Year in pictures: Charlie Leight


Players view Tillman Statue for first time
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The gift of photography is its ability to capture a moment, take it outside its boundaries and expand it for observers in other locations and time. These pictures capture snippets of times and events from the 2017 history of Arizona State University and deliver them to you on your computer, tablet or phone, at your convenience. It has been my incredible privilege to bring them to you. These moments tell the story of the rich Sun Devil life: the research, innovation, leaders, successes, inspiration and victories.

These images are for you, so that you, too, may be a witness to the moments. Discover research that observes life on the Earth’s surface, overhead and way beyond. Find out about the people who gave their time, their capital and their lives to take us into the future. And share the times that made us feel great about living the Sun Devil life.

AZLoop at SpaceX

Elon Musk threw down the gauntlet: create a prototype of a high-speed carrier that will transport people and cargo at more than 700 miles per hour to connect cities and regions around the world. ASU accepted the challenge.

We told the stories of the more than 100 students — from ASU, the ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff — who designed, built and tested their entry for the SpaceX Hyperloop II Pod Competition. It took the students thousands of hours and many sleepless nights to build the high-speed pod. The singular objective: build and test the fastest vehicle.

AZLoop finished in the top eight out of 35 teams in the second hyperloop competition sponsored by SpaceX.

After a grueling week of technical reviews and track tests, only three teams earned the honor of propelling their pods down vacuum-encased I-beam track at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Five teams, including AZLoop, were unable to compete in the final round of testing due to lack of daylight and not enough time for all eight teams to complete trial runs in the SpaceX tube.

Knowing their vehicle is able to compete at the highest levels, AZLoop is more than ready to take up the gauntlet again at next year’s Hyperloop III. See their journey so far in the photos below.