The SpaceX founder and psuedo-Tony Stark for the real world says he will open-source his plans for a super-fast transport system. July 15, 2013 8:44 AM PDT Elon Musk wants to move us in to the future, and across California... fast. (Credit: Dan Farber) The Hyperloop, the super-futuristic, slightly insane method of transport from Elon Musk (the super-futuristic CEO with slightly insane ideas), is soon to be launched as an open source project. Today, SpaceX founder and Tony Stark doppelganger Musk tweeted this: Musk later clarified that he does not plan to pursue a patent on the hyperloop and "Will publish Hyperloop as open source." So, what the heck is a hyperloop? Well, Musk has yet to confirm exactly what his design entails, but in the past he's described it as an alternative to bullet trains capable of moving people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes on demand, meaning no waiting around for scheduled trains. If you show up and there's no line, you just hop into a waiting pod of some sort and are on your way. Musk has also said that the system would be crash-proof and unaffected by weather, which points to some sort of underground or fully enclosed technology. He's also hinted that it's not a vacuum tube, describing it instead as a cross between a railgun, Concorde and air hockey table. If you don't have a degree in physics, these clues probably still leave you scratching your head. Fortunately, my colleague Brian Dodson is a writer with a Ph. D. on the topic, and he spent some time a few weeks back speculating on what the hyperloop might be using the crumbs provided by Musk. Dodson thinks, in a nutshell, that the loop could be a series of pneumatic tubes that move individual passenger capsules along on a river of air (a la the air hockey table) at subsonic speeds. There are other guesses out there about what exactly Musk's plans are, but whatever it is, it's sure to come with a healthy serving of awesome, if SpaceX's successes are any indication. What do you think will be revealed next month?
The SpaceX founder and psuedo-Tony Stark for the real world says he will open-source his plans for a super-fast transport system.
Elon Musk wants to move us in to the future, and across California... fast.
(Credit: Dan Farber)
The Hyperloop, the super-futuristic, slightly insane method of transport from Elon Musk (the super-futuristic CEO with slightly insane ideas), is soon to be launched as an open source project.
Today, SpaceX founder and Tony Stark doppelganger Musk tweeted this:
Musk later clarified that he does not plan to pursue a patent on the hyperloop and "Will publish Hyperloop as open source."
So, what the heck is a hyperloop? Well, Musk has yet to confirm exactly what his design entails, but in the past he's described it as an alternative to bullet trains capable of moving people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes on demand, meaning no waiting around for scheduled trains. If you show up and there's no line, you just hop into a waiting pod of some sort and are on your way.
Musk has also said that the system would be crash-proof and unaffected by weather, which points to some sort of underground or fully enclosed technology. He's also hinted that it's not a vacuum tube, describing it instead as a cross between a railgun, Concorde and air hockey table.
If you don't have a degree in physics, these clues probably still leave you scratching your head. Fortunately, my colleague Brian Dodson is a writer with a Ph. D. on the topic, and he spent some time a few weeks back speculating on what the hyperloop might be using the crumbs provided by Musk.
Dodson thinks, in a nutshell, that the loop could be a series of pneumatic tubes that move individual passenger capsules along on a river of air (a la the air hockey table) at subsonic speeds.
There are other guesses out there about what exactly Musk's plans are, but whatever it is, it's sure to come with a healthy serving of awesome, if SpaceX's successes are any indication.
What do you think will be revealed next month?
