Elon Musk’s vision for the Boring Company becomes clearer as the CEO reveals that he plans on combining the startup’s hyperloop technology with SpaceX’s plan to use its latest rocket program to create a transportation system to get anywhere on earth in less than an hour.
A year ago, when unveiling the BFR, which is the giant rocket that SpaceX plans to use for its Mars colonization plans, Musk mentioned that they could use the rocket and spacecraft programs to create a transportation system on earth to get anywhere on the planet in about 30 minutes.
Apparently, the idea is really in the works at SpaceX since COO Gwynne Shotwell recently presented an updated version of the idea during her TED talk and she said: “this is definitely going to happen.” – see video below.
The system operates similarly to an aircraft with point-to-point travel on earth, but it goes through space at a significantly higher speed (27,000 km/h), which drastically reduces flight time.
At that point, transit time to the spaceport to actually launch becomes the most time-consuming part of traveling, but Musk said today that he has a solution to that too:
Boring Company Hyperloop will take you from city center under ground & ocean to spaceport in 10 to 15 mins https://t.co/VhpfhgdXSd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2018
It sounds like he plans to connect the hyperloop system to the spaceport in order to reduce transit time.
If he is correct, you could technically get from any city center to the other side of the globe in less than an hour.
The first of those spaceport and hyperloop combination could be in Los Angeles, where the Boring Company is already working on a network of tunnels, and right after Musk tweeted the announcement above, he added that he will give a presentation about the company’s plans for Los Angeles tomorrow:
Will be presenting & taking questions about The Boring Company plans for Los Angeles at 7pm on Thursday
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 16, 2018
As we recently reported, the Boring Company completed its first tunnel under Los Angeles and it is now seeking approval for the next phase of its planned network of tunnels with an electric transportation system inside.
They unveiled a concept map of the planned Los Angeles tunnel network last year,but now don’t be surprised if it’s updated with a new section of the tunnel network linking to a new spaceport.
Here’s Shotwell’s TED talk during which she mentions the system:
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