Concept drawing of Hyperloop pod. Courtesy of Tesla Motors.
Right out of "Futurama," Musk’s Hyperloop consists of passenger pods traveling through an infrastructure of pressurized tubes. According to Musk, these pods should be able to move at an impressive 800 miles per hour.
The designs will be judged by SpaceX officials. By the summer of 2016, these designs will be tested on a one-mile track that will be near SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
“Competitions such as these bring out the best in our students,” said Dr. M. Katherine Banks, dean of engineering. “Given that innovation is the essence of engineering, partnering with SpaceX is important to provide students with the hands-on experiences needed to prepare them to make an impact in today’s increasingly technological world.”
Concept Image of Hyperloop pod seating and hull. Courtesy of Tesla Motors.
Currently, SpaceX and Elon Musk do not own, or have affiliation with any company aiming to make this “pipe-dream” a reality. The competition signup page notes that it is designed to accelerate the vision through prototype creation.
The current rules on the competition’s intellectual property protection have yet to be released. Therefore, is this Musk’s way to find the best ideas and act as an angel investor down the road? Or are his fingers in too many pies at the moment to give the Hyperloop his full attention considering his involvement with Tesla Motors, Powerwall, Gigafactory and SpaceX?
The deadline for applications for intent to compete is Sept. 15, 2015 and can be found here. For a complete list of rules follow this link.
Will you be competing? Do you think the Hyperloop is feasible or a disaster waiting to happen? Let us know below.