Engineering Wars
There is a man named Elon Musk that claims that he has futuristic ideas. He has been successful in two endeavors so far, one involving electric cars and the other involving docking a private spacecraft with the International Space Station.
As the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk (below) has already booked 38 flights into space with over $4 billion in additional contracts. He believes that we can be a multi-planet species but doesn't mention the fact that it might take government funding to accomplish this. This guy is an entrepreneur and an engineer...and has big dreams but may or may not realize that the government is the one that will really make it happen.
Personally, I would only go on this if it was only heavily regulated by the federal government because the government was the original maker of NASA....and I trust NASA engineers, not private engineers.
His interests include developing sustainable energy vehicles and travel. In fact one of his biggest projects is in developing a type of light rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The hyperloop is a system of aluminum tubes that carry about 28 people a piece and these tubes shoot through steel tubes at a rate of 760 mph and are fueled mostly through solar panels. At this speed people would be at their destination in 30 minutes!
The hyperloop functions like an air hockey table where pressure from below and the sides propel the tube to make it go faster and faster...less friction.
In the future Elon Musk might be proven correct about high speed rail because his brand of engineers are good at working with the government on rail systems. Government engineers are good at space, car, civil, mechanical and other kinds of engineering. It's a battle between the engineers to create stuff. I'll see you in the future when engineers develop a time machine! You may be reading this already if you're an engineer in the future!
I wonder what this would do to people with ear problems and balance problems? Because some people have balance and vertigo episodes I would think they would have to be screened first before being allowed on this. But I know there are many people who would be thrilled to go to LA in 30 minutes! Mark would love it.
ReplyDeleteKiel - Elon Musk and others may be the ones to spur the nation and it's government to implement their good ideas. Aviation and cars got a long way before government got involved, but you are right the government was eventually required... first through the CAA, then FAA in aviation and DOT to build highways and bridges for cars.
ReplyDeleteWow Kiel this is a really good article and very informative. I like it a lot. The hyper loop sounds like a fantastic way to travel. How much faster is it than the bullet train? It sounds a lot faster and people love speed. More power! as Jeremy would say. I agree that the government has to get involved at some point. If for no other reason than to be in compliance with existing regulations such as for safety. I'm thinking of the FAA for example so that Elon Musk doesn't pilot his space craft through the path of air traffic. Did Elon Musk actually fly the space crafts himself? He sounds like a really cool dude. Kind of like a bit of a Da Vinci of our time.
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