Two and a half tons of high tech in Las Vegas: transporting the Groundhog Alpha tunnel drilling machine at the Digging Dozen competition. Image: Swissloop Tunneling
Two and a half tons of high tech in Las Vegas: transporting the Groundhog Alpha tunnel drilling machine at the Digging Dozen competition. Image: Swissloop Tunneling - Ultra-fast capsules in vacuum tubes: All around the world, companies and research institutes are working on "Hyperloop" concepts. Swissloop Tunneling, a student initiative, is developing a drilling machine for underground transport tubes. The first reward for their efforts: a second place in an international competition in Las Vegas. 400 student teams from all over the world had applied; only a dozen qualified last September for the "Not-A-Boring-Competition" in Las Vegas, the tunneling competition that entrepreneur and Hyperloop promoter Elon Musk had launched. Inspections by a jury of experts on the Groundhog Alpha drilling rig lasted for days (see infobox); then the Swissloop Tunneling team from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities qualified for the final: the attempt to drill a 30-meter-long tunnel with a diameter of 50 centimeters. An endurance test for people and material, as Eugenio Valli and Lukas Heller from Swissloop Tunneling can tell.
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