News
Sneak peek on Hyperloop One’s plan to connect Dubai with Abu Dhabi
Architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released a video which previews its plans for a Hyperloop high-speed transportation system linking Dubai with the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. The two cities are more than 93 miles apart.
Jakob Lange, a director of the Danish BIG Ideas, which focuses on technically demanding and experimental projects, narrated the video. In it, he described “the grand vision” for the Hyperloop, stating that BIG has “everything we need” to implement the project. “We’re not waiting for new technology like carbon nano-fibers or anything to do this. We are in a new time now where you can develop a new transportation system in very few years and change the world.”
The official unveiling of the futuristic design is scheduled for November 7, 2016 in Dubai.
The Hyperloop One is a response to problems with conventional transportation, which primarily relies on environmentally harmful fossil fuels and is slow. Intended to offer a high speed transportation alternative that is zero-emission, electric, and financially reasonable, the Hyperloop One would be best suited for moderate travel distances.
“This is about creating a love for the new possibilities out there. Suddenly, you can live in a forest, take the Hyperloop into work everyday, and it’s only going to take 10 minutes,” Lange said. “You spread out the possibilities for everybody to live where they want: by the sea, by the water, in the forest, wherever.”
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors, Paypal, and the space exploration company, SpaceX, is responsible for the original vision for the Hyperloop. It consisted of two massive tubes stretching between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Pods would transport passengers through the tubes at speeds near to or even exceeding 700 mph, with magnetic accelerators providing propulsion. The tubes would house a low pressure environment, enveloping the pod with an air cushion and ensuring passenger safety. The end result is travel time of about 30 minutes from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a 380+ mile trip. Musk no longer controls the Hyperloop design, which he revealed in 2013, having released it to open sourced it for research and development.
Hyperloop One is one of a number of companies racing to build Hyperloop. It appointed BIG alongside architecture and engineering firms AECOM and Arup to convert the technology into infrastructure. Hyperloop One has a test facility in Nevada, has already conducted a propulsion test in May, and is in the midst of building the full system test loop that will be tested in Q1 2017.
What is absent from the BIG teaser video are concrete details such as how the UAE track will be built, when construction might begin or end, and how much the project will cost. There are also the technical challenges of making the vacuum chamber, the vibration force on steel walls less than one inch thick, and the capacity of steel to heat and expand in desert climates, among many, many other probable issues.
The competition to transform technological dreams of high-speed public transportation to everyday infrastructure reality is on. Now we’ll just have to see if the futuristic vision is more than a BIG idea.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
