This month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is running a competition to test hyperloop pods designed and built by university students and independent engineering teams. A team of UW-Madison students will be there.

The company is constructing a test track near its Hawthorne, California, headquarters for the competition.

The hyperloop, a tube over- or underground that is similar but larger than the pneumatic tubes used by banks and pharmacies, would allow for super-fast travel between cities that are less than 900 miles apart.