Breathlessly billed as "Space Travel on Earth," a transportation concept from Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies, or ET3, would reportedly be able to whisk passengers from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes. The science sounds a little breezy, but the idea is that a long, airtight tube is constructed between point A and point B. The tube has the air sucked out of it, creating a vacuum, and a cylindrical "car" carrying six passengers is then propelled via maglev at speeds up to 4,000 miles per hour.
ET3 claims we would not arrive all flat-faced, but would somehow experience just 1G of atmospheric pressure during the ride. On the green front, they say much of the energy expended to accelerate the capsule would be recovered during the braking process. Then there are the outright incredible claims:
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