It was also a day that made our people truly proud of our youth and their innovation.
As their website describes: "We are an international team of students from Northeastern University and Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador who have come together to make the Hyperloop concept a reality. We aim to prove the viability of air based levitation for use in high-speed applications by building a prototype Hyperloop pod capable of reaching 200mph."
This SpaceX competition is a very big deal and young men and women from this province were in the thick of it.
The SpaceX founder is none other than Elon Musk - who you might recognize as the founder of Tesla Motors. Tesla was the first company to mass produce electric cars. Musk was on site for the final competition.
Our team, Paradigm Hyperloop, made the final 3 in the competition and they with 2 other teams one from Germany - the other from Switzerland - put their prototype through a "speed test". These three were chosen from 25 teams from around the world earlier.
Yesterday the speed test happened and Paradigm Hyperloop Pod hit a speed of 101 km/hr on a 1 mile vacuum track!
The technology is fascinating and solid.
For people with mechanical and design interests press here
Air bearings for low-friction levitation was exclusive to the Paradigm Hyperloop Pod - and clearly it worked.
The Warr team from Germany won the speed test hitting 200 km/hr - thereby taking first place in the competition.
The Paradigm pod was second in speed - but as with all innovation - they all finish first.
The dedication of these young people to compete at such a high level and perform under great pressure is remarkable and should be recognized.
It also should be noted that this team was very thrifty and managed costs well. While there were sponsors both at the public and private sector level - what they produced for so relatively little is amazing.
These young adults are to be congratulated for this outstanding achievement. They no doubt will move forward with successful careers.
As this post is dedicated to excellence in innovation - I won't sully it with politics.
Next post will deal with that.
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