Elon Musk, the Hyperloop and StarTram?

Elon Musk's association with the Hyperloop seems puzzling at first glance. It's not really revolutionary in terms of what it does (moving people from place to place) nor does it seem like something that would be a good revenue stream: Mass transit systems typically are not very profitable, at least when not supported by government subsidies.

So, what's in it for Musk? In a word: space. Musk's goal has always been to lower the cost of access to space and to bootstrap mankind to being a multi-planetary species. Despite the success of SpaceX, even assuming it achieves its goals of re-usability, the cost of launching rockets will always be prohibitive.

Enter maglev launch technology. James Powell (inventor of the maglev concept) and George Maise developed the StarTram: a magnetic levitation launch system via an evacuated tube stretching up to several hundred kilometers. The concept is simple: build a tube that is over 100km long with a maglev rail inside, angle it up a mountain, suck out all the air, and boost cargo to speeds of up to 8 km/sec. The cargo gets lofted into orbit, and a small rocket motor is used to circularize or to boost it to its final destination. Build a several-hundred kilometer long tunnel, and you can launch humans since the g forces are reduced.

Nothing about the technology is particularly problematic: maglev is well developed, and speeds of nearly 3km/sec have been achieved on a standard, non-vacuum, non maglev track at White Sands. What IS problematic is building a multi-billion dollar tunnel. Despite the fact it would bring down the cost of launch of non-human cargo to space to around $100/kg, no one seems interested in funding the high initial costs of such a project. Enter Hyperloop. An enclosed, partially-vacuum tube with a maglev train. Sound familiar? Perhaps what Musk is hoping is that a successful Hyperloop will pave the way for construction of a StarTram system.