frangi_panilj (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
frangi_panilj) wrote2018-09-08 09:01 am
frangi_panilj) wrote2018-09-08 09:01 am
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SkyTran
A tenant at NASA's Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley, skyTran is negotiating with Space Florida to lease 15 acres near KSC’s former shuttle runway for 30 to 50 years, a deal not yet completed.
The company wants to build a test track and is dangling the possibility of bringing its headquarters there, which Space Florida hinted could include more than 200 jobs.
The only catch: skyTran has yet to field an operational system anywhere.
SkyTran's website touts a 2015 investment from Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm whose backers include Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent Alphabet.
That was a $2.5 million investment, according to CrunchBase, which shows skyTran also secured a $30 million bridge loan last year from Hong Kong-based Verita Merchant Bank.
SkyTran in 2014 said it would build a test track on the campus of Israeli Aerospace Industries. Bill Ferguson, vice president for business development for SkyTran, said in an email that "ongoing 'Maglev' flight testing is underway at the IAI campus. It is being used to demonstrate full scale technology operation."
He declined to release any other details at this time.
Closer to home, skyTran has at least one passionate supporter.
Tom Nocera hopes to become the first U.S. owner and operator of a skyTran system, which would cross a nearly three-mile span between Clearwater with Clearwater Beach.
Nocera helped introduce skyTran to Space Florida. He thinks KSC would be an ideal fit, combining the private testing ground that car companies prefer with the convenience of easy runway access for staff or customers. The Space Coast’s base of engineering talent and Orlando’s growing simulation and modeling industry add to the appeal.
Successful testing at KSC would allow the Florida Department of Transportation to certify that skyTran systems are safe for people to ride.
Nocera believes a test track could be built quickly, and hopes to see his BeachTran system operational in Clearwater as soon as 2019, built with $40 million in private funding. Rapid expansion across the region could follow.
“The technology has advanced so much in the last 10 years,” he said.
Overly optimistic cost projections are one reason, though, ventures like skyTran say they can build networks for a fraction as much as equivalent stretches of road or railway.
http://orlando-rising.com/space-florida-moves-forward-spacecraft-mag-lev-deals/
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2017/11/10/space-coast-could-help-develop-future-commuting-again/830555001/
The company wants to build a test track and is dangling the possibility of bringing its headquarters there, which Space Florida hinted could include more than 200 jobs.
The only catch: skyTran has yet to field an operational system anywhere.
SkyTran's website touts a 2015 investment from Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm whose backers include Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent Alphabet.
That was a $2.5 million investment, according to CrunchBase, which shows skyTran also secured a $30 million bridge loan last year from Hong Kong-based Verita Merchant Bank.
SkyTran in 2014 said it would build a test track on the campus of Israeli Aerospace Industries. Bill Ferguson, vice president for business development for SkyTran, said in an email that "ongoing 'Maglev' flight testing is underway at the IAI campus. It is being used to demonstrate full scale technology operation."
He declined to release any other details at this time.
Closer to home, skyTran has at least one passionate supporter.
Tom Nocera hopes to become the first U.S. owner and operator of a skyTran system, which would cross a nearly three-mile span between Clearwater with Clearwater Beach.
Nocera helped introduce skyTran to Space Florida. He thinks KSC would be an ideal fit, combining the private testing ground that car companies prefer with the convenience of easy runway access for staff or customers. The Space Coast’s base of engineering talent and Orlando’s growing simulation and modeling industry add to the appeal.
Successful testing at KSC would allow the Florida Department of Transportation to certify that skyTran systems are safe for people to ride.
Nocera believes a test track could be built quickly, and hopes to see his BeachTran system operational in Clearwater as soon as 2019, built with $40 million in private funding. Rapid expansion across the region could follow.
“The technology has advanced so much in the last 10 years,” he said.
Overly optimistic cost projections are one reason, though, ventures like skyTran say they can build networks for a fraction as much as equivalent stretches of road or railway.
http://orlando-rising.com/space-florida-moves-forward-spacecraft-mag-lev-deals/
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2017/11/10/space-coast-could-help-develop-future-commuting-again/830555001/