's hyperloop and that is a technology I am really interested in. I really hope we move forward on it.
But, the orbital ring sounds fascinating.
If you're interested, here's a link to the discussion on them we had here a couple weeks ago. More focused on their use as a space launch system than as intercity transport though.
You seem to know a lot about this. What about dangerous weather and other natural disasters like earthquakes? Won't that shift the cables and potentially mess up a whole line?
You can just retract the ground cables back to space in the event of extreme weather, takes maybe ten minutes. For Earthquakes, vibrations and stuff could just be absorbed by the suspension, the cable to the ground isn't directly connected to the orbital one, it's using magnets to hang off it. Even if it were to somehow impart significant momentum into the ring, the ring is capable of correcting its movements; the model I talked about was slightly oversimplified. In reality you'd have two counter-rotating cables that could have their velocity modified to act as a giant reaction wheel.
Every time an article like this pops up I can't stop but think if we really need a "faster travel" method. Hear me out - I fly semi-frequently, and if my flight takes 4 hours, that means that I'll have to spend another 4 hours in the airport, and these 4 hours in the airport are going to feel like 12 hours, because I'm going to stand in lines, get my bags checked, I would be forced to undress, I'll have to it all with a lot of time to spare in case anything goes wrong, etc, etc. I think if we could find a way to cut down this massively unpleasant airport time - that's going to improve traveling for everyone, without having to invent a new technology or burn tons of environment-hurting rocket fuel.
So, pre911 airtravel?
Pretty much! I haven't lived through these times to see them, but that would've been really cool. But I have no idea how you could prevent hijacking of planes, and that might be the real invention here. Of course modern technology like face recognition and biometric data could help, but that's an entire other can of worms.
Yeah, if I'm going to the US I'm getting a full system wipe, then I'll download my backup from the cloud once I'm past the security. I have a plan ready since I've heard how bad you guys have it.
Yeah, I assumed that much, but Google does that for you if you are on Android - it would re-download your contacts and apps back, so the phone is going to look busy enough without any files and data.