Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Elon Musk reveals high speed Hyperloop idea



Paypal, Tesla Motors, and Space X founder, Elon Musk has revealed a cheaper and faster alternative to the California rail plan which will see a 610km journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles last for only 30 minutes.

Elon Musk reveals high speed hyperloop idea
The Hyperloop (or something similar) is, in my opinion, the right solution for
the specific case of high traffic city pairs that are less than about 1500km or
900 miles apart. Around that inflection point, I suspect that supersonic air travel ends up being faster and cheaper.” he said in a statement.
 Elon Musk thinks that the Hyperloop which will be able to transport people through a tube is a viable means as it is expected to cost about $6bn unlike the California speed rail project that is expected to cost $70 billion. There won’t be much problems about rights for lands either as Musk thinks it could be constructed beside the already existing roads.
The hyperloop will use steel tubes laid on pylons to transport people and even cars at about 800mph (1220kmph). The steel tubes will contain aluminium pods in which people will be seated for the super speed journey.
He has however indicated that the hyperloop transport will only be suitable for transport not longer than 900 miles as he believes that supersonic air travel will be quite cheaper for longer distances.
Elon Musk reveal high speed hyperloop idea
Both for trip comfort and safety, it would be best to travel at high subsonic speeds for a 350 mile journey. For much longer journeys, such as LA to NY, it would be worth exploring super high speeds and this is probably technically feasible, but, as mentioned above, I believe the economics would probably favor a supersonic plane.” he said in a release.
To ensure maximum safety, the aluminium pods will be spaced five miles apart so that they can stop without running into each other. The tubes are to be powered by solar panels which will be attached to the body of the steel tubes.
It will also be very safe as the pylons upon which the tubes rest will be made to withstand earthquake in the case of one.
Elon Musk is not working on this though. He has only released the idea to the public and is ready to build a prototype of it. Should we be getting ready to travel faster than sound soon in the future? Is this another mode of transport that will come to stay?
Stay tuned as we will be bringing you more details of the Hyperloop in a future post.
Source: SpaceX

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