Swiss team to compete in Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competition
After coming third last year, a team from federal technology institute ETH Zurich will again compete this July in Elon Musk’s “Hyperloop Pod Competition” in Los Angeles.
Swissloop, an association of students from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities presented on Wednesday their new transport capsule for the competition, named “Mujinga”, after Swiss athlete Mujinga Kambundji.
“This year’s transport capsule is powered by four electric motors,” says ETH Zurich in a press release. “Together they generate over 540 hp, approximately two-and-a-half times the capacity of a Bugatti sports car. “
SpaceX founder Musk wants to use the competition to advance his Hyperloop vision that people and goods will one day be transported by vacuum tubes at almost the speed of sound. The teams presenting the most promising concepts will be able to test their transport capsules (“pods”) for a week on the SpaceX site. Only the three best pods will travel through the 1.25-kilometre long vacuum tube on July 22 and the fastest one will win.
Over 1,000 teams from all over the world have applied to take part, and 20 have qualified for the competition. This is the second time that Swissloop has qualified.
Last year, the winning team from Munich reached a speed of 323 km/h. ETH Zurich came an honourable third but its capsule attained only 40 km/h when it should have reached 400 km/h.
“We learnt a great deal this year and we were able to test all our subsystems in advance, unlike last year,” says Ilyas Besler, ETH Zurich student and Lead Technical of Swissloop. “We are looking forward to Los Angeles, but our long-term goal goes way beyond this competition.”
University students in Switzerland join Gaza protest wave
This content was published on
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied university buildings in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich on Tuesday, widening the protest movement in the Alpine nation.
TradeXBank to resume full operations after Sberbank Switzerland taken off sanctions list
This content was published on
TradeXBank, the former Swiss branch of Russia’s Sberbank, will be able to resume its dollar-denominated activities from the second half of this year.
Geneva decides not to remove controversial memorials
This content was published on
The city of Geneva has presented an action plan regarding a series of controversial local statues and monuments of historical figures linked to racism, colonialism or slavery.
University of Lausanne calls for end to pro-Palestine sit-in
This content was published on
The pro-Palestinian occupation continues at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). On Monday evening, a group of students refused to agree to the deadline set by the rectorate.
Ukraine peace conference should include Russia, says Chinese ambassador
This content was published on
China supports a peace conference on the Ukraine war that would see equal participation of all parties, says Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui.
This content was published on
A majority of Swiss citizens have open attitudes towards various infertility treatments, including even egg donation, which is currently prohibited.
Reports of Swiss cyber fraud almost doubled in six months
This content was published on
The head of the new Federal Office for Cybersecurity (FOC), Florian Schütz, has presented a new strategy after just over four months in office.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
‘Driverless’ train tested near Bern
This content was published on
Swiss Federal Railways has tested a system to automate train traffic. If rolled out, the idea is to increase passenger and freight capacity by 30%.
This content was published on
The canton of Geneva is set to test a system of self-driving public buses as part of an international project part-funded by the EU.
Swiss students reveal prototype for experimental hyperloop
This content was published on
The Swiss pod, named Escher after the 19th century Swiss entrepreneur Alfred Escher, was unveiled at ETHZ at a ceremony on Thursday. It will be among 27 pods assembled by university students from around the world vying to be the fastest on a 1.25km track built by SpaceX in Hawthorne California. Escher was selected from…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.