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Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

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Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#41

Post by btilly »

It is worth noting that everything that Elon is doing here is part of his goal of colonizing Mars.

One of the challenges will be building out underground habitats, and establishing mining for critical resources. Gaining experience with how to do that efficiently here on Earth will make it easier to set it up on Mars.

Furthermore when you start colonizing Mars, you're going to want high speed transport between locations. Rockets will work, but are wasteful. Airplanes don't work with thin atmosphere. But a hyperloop will.

So let's learn how to bore hyperloops cheaply and efficiently. Prove out the technology, make it repeatable. Then when SpaceX is ready to take us to Mars, we arrive with key pieces of technology that we'll need to colonize it.

The scope of his vision is breathtaking.

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#42

Post by hanklazard »

b_ttercup wrote: post #17
tyingq wrote: post #5

The headline seems to be focused just on the drilling/tunnel part. Whether a hyperloop is as crazy as SpaceX or Tesla doesn't seem to be covered.

I recall reading the plan was to make electric sleds for cars (vaguely akin to car wash tracks) rather than hyper loops.

Correct. Here's a clip with a nice visual aid for what he's talking about: https://youtu.be/hpDHwfXbpfg?t=1m18s

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#43

Post by fhood »

btilly wrote: post #41

It is worth noting that everything that Elon is doing here is part of his goal of colonizing Mars. One of the challenges will be building out underground habitats, and establishing mining for critical resources. Gaining experience with how to do that efficiently here on Earth will make it easier to set it up on Mars. Furthermore when you start colonizing Mars, you're going to want high speed transport between locatio…

I love how transparent it makes his motives.

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#45

Post by eduren »

trendia wrote: post #31
LurkingPresence wrote: post #18

Wouldn't it be smarter to start with a smaller project? Like maybe do the Chicago airport project before tearing up the east coast for a super tunnel. That seemed to work for Space X (start small, iterate).

If you're investing your own money, then you'd definitely want to test it out so that you can ensure that 1) it's easy to build and 2) people are willing to pay to use the tunnel. However, if you want the government to subsidize it / provide tax breaks, then you want to be able to go to politicians in every state and show them how this tunnel is going to bring jobs and money. You pull up a big map and say, "This is g…

"I've sold hyperloops to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and, by gum, it put them on the map!"

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#46

Post by njarboe »

bdonlan wrote: post #8
sschueller wrote: post #3

Many US cities need to solve their short distance public transportation problem first. I don't see how adding another long distance transport solves anything. How does this help people stuck in LA traffic all day?

More entry points to long distance transport would take pressure off surface streets, wouldn't it? Of course, traffic might just grow to fill the void...

"traffic might just grow to fill the void". You mean more people get to travel when and where they want? Sounds like a positive public good to me.

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#47

Post by theseatoms »

fhood wrote: post #43
btilly wrote: post #41

It is worth noting that everything that Elon is doing here is part of his goal of colonizing Mars. One of the challenges will be building out underground habitats, and establishing mining for critical resources. Gaining experience with how to do that efficiently here on Earth will make it easier to set it up on Mars. Furthermore when you start colonizing Mars, you're going to want high speed transport between locatio…

I love how transparent it makes his motives.

Are you sure it's not just good marketing?

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#48

Post by dragonwriter »

simonh wrote: post #30
ubernostrum wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but that's not who this is aimed at I think a lot of legitimate criticism of HN's darlings starts with which markets and demographics they aim at, and whose problems they deem worthy of solving.

It's not about worthiness, it's about having a solution or not. If Musk has a solution for long distance but doesn't have one for commuters, should he not pursue the long distance solution because reasons? That seems absurd.

> If Musk has a solution for long distance but doesn't have one for commuters

He doesn't, because long-distance solutions depend on integration with local network solutions; you can solve local without long distance but not vice versa.

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#49

Post by silassales »

fhood wrote: post #43
btilly wrote: post #41

It is worth noting that everything that Elon is doing here is part of his goal of colonizing Mars. One of the challenges will be building out underground habitats, and establishing mining for critical resources. Gaining experience with how to do that efficiently here on Earth will make it easier to set it up on Mars. Furthermore when you start colonizing Mars, you're going to want high speed transport between locatio…

I love how transparent it makes his motives.

Why would he try to hide his motives? He has made it very publicly clear that his only life goal is to colonize mars to "save the human race".

Re: Elon Musk’s Tunnel Plan Isn’t as Crazy as SpaceX or Tesla

#50

Post by vannevar »

"...digging sure sounds easier than building a rocket that lands vertically."

It isn't. Just ask the builders of the Chunnel. It's only 31 miles long and went 80% over budget and 20% behind schedule. A tunnel from New York to DC would be nearly 10 times as long and run under some of the most densely populated land in the country. Rockets and electric cars are trivial by comparison.

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