Though the Hyperloop is the brainchild of Elon Musk, he's a bit busy with Tesla and SpaceX, and has thus called on others to make his dream of a super-fast transportation system a reality.
A California startup is now looking to bring the Hyperloop to life, recruiting two well-known engineers to head up the project.
JumpStartFund is like Kickstarter for startups, crowd-sourcing funds for projects or companies that sound interesting to the community. One of the projects posted to the site last month was a mission to create Musk's Hyperloop. Now, JumpStartFund has announced that Dr. Marco Villa, former director of mission operations at SpaceX, and Dr. Patricia Galloway, first woman president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), will lead and manage the Hyperloop project.
JumpStart Fund is also accepting applications from those who want to work full time on the Hyperloop project in exchange for equity; apply in the "Participate" section.
Villa and Galloway will be heading up a new company, but will call on JumpStartFund members to participate in advisory groups that focus on everything from design and feasibility to solving technical challenges and creating a team surrounding its development.
"There does not seem to be any technical issues on this project that we can't solve, even if we do not know right away, we will figure it out," Villa said in a statement. "Hyperloop is a very complex system and we look forward to receiving input and support from all the brilliant minds out there in the JumpStartFund community to make this a true open source development."
"I believe this project will revolutionize how transportation will be viewed for future travel to and from major cities similar to the way the Concorde almost changed air travel," Galloway said. "What is different today is the opportunities that crowdsourcing and crowdfunding offers in getting dreams and innovations off the ground to allow the 'Concordes' of the future become reality today."
It won't be easy. Musk estimated that the initial Hyperloop - intended to transport people between San Francisco and LA in 30 minutes - will cost $6 billion.
In an overview posted to the Tesla Motors and SpaceX websites last month, Musk described a system whereby passengers would be transported via tubes that are constructed above or below the ground and contain "a special environment."
Musk has not addressed the JumpStartFund effort. Last week, he tweeted a link to a news story about Ansys, an organization that created a virtual pod and tube based on Musk's renderings.
"Good Hyperloop feedback from Ansys. Am excited by how much it can be improved by open src contributions!" Musk wrote.
Shortly after Musk unveiled his plans for the Hyperloop, a five-person team at WhiteClouds built a model of it using 3D printing — in less than 24 hours.