This weekend, SpaceX will be conducting the last phase of their "Hyperloop Pod Design Competition" at their headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
The Hyperloop is a concept hatched by SpaceX founder and Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk since he published the idea back in 2013. Musk announced the contest back in 2015 in which he invited university students and independent engineering teams to design and construct, Hyperloop pods in scale-model, LA Times reported.
A one-mile test track was built next to SpaceX's headquarters where the "pod race" will be held as promised last year. However, the competitors will not be actually racing against each other riding their designed pods. First off, there is only one track; secondly, the technology is still untested so it is best at this point to have some pods have test dummies in them.
Hyperloop pod race happening this weekend at SpaceX HQ (near LAX). We built a ~mile long vacuum tube on our campus big enough to fit people.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2017
The actual competition will be a race against the clock, where the pod that turns in the quickest time, wins. According to CNBC, designs from more than 100 teams were first judged back in early 2016. Out of those hopeful entrants, about 30 made the cut. They were allowed by SpaceX to move on to the next phase of the competition, which is the actual test track battle.
SpaceX hopes that through the competition, to realize its desire to speed up the development of a prototype for a faster, safer, cost effective, and more sustainable mode of transportation, as detailed on the company's website.
Unfortunately, the said race is a closed event. However, there are reports that there will be a live stream of the events to be held on Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00 PST. People on Twitter are clamoring though for Musk to at least provide coverage of the whole festivities.
Furthermore, SpaceX plans to have a follow-up of the event with another one this coming summer 2017, with a full emphasis on maximum speed. Like in the ongoing competition, the second event will also be open to students.
