Featured Image Credit: Brandon Bell / Staff / Getty
Intercontinental travel could soon be revolutionized by Elon Musk, as the world's richest man has proposed a solution involving a futuristic rocket capable of taking passengers from London to Hong Kong in just 35 minutes.
We've all had that thought when going away on holiday where you wish you could just click your fingers and skip the travel time, yet you often have to suffer through multiple-hour-long plane journeys that can even stretch beyond an entire day.
You can enjoy in-flight entertainment like films and some of the wealthiest individuals might even get access to their own suite inside of the plane, but everyone would welcome an alternative that cuts down the airtime significantly.
That's where Elon Musk comes in, as he has previously proposed a plan that uses SpaceX rockets to transport people around the globe at lightning fast speeds — and he has claimed that the dream is 'possible'.
Advert
This is now possible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2024
Musk's company is edging ever closer to a project that would allow flights across the world in less than an hour, as the Starship V3 rocket completed a successful test this week.
That success was determined by an explosion, mind you, but this was planned as part of the rocket's splashdown sequence — and hopefully won't be part of the journey once passengers are actually on board.
Current plans would take a prospective passenger rocket up to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – where over 10,000 SpaceX satellites currently reside and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin celebrity rocket traveled just before – after which it will drop down to its intended destination at speeds exceeding 12,000 miles per hour in theory.
There remain still plenty of challenges that SpaceX will need to overcome before it can make this dream a reality, which the company has outlined in new documents relating to its IPO.
It indicated that "restrictions on supersonic flights over land in certain regions due to sonic booms, and the economic feasibility of shorter routes" persist as the biggest hurdles SpaceX needs to clear before the project can get up and running, but it has continue to assert its belief in the plan.
"We believe we are strategically positioned to take share of the terrestrial logistics and transportation market," the company clarified in addition, suggesting that something will happen in the future, even if it's not quite as idealistic as a flight across the entire world in just half an hour.
