FOX News: Elon Musk details 800-mph Hyperloop transportation system

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Elon Musk details 800-mph Hyperloop transportation system Aug 12th 2013, 20:54 Like a giant silver bullet shot from a massive gun at up to 800 miles per hour, Elon Musk's Hyperloop promises to transport people (and cars) across the country faster than bullet trains, and at a fraction of the cost. Musk finally unveiled the official concept Monday afternoon, after teasing the idea of a magnetically powered transportation system for the past year. Called Hyperloop, it would entail sleek pods that travel within low-pressure tubes that are nearly airless. The pods would hover on a cushion of air, floating above thin skis of a custom metal alloy; air sucked in from the intakes in front would be compressed and ejected to keep the craft hovering. Electromagnets would zap the craft through the tube to high speeds -- some would say "ludicrous speed," in the words of the classic film "Spaceballs." 'It's literally space travel on Earth.' - Daryl Oster, CEO of ET3 Sound crazy? That's what Daryl Oster said as well. "At first I thought, yeah, this is the craziest thing I've ever heard of," Oster, the CEO of California company ET3, told Fox Business. Yet it's not all that far fetched after all. Oster's company has been hard at work making a similar concept work, pods that float and are powered thanks to magnetic levitation. Mr. Oster, meet the competition. Musk is the uber-brainy genius who invented PayPal, privatized outer space through SpaceX and finally made electric cars a commercial force through his company Tesla Motors. In a blog post at the car company's website, he detailed the concept -- after a long night spent dotting I's and crossing T's. It was born from frustration at his state's plan to build a bullet train that he called one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world. "It would be great to have an alternative to flying or driving, but obviously only if it is actually better than flying or driving," Musk wrote. The Hyperloop concept is that option, he said, a fifth mode of transportation after planes, trains and automobiles (and boats). He detailed the concept for the Hyperloop in a PDF accompanying his blog post, that explores the entire concept, from concrete pylons to the solar panels that would power the system. Indeed, Musk envisions a system that would be self-sustaining. "The Hyperloop can generate far in excess of the energy needed to operate," he wrote. Oh, and one more thing: There's no sonic boom with Hyperloop. According to Businessweek, which interviewed Musk ahead of his announcement, the pods could in theory travel at high speeds without crossing the sound barrier.  "The pod can go just below the speed of sound relative to the air," Musk said. After all the hype, however, Hyperloop is still just hot air. Musk himself has publicly stated that he is too busy to explore the concept himself, instead releasing the idea into the public domain to see what others will do with his idea. It's up to others such as Oster to turn the idea into reality.  And for his part, Oster believes "maglev" transportation is very much real.  "It's literally space travel on Earth," he said.

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