Hyperloop India in final stage of building aircraft-grade aluminium capsule

<p>&ldquo;Hyperloop India&rdquo; &ndash; a group of highly enterprising BITS Pilani students representing India in Elon Musk ideated Space X Hyperloop Competition Summer 2017, has entered its final phase of Orcapod construction. The capsule or pod, the team&rsquo;s entry into the global technology challenge to be held in Musk-owned SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California on August 25-27, is crafted out of aircraft-grade aluminium.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/Hyperloop.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="270" /></p> <p>Inspired by the ground-breaking "Hyperloop" travel idea of inventor-entrepreneur Elon Musk, the budding engineers and researchers are building the single-compartment pod that will be able to travel at 1,200 km/hour speed within a vacuum tube.</p> <p>"Hyperloop is tube travel wherein you have a vehicle that is magnetically levitated and propelled inside a vacuum tube. The technology that is used for the propulsion and braking systems can vary," explained Prithvi Shankar, a BE final year student at BITS Pilani and a member of Team Hyperloop.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>&ldquo;We are using a scalability first approach to make the design more flexible for the transportation of cargo as well as passengers&rdquo; he said.</p> <p>Team Hyperloop India has zeroed in on aluminium as the material of built for their Orcapod. Unlike other teams which are relying on carbon-fibre for the capsules, they have used aircraft-grade aluminium as they think the metal is four-times cheaper than carbon-fibre.&nbsp;</p>