The university Hyperloop competition at the SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California is underway. Live webcast is available at www.spacex.com/hyperloop. See also Hyperloop live report – Daily Breeze | Facebook.
30 university teams are participating in the contest. The track is a hollow tube about three-quarter-mile (1.2 km) long and pumped down to low pressure. Each of the teams will run their pod vehicle down the pod. The pod performance will be evaluated on acceleration, speed, braking, etc.
[ Update: Reports on the competition results:
- Elon Musk hails Hyperloop teams – and touts his tunnel at SpaceX – Alan Boyle/Geekwire
- Hyperloop competition brings new mass-transit technology to life in Hawthorne – Daily Breeze
- Elon Musk SpaceX Hyperloop results first phase – Business Insider
From Alan Boyle:
Here’s who won the Hyperloop competition’s awards:
- Fastest team: WARR Hyperloop.
- Highest overall score: Delft Hyperloop.
- Safety and reliability award: MIT Hyperloop.
- Performance and operations: University of Maryland. Honorable mention: Virginia Tech, Purdue, Hyperlift (St. John’s High School, Texas).
- Performance in flight: WARR Hyperloop.
- Innovation: Badgerloop (University of Wisconsin at Madison) and Team rLoop (the contest’s only non-student team, organized through Reddit). Honorable mention: VicHyper (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia).
- Design and construction: The top 10, from 1 to 10, are Delft, WARR, MIT, Virginia Tech, University of Maryland, University of Washington, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon University, Hyperlift, Keio Alpha.
A view of the MIT, Delft, and WARR pods barreling through the tube:
Comments from Elon Musk about the event (plus some words about the tunneling project):
]
More background at
- Live Coverage: Teams test out their pods at the Hyperloop competition in Hawthorne – DailyBreeze
- Take A Look At The Hyperloop Competition Entries | Hackaday
- How to get live updates from the Hawthorne Hyperloop competition – DailyBreeze
- Pipe Dreams: A Conversation with the Engineers at the Hyperloop Competition | Motherboard
- Hyperloop Competition Rules (pdf)
Updates at Hyperloop (@Hyperloop) | Twitter :
“Teams in final prep for today’s @SpaceX Hyperloop competition! Coverage begins at ~1:55pm PT at https://t.co/CoIedEujWn. #breakapod “
Here are some video reports from the test site: