Elon Musk's Hyperloop

Meet the Students Racing to Make Elon Musk’s Hyperloop a Reality.   Saw this article on Wired, and know that some of you are working on this topic.  This is a great article about a global competition, and links about how other countries are getting involved.  Here is a brief description:

If you (somehow) haven’t heard, hyperloop is a proposed long-distance, high-speed transportation system, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk mentioned in 2012. Cargo or passengers would ride in pods (size TBD) that run through large tubes (above or underground) in something approaching a vacuum. With minimal air resistance, the pods would levitate above the floor of the tube with almost no friction. Propelled up to 700 mph or more, they could cover the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 30 minutes—a tantalizing alternative to an expensive flight or day-long slog through highway traffic. You can read way more about how the system works and the competing efforts to make it happen right here.

The articles goes on to explain the competition. In 2015, through SpaceX, Musk launched a global competition asking mainly student teams to give it a whirl. The mandate is to build a practical, safe, scalable, pod. The designs are judged for safety, innovation, and construction, but most really covet the prize for highest speed reached (with the caveat that the pod safely decelerates, too).

“What this was intended to do is encourage innovation in transportation technology,” Musk said on race day. “To get people to do things in a way that isn’t just a repeat of the past.”  Read more to find out what the global teams are doing.  Here is a video of some results: