New York To Shanghai in 40 Minutes! What is Elon Musk Trying To Do?

SpaceX Chief Elon Musk is catching eyes all over the world again with his weird but super fascinating commitments. With his mega-rocket launch to Mars carrying astronomers is still in process Musk is now generating plans to create speedy transportation on Earth. At a conference in Australia on Friday, Musk proposed his new technology which will transport you from New York to Shanghai in just 39 minutes.

“Most of what people consider to be long-distance trips would be completed in less than half an hour,” Musk said to applause and cheers at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide. A seat should cost about the same as a full-fare economy plane ticket, he noted later via Instagram.

A recent UBS report analyzed the market for what’s known as point-to-point space travel. It’s been touted by SpaceX as one of the business lines of the massive Starship rocket that Elon Musk’s company is developing.

In essence, point-to-point space travel would be the equivalent of flying on an airplane across the world — but in less than an hour, rather than 16 hours. UBS believes that, if the obstacles to point-to-point space travel can be overcome, the service would represent an annual market of more than $20 billion.