The Hyperloop is a highspeed mass transit system proposed by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, Inc. and SpaceX. This sustainable, cost efficient system would send passenger and cargo pods through low pressure tubes at speeds up to 700 mph. To accelerate development of a functional prototype, Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX is hosting a competition for engineering teams to design, build and test a Hyperloop pod this June in Hawthorne, California.
“The [Hyperloop] technology represents a core change to the way that people live and work in cities,” says rLoop project manager Brent Lessard. “With the ability to safely and quickly commute to cities currently not possible, we believe that this technology will fundamentally increase humanity's freedom and choice of employment opportunities.”
rLoop is a nonprofit, open source, crowd sourced team of more than 300 members from over 15 countries who are embracing collaborative design and development to make the Hyperloop a reality. With their design approved by SpaceX, the team is currently focused on funding and manufacturing their prototype Hyperloop pod for the competition this summer.
The complexity of this project places rLoop at the forefront of technology and innovation. In the spirit of crowd sourced engineering, the rLoop team is financing their Hyperloop competition pod with a crowdfunding campaign that you can support. Head over to their Indiegogo page now for the opportunity to advance Hyperloop technology and provide rLoop the opportunity to engage in a unique collaborative design experience.
From an engineering standpoint, building the rPod has been a huge undertaking. Tom Lambot, the group's head of engineering, explained; “The Hyperloop is an exciting and complex engineering problem: a lot of the technology required to develop it already exists; the hard part is making it all work together for this specific application. Reliability and safety is key so [the Hyperloop] can truly become a mass transportation system and not just a dream.”
To win the competition this summer, rLoop has designed a safe, cost effective pod that will function effectively at high speeds within the low pressure environment of the Hyperloop test track. The rLoop pod also provides a comfortable cabin for a self-contained flight data recorder and the SpaceX passenger dummy. rLoop is hard at work raising the necessary funding to manufacture the pod before the competition, and is looking for public and corporate support to make the future a reality.
