The SSC was 87km

Check your verb tense (I don't know what I mean here). But as a Texan, if you EVER mention the SSC again, I will be forced to de-fund you to the point of reckless abandonment. I know that they actually built the tunnels and some facilities, but the Higgs could have been found here in the states 10 years ago. Seriously, talk about it again, and I'll stop paying you nothing. For free.

I don't think we need empirical testing to tell us what will happen with the hydrodynamics of a mag-lev. It's not terribly difficult to simulate, relatively small contributions from turbulence aside. Such is why I don't think it's feasible, at least in the short term; there is a lack of announced solutions to the problem. Hell, some nerds probably simulate this kind of thing in their free time (/entrepreneurship?). If someone actually leaked the slightest hint of R&D from a muskompany of potentially monolithic structures, I'd be more inclined to get excited. And boiiiii do I want to hear exactly that.

Now it's time for the Mars rant! You put "Mars" in italics; I salivated.

Andy Weir spoke fairly candidly about Mars colonization to SEDS the other day in a Google Hangouts. Super pessimistic, and proceeded to thoroughly trash talk Mars One. It was a good time for me. He doesn't think NASA will have anyone on Mars before the 2050's, and although he didn't say anything explicitly about doubting Musk's Mars bid for the 2030's, I'm inclined to share his general pessimism on the timescale within the next few decades.

A Mars mission launched within the foreseeable future must answer this question: How can any large organization knowingly send people to their deaths? The only way to justify a Mars venture is by ensuring either the return of the astronauts or offering a guarantee of long, rewarding, extraterrestrial life; AKA, a sustainable colony. And we're not even close to meeting either of those challenges, but I totally agree that Musk is looking like one figurehead who could make it happen the quickest.

Anyway, cheers to a first stage mag-lev. I want to see it too... why not?