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(Image Source: All Things Digital)
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
What do a Concorde jet, a railgun and an air hockey table all have in common? According
to the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, together they describe a potential new form of high
speed transportation called "Hyperloop."
Elon Musk says he has an idea for what he calls "a fifth mode of transportation" — something
faster and less expensive than a bullet train. (via All Things Digital)
"I think it would be a great way, better than a high speed rail or a plane between the right
city pairs like San Francisco and L.A. or New York, Boston ... " (via CNBC)
Musk criticized California's proposal for a massively expensive high speed rail, claiming
it would cost almost $100 billion and wouldn't be nearly as fast as similar systems in Europe
and China.
He says Hyperloop could be built at a tenth of the cost per mile, and would be able to
get you from San Francisco to L.A. in under a half hour. (via USA Today)
But Musk's description of a Concorde - railgun - air hockey table transporter is so vague
it couldn't possibly be real, right?
Business Insider claims it is real, and the idea behind it has been thought of before.
In 1972, Rand Corporation released a document detailing an underground tube system that
could take people from L.A. to New York in under 21 minutes — the Very High Speed Transit
System, or VHST.
"The VHST would be a vacuum sealed tube buried underground that would zip across the country."
Reading the document, " ... it's easy to see similarities to a railgun/air hockey table
style transporter."
Business Insider says it has emailed Musk asking if Hyperloop is similar to VHST. He
has yet to respond.