http://www.dailytech.com/Elon+Musks...+from+LA+to+SF+in+30+Minutes/article31956.htm
Is there anything Elon Musk can't do?
Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle automaker Tesla and space transport company SpaceX, has a new form of transportation in mind that could revolutionize travel: a Hyperloop.
For those who hate the traffic between Los Angeles and San Francisco, or the long cross-country trips from the East Coast to the West Coast, the Hyperloop will come in handy. It's an elevated tube system that would contain car-sized capsules capable of fitting up to six people. Within the enclosed tube, the capsules would travel with a magnetic levitation system for a "friction-less" ride.
The capsules would travel at about 4,000 MPH, successfully taking passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles (and vice versa) in about 30 minutes. Traveling from California to the East Coast would take under an hour.
You're probably thinking that such high-speed travel would be way more expensive than flying by plane or driving by car. According to Yahoo News, using the Hyperloop from California to New York would cost about $100 USD.
Now you may be thinking that something like this likely won't come to fruition anytime soon. Wrong again. Colorado-based company ET3 has been working on a project called the Evacuated Tube Transport, which works very similarly to the Hyperloop idea.
In fact, ET3 has already drawn up prototypes of a new super highway that could stretch across the U.S. and other countries. It's even planning a 3-mile test by the end of 2013.
With ET3's plans already in motion, and Musk beginning to work on the Hyperloop, it's very possible that a space-like levitation system could become a reality in the coming years.
Back in April of this year, Musk said he was willing to spend more money on widening the 405 freeway between his home in Bel-Air and his SpaceX factory in Hawthorne. He had already spent $50,000 on the project beforehand, but delays and budget overruns have extended the timeframe -- and Musk said he'll throw extra money out there to speed things up.
Musk is famous for getting things done. He's an underdog figure who took his two private companies (Tesla is no longer private, but SpaceX is) and shot them to the top of their class. For instance, Tesla was approved to receive a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in June 2009, which was to be repaid by 2022. But in May of this year, Musk paid the whole sum back -- nine years early.
Tesla is now rocking the EV industry by beating its goal of building over 400 Model S sedans per week, and is even offering battery swap technology and building Supercharger infrastructure along highways to help EV adoption. He's even fighting for the right to sell his vehicles without the use of auto dealerships.
On the SpaceX side of things, Musk built a Dragon cargo capsule that successfully delivered supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time in May 2012. After that successful trip, SpaceX and NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract that allows SpaceX to complete 12 supply trips to the ISS and back.
In October 2012, SpaceX made its first official supply run as part of that contract. It arrived October 10, and returned three weeks later safely.
SpaceX is looking to send the first manned Dragon capsule to the ISS somewhere between 2015 and 2017.
Source: Yahoo News
Is there anything Elon Musk can't do?
Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle automaker Tesla and space transport company SpaceX, has a new form of transportation in mind that could revolutionize travel: a Hyperloop.
For those who hate the traffic between Los Angeles and San Francisco, or the long cross-country trips from the East Coast to the West Coast, the Hyperloop will come in handy. It's an elevated tube system that would contain car-sized capsules capable of fitting up to six people. Within the enclosed tube, the capsules would travel with a magnetic levitation system for a "friction-less" ride.
The capsules would travel at about 4,000 MPH, successfully taking passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles (and vice versa) in about 30 minutes. Traveling from California to the East Coast would take under an hour.
You're probably thinking that such high-speed travel would be way more expensive than flying by plane or driving by car. According to Yahoo News, using the Hyperloop from California to New York would cost about $100 USD.
Now you may be thinking that something like this likely won't come to fruition anytime soon. Wrong again. Colorado-based company ET3 has been working on a project called the Evacuated Tube Transport, which works very similarly to the Hyperloop idea.
In fact, ET3 has already drawn up prototypes of a new super highway that could stretch across the U.S. and other countries. It's even planning a 3-mile test by the end of 2013.
With ET3's plans already in motion, and Musk beginning to work on the Hyperloop, it's very possible that a space-like levitation system could become a reality in the coming years.
Back in April of this year, Musk said he was willing to spend more money on widening the 405 freeway between his home in Bel-Air and his SpaceX factory in Hawthorne. He had already spent $50,000 on the project beforehand, but delays and budget overruns have extended the timeframe -- and Musk said he'll throw extra money out there to speed things up.
Musk is famous for getting things done. He's an underdog figure who took his two private companies (Tesla is no longer private, but SpaceX is) and shot them to the top of their class. For instance, Tesla was approved to receive a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in June 2009, which was to be repaid by 2022. But in May of this year, Musk paid the whole sum back -- nine years early.
Tesla is now rocking the EV industry by beating its goal of building over 400 Model S sedans per week, and is even offering battery swap technology and building Supercharger infrastructure along highways to help EV adoption. He's even fighting for the right to sell his vehicles without the use of auto dealerships.
On the SpaceX side of things, Musk built a Dragon cargo capsule that successfully delivered supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time in May 2012. After that successful trip, SpaceX and NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract that allows SpaceX to complete 12 supply trips to the ISS and back.
In October 2012, SpaceX made its first official supply run as part of that contract. It arrived October 10, and returned three weeks later safely.
SpaceX is looking to send the first manned Dragon capsule to the ISS somewhere between 2015 and 2017.
Source: Yahoo News
