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Elon Musk's Hyperloop competition is being pushed back to August

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Business Insider

We will have to wait a little bit longer before we get to see life-size pods shoot down Elon Musk's Hyperloop test track. 

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SpaceX sent an email to student teams on Thursday letting them know that the final part of the competition would likely take place in August, or possibly even later.

Originally, SpaceX stated in the initial competition guidelines that the final round would take place in June.  

(SpaceX has since taken down the webpage for the original contest guidelines, but you can find a cached version here. Details about the date are on page 5.)

However, on the official Hyperloop website it just says "Summer 2016."

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If you're not familiar, the final part of the competition is when student teams that were chosen during Design Weekend will have the opportunity to test out their human-sized pod design on a one-mile test track, which will be built outside SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. 

"Our best guess for Competition Weekend is early-to-mid August, but this could move in either direction (based on construction and post-construction testing)," the company said in the email obtained by Tech Insider. 

SpaceX said it will have more construction updates coming this spring, but students will be given six weeks notice ahead of the final competition date to arrange travel.  

Teams participating in the final round were selected during Design Weekend, which was hosted at Texas A&M University in January. Students showcased their designs to judges in order to advance to the next round. 

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MIT's Hyperloop team won best overall design for its pod, but all in all, 30 teams qualified to move onto the final round. 

Amazon dummy
The dummy SpaceX will provide to student teams for testing. Amazon

Another fun little tidbit included in the updated guidelines was more information about the dummy that will ride in all test pods. 

SpaceX said it will provide the dummy shown in the video below for teams to use in their pod. However, teams can also opt to bring their own, customized dummy. 

"Teams are welcome to bring a different one (e.g. a lighter one, a more flexible one, one wearing school swag, etc.)," the company said.

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"The dummy does not have to be kept in a pressurized environment. However, as this is the safety guideline section, the dummy must be intact."

 

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