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A Massachusetts Institute of Technology team has placed first in the design phase of SpaceX's Hyperloop competition. 115 teams submitted designs, and 22 teams will be able to test their designs on a 1.5 km test track during the summer:
Designs for passenger pods that could travel through airless tubes have been revealed by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Hyperloop is a conceptual transport system in which passenger pods could be fired through vacuum tubes at more than 600mph (1,000km/h). The MIT team came first in a SpaceX competition to design pods that could be tested in a prototype tube. The team will now have the opportunity to build and test its design in the US.
Elon Musk - the entrepreneur behind companies such as Paypal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors - announced his vision for a Hyperloop transport system in August 2013. Although SpaceX is not developing its own commercial Hyperloop, the company says it wants to "accelerate development" of the idea and is building a mile-long test track in California. The winning entries in the company's design competition will now have the opportunity to test them in full-scale tubes over the summer.
Previously:
SpaceX will hold a Hyperloop Pod Competition in 2016
Three Tracks Planned to Test 'Hyperloop' Transportation Idea
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 05 2016, @02:57PM
Air resistance
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Friday February 05 2016, @10:20PM
Exactly. The drag for objects traveling that fast is immense. Reducing the air pressure is best way to reduce the drag and save energy. At the same time some air is useful because they can shape the vehicle in a way to use the air to create lift, thus removing the need to levitate the vehicle in addition to moving it along the track. The list doesn't have to be much, in fact it should only be few inches to ensure the wheels are not in contact with the surface, but not enough for it to bump itself against the ceiling of the tube.
It is a genius design, just not one genius. Such a design has been thought of through-out history, we just didn't have the capability to really try it till now.