MIT Tops SpaceX’s Hyperloop Design Challenge

Elon Musk’s idea of Hyperloop transportation might be one step closer to being actualized: a team from MIT has won the first stage of his company SpaceX’s Hyperloop design competition. He explained that the Hyperloop pods would levitate above the ground, and zoom along at a speed of up to 767 miles per hour (mph) at sea level.

The team also devised systems to keep the pod centred on the track, and able to traverse variations along its length.

The MIT team was announced the victor of the Hyperloop pod design at Texas A&M University’s Design Weekend, though Musk made a surprise appearance to get everyone excited and offer advice, Fortune noted.

In 2013, Musk unveiled the new transport system called Hyperloop, which could transport passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes.

“MIT has been involved in so many technological breakthroughs in the past century”, Philippe Kirschen, a master’s student in aeronautics and astronautics and MIT’s team captain, said in a news release.

The company said that as many as 10 additional teams may also be invited to test out their pod design on the track.

The winning team would build their pods, which would be put to test this summer at the world’s first Hyperloop Test Track, coming up in an area adjoining the SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters.

With strengths in aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineering and computer science, the MIT team focused on speed Hyperloop-brake and levitation. The MIT Hyperloop pod design came out on top, besting a field of over 100 entries from an global selection of teams. It was popularized by Tesla and Space-X founder and CEO Elon Musk, who is one of several entrepreneurs working to develop a prototype.

The MIT team beat out Delft University of Technology (Holland), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Go Badgers), Virginia Tech and the University of California-Irvine that which comprised the second through fifth place respectfully.

Another 24-person UCI team built a scale model of their HyperXite pod (pronounced Hyper Excite) for the contest. It will not carry any passengers during its 20-second inaugural run. “This weekend’s competition proves the future is in very good hands with such an inspiring and talented group of young people”, said Michael Young, president of Texas A&M, in a statement.