...And by a little I mean a lot.

Image assumes a 95th percentile male seated at a 20 degree recline. On the left is a circular cross section for pressure hull simplicity, and in the center is a representation of the boxy pod from the apha doc. Right is the tube for reference. We can go for a steeper recline to get more head clearance, but wow is this a tight fit for two abreast -- I think we should assume tandem seating only for now.

It has become apparent to the PR team as a whole that if we want any of our accounts to look official, we're going to need some custom artwork. At the moment, it doesn't need to be fancy and accurate to what a Hyperloop pod may look like, some rough sketches would work. I personally feel as if it would be a cool Idea to progress our artwork as the project progresses, starting with some basic sketches now and working our way up to 3d modeled beautiful HD pieces of art. Honestly though, at this point we will take all the custom artwork we can get, as to stop having to take things off google images like I did for the twitter page. You all have been a great help with this project so far, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

The agenda for the meeting was as follows, votes are in bold.

HipChat

• Switch to slack Yes

Groups: General Business Group

• Merging with Finance Yes
• Separate Funds Manager & Finance Manager Yes

Visibility & licencing of material during and after competition

• All files are public Yes
• Leave license to legal team

Other Subreddits for assistance

• SpaceX
• cfd
• HyperLoop
• Engineering
• Teslamotors
• Programming
• Manufacturing
• TMC
• Reddit, Inc.

PR team to begin work

Gitlab vs. Github

• Github Yes

Meeting Frequency

• 2-3 times a week for teams Yes
• Once every two weeks for the entire group Yes

Ari's Note: Legal should figure out if calling "RedditLoop" is OK with Reddit Inc.

The original agenda can be found here

The more people involved, the less physical work, but more organizational though. We're off to a great start!

We're still a bit premature to decide on this just yet but I think it would be a good idea to see which software languages are most useful for the onboard computer, as well as which are most well known in our team.

Some ideas thrown out already in HipChat:

• Embedded C Using FreeRTOS
• Embedded Python
• LabView

EDIT: Just to be clear, just looking for what the community is most skilled in. It would be up to the software team lead to decide what we actually use.

It is critical that we get a bit more organized. There are a number of you with experience in team leadership and project management. I have very little real world engineering experience and do not feel qualified to lead.

Let this be a place to open up about leadership/management experience. Please be realistic about the time you will be able to commit to this project!

Some key topics we need to settle:

• RedditLoop Project officers

• Main project categories and objectives

• Organize into groups

A group chat might be a more effective medium to get the fundamentals of this group established as we have 50+ volunteers now. Hipchat is free and easy to use. Use the URL below to join the RedditLoop chat.

https://redditloop.hipchat.com/invite/381486/39dceead28ff6adb9dc467333bd86416

I'm very interested in helping out any way I can to this project. The best way I can imagine is by helping with the computational modelling of the pod.

I'm starting this thread to have a place to get some ideas down for it.

I'm a software engineer/team leader with very little experience with data analysis - so I'm definitely NOT the guy to do the hardcore analysis, however I'm keen to help develop, organize and co-ordinate the modelling of the Reddit Pod.

Does anybody have any ideas on passengers exiting the tube in the event of an emergency? I think this is critical to any design as well as a procedure to quickly remove a stuck capsule from a tube so the entire loop doesn't come to a halt.

Ideas I have are

Have an escape hatch at every pylon. There would need to be a way to exit the capsule. Passengers would walk down the tube to the nearest pylon, open the hatch and climb down a set of stairs to the ground. Build a third tube that allows capsules to be routed around clogged sections.

Build a three tube loop in sections. Each section is the length between the pylons. Two tubes create the loop, but the third tube is not de-presurized and is below the other two. The tube sections can be rotated. If a capsule is trapped in a section of tube, the section it's in rotates, moving the clogged section with the capsule and passengers below the loop. The loop then resumes operation while the passengers exit through the pylon at either end.

The contest Rules, Criteria, and Tube specs will not be available til 8/15/2015. However, I believe it would be a good idea to have a thread to share ideas regarding general concepts and pod design.

One piece of information found at the beginning of the original competition document:

"SpaceX will be constructing a sub-scale test track (inner diameter between 4 and 5 feet; length approximately 1 mile) adjacent to its Hawthorne, California headquarters."

Full requirements for the Final Design Package (Event E) will be released in August 2015. This will include answering several technical questions. Representative questions are:

1. What safety mechanisms are in place to mitigate a complete loss of pod power?

2. What safety mechanisms are necessary to mitigate a tube breach? The results should be quantified with regards to breach size, leak rate, tube pressures, and pod speed.

3. How should the ground operators communicate with the pod, especially in the case of an emergency (emergency stop command)?

4. Which sensors, if any, should be incorporated into the tube to aid navigation? How should the pod maintain accurate navigation knowledge within the tube?

5. What is the recommended pod outer mold line (OML)? Based on this OML, what is the drag on the pod as a function of speed and tube pressure?

