Elon Musk continues to make sparks.
http://fortune.com/2015/06/15/elon-musk-launches-competition-for-hyperloop-pods/
From the artists concept drawing where people are almost laying down, I take it the ride will be so short in duration there will be no bathroom facilities nor a need to use them.
Elon Musk sounds like he’s been reading too many back issues of “Popular Science”, especially from the 1950’s and early 1960’s. It’s also interesting to note that he’s not going to be the person who will invest in these pipedreams (pun intended).
Where did you read that he’s not going to invest in them? The article says he’s running the contest, and even though it doesn’t say that the prize is to be anything “beyond bragging rights”, his cost to do it is more than zero.
And the article says his company “would build a one-mile prototype track”. That also sounds like it would cost more than zero.
What do you do if you have to take a leak e-route?
Sorry but the term “Spam in a Can” never seemed more appropriate. Definitely not a choice for the claustrophobic.
Excerpt from “Hyperloop Alpha” by Elon Musk
http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha.pdf
When the California “high speed” rail was approved, I was quite disappointed, as I know many others were too. How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL – doing incredible things like indexing all the world’s knowledge and putting rovers on Mars – would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world? Note, I am hedging my statement slightly by saying “one of”. The head of the California high speed rail project called me to complain that it wasn’t the very slowest bullet train nor the very most expensive per mile.
Excerpt from NY Times, June 15
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/elon-musk-wants-your-hyperloop-ideas/?_r=0
Much in the original proposal was not
Sounds like Mr. Musk has ingested some good-quality hallucinogens. I’ll be much more impressed when his current venture turns a profit.
I suspect he’ll turn a profit before the SAL ever does again. It took at least five years for Amazon to turn a profit. Stay tuned.
That is a given, since SAL no longer exists. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the man for bringing a totally new kind of vehicle to market, but am getting tired of the breathless adoration his every word seems to cause.
What’s SAL?
Seaboard Airline Railway - the Seaboard the merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line which subsequently merged with the Chessie System to form CSX.
For all of his environmental preening, it’s interesting to note that Elon Musk will be locating his battery plant in Nevada, which I believe is a “right-to-work for peanuts” state.
Faster yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNC5iLNguRQ
Is there a Ph. D. in Quantum Mechanics in the house?
The next round…
Everything tells me this thing will be extremely rough riding. Be very interesting to see the test footage inside of the prototype.