August 13, 2013

Elon Musk Unveils Hyperloop

Elon Musk released the conceptual design for his Hyperloop passenger transport capsule.

The image above is a conceptual design sketch of what Elon Musk’s Hyperloop passenger transport capsule would look like. Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, spent the last 9 months developing a plan to build electromagnetic tubes along the I-5 corridor connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. Traveling at the speed of sound, a passenger could make the journey in 30 minutes.

Musk said that in his opinion the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco – less than 1,000 miles – is ideal for the Hyperloop. For greater distances, such as a journey from New York to Los Angeles, Musk said he believes the economics would probably favor a supersonic plane.

Read his plan here.

“It should just feel really super smooth and quiet, and obviously there wouldn’t be any turbulence or anything.” – Elon Musk

The Hyperloop is projected to cost $6 billion to build, considerably cheaper than California’s planned $70 billion high speed rail project.

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