Hyperloop: Billionaire Elon Musk Unveiling Mysterious Travel Technology Today

SpaceX founder Elon Musk was named one of the 25 most influential people in space in the new book "New Frontiers of Space." He stands next to the cluster of Merlin engines attached to the private spaceflight firm's Falcon 9 rocket. Image uploaded on July 25, 2013. (Image credit: SpaceX)

There is now a schedule for the big reveal. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who runs the electric-car firm Tesla and the private spaceflight company SpaceX, will unveil the design of his proposed "Hyperloop" travel system today (Aug. 12) at 4:30 p.m. EDT (1:30 p.m. PDT; 2030 GMT).

"Pulled all nighter working on Hyperloop (as did others). Hopefully not too many mistakes. Will publish link at 1:30 PDT," Elon Musk (@elonmusk) tweeted today.

Musk first mentioned the Hyperloop publicly in July 2012 but has disclosed few details about it since then, leading to intense speculation around the Internet about just what this potentially revolutionary travel concept might be. [Photos: Airplanes of Tomorrow, NASA's Future Air Travel Vision ]

Musk has said that the Hyperloop could get passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes, meaning it could travel faster than 600 mph (966 km/h); that it would be solar-powered; and that tickets to ride a Hyperloop vehicle would cost much less than seats aboard a plane or train.

Further, in May, Musk described the Hyperloop as a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table," leading many amateur tech sleuths to imagine a system that pneumatically blasts passenger-packed pods through long tubes.

We'll see what all the fuss was about in just a few hours.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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