In a previous blog post, I mentioned how the rLoop team was using Autodesk Fusion 360 to design their vehicle for the Hyperloop competition.

Recall that the hyperloop is Elon Musk's brainchild where small pods travel in vacuum tubes to transport people a long distance in a short amount of time. The example cited is a trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes.

In response to this blog article, I was contacted by Deepak Gupta who is a tech reporter on patents. He let me know about using the Hyperloop for launching space vehicles. Deepak found a patent application from James Powell, the inventor of magnetic levitating trains. Apparently, James is now redesigning Hyperloop for launching space vehicles. This patent-pending technology marries Hyperloop to Space Tech, the two technologies that Elon Musk is most passionate about.

Here is a video that explains the key idea of the patent application. It's a little overly marketing-ish, but at least you can see how hyperloop would work in this context:

For additional information, check out the patent itself:

Visit the Patent Yogi site.

Thanks, Deepak.

Some people just want to get from Los Angeles to San Franciso in a hurry. Others have further destinations in mind. It's nice to see mankind reaching for the stars.

Space travel is alive in the lab.