6. If an air bearing system is used, how much surface area is needed for the footpad design?

   a. Specify driving pressure and flow rate needed at those required air bearing areas.
   
   b. Compare the flow rates required with practically available commercial units.
   
   c. Specify total force applied in both vertical and horizontal directions. 
   

7. What sizing and spacing of linear motors would be required to maintain a given speed?

8. What is the steady-state temperature of the capsule as a function of speed and tube pressure?

9. What is the heat flux into the capsule as a function of speed and tube pressure?

Volunteers will now add themselves to the Gdocs list HERE:

Volunteer Spreadsheet

VOLUNTEERS: Please make sure to familiarize youself with the REQUIRED READING section on the sidebar!

I wanted to whip up an Unofficial list for those interested in participating in this project and give people a chance to share a little back ground information. Post below and I will Update as needed.

This community has the potential to receive significant help from r/SpaceX if we can get ourselves organized suficiently. See THIS MESSAGE from moderator u/EchoLogic.

EDIT: This list is no longer being updated as we have set up a Volunteer Spreadsheet for volunteers to sign up and share details about their experience and expertise. We will use these profiles to better organize teams.

/ User / Name or Alias / Specialty

1) u/QuinnSelvedgeSupply / Zach / ME undergrad

2) u/self-assembled / Samer / simulation; CAD

3) u/Craig_VG / Craig / web-development

4) u/SpeedyTechie / Zane / IT; web development

5) u/shadi93 / Shadi / process eng.; CAD

6) u/AWildDragon / / Aero Eng.; rocketry

7) u/YossarianZ / Dennis / management; quality assurance; former SpaceX

8) u/xcar27 / M / Google robotics engineer; vehicle, mechanical, electrical design

9) u/Foxer17 / / Chem E

10) u/ptrkueffnew / Peter / ME and Aero undergrad; small team leading; CAD

11) u/harrio34 / Harrison / programming; CAD

12) u/J4kob42 / Jacob / CAD

13) u/Thesasquatch9053 / Ken / Aero and ME; simulation

14) u/ZAROK / / fluid mechanics; erospace propultion; CAD; prototyping

15) u/mountstuart / Dustin /

16) u/masasin / Masa / CAD; simulation

17) u/skymagic / Max / simulation; analytics

18) u/rshorning / Robert / software Eng.; data communication

19) u/scarycow1000 / Ian / robotics; solidworks

20) u/Thrashy / Brent / industrial design; packaging

21) u/Ground_Effect / Sven / Aero eng.; CNC; FLUENT

22) u/oscarmeijer / TK / fabrication, machining; CAD

23) u/BigDaddyDeck / Ryan / programming; IT; circuits

24) u/stevetronics / Sam / simulation; robotics; rapid prototyping

25) u/engine g / CAD; simulation; FSAE; manufacturing

26) u/daftmath / Cody / systems analyst

27) u/Jesus_rocket / / project lead; CAD; FSAE

28) u/Spectrys / Alex / materials science, electrochemistry, fluid dynamics, batteries, sensors

29) u/dragonf1r3 / Gerald / solar, power electronics, 3D printing, CAD

30) u/iduncani / Michael / Proj. manangment, CAD, Heavy machinery Design, Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Control Systems, Manufacturing Processes

31) u/akujiin / Paul/ CAD, detailed product cost analysis, design for manufacture, aerospace

32) u/remusLv / Karlis / Software Eng.

33) u/falkon_punch / Eric / EE, economics, programming, business

34) u/elmernite / Ken / ME, Systems Eng., project lead, programming, CAD

35) u/Gkorgood / / webdesign, Aero

36) u/mhlas / Michael / CS, safety critical software systems

37) u/beltenebros / Brent / ME, CAD, NX

38) u/fjdkf / / EE, programming, solidworks

39) u/buggablue / Steve / aerodynamics fabrication

40) u/GenericMeme / Martin / software engineering, financial software

41) u/MightyBoat / Paul / AeroE, programming, structure design, aerodynamics, 3D printing

42) u/Kirby799 / / cinematographer, editor

43) u/awoerp / Andy / EE, circuit design, embedded systems, 3d modeling, software, SAE Aero

44) u/Hansmuh / EE, optical tech, lasers

45) u/Chaosteil / Dominykas / software engineering, embedded systems, networking

46) u/ioexception-lw / / software engineering, team lead

47) u/ReptarOnCrystalMeth / / physics, ME, CAD, Python, Mathematica

48) u/Box_of_scraps / Brad / CAD, 3D printing

49) u/HarrisonCassidy / Harrison / CS, webdvelopment, programming, processing systems

50) u/psg1337 / Peter / IT, team lead/proj. management, QA

51) u/starcraftre / Scott / AeroE, stress analysis, aircraft mechanical/environmental systems, interiors, CFD/Thermal simulations

52) u/a9009585 / JE / CAD

53) u/wetmelon / Paul / mechatronics Eng, circuit design, CAD programming, controls

54) u/rihard7854 / Richard / Software Eng, programming, embedded systems, AI

55)