It is supposed to be almost as fast as the speed of sound, the superfast train of the future, also called Hyperloop. In the "Hyperloop Pod Competition" sponsored by SpaceX, teams from around the world presented their concepts for the so-called pod, the cabin capsule in which passengers will be transported through the tube. WARR student group is one of the 30 teams that were allowed to build their prototype. From January 27 to 29, the teams will compete against each other on the test track in the USA. Thomas Ruck, a student in aerospace engineering, explains how it all began and why the TUM students' pod is so special.
How did you come up with the idea of taking part in the competition?
Thomas Ruck: I can still remember that at the end of July last year, the three of us were sitting in a café and thinking about how we could set the whole thing up. Mariana Avezum, who studies at the Department of Computer Science, saw on Facebook that SpaceX was running a competition to build a Hyperloop pod. She was immediately excited and started looking for people in mechanical engineering who wanted to do it with her. I was one of the first to say yes. Since then, the team has grown to 35 people, and now we're flying to Los Angeles, where the competition finals are starting.
“We never thought it would go so well”
Did you think you would make it to the finals?
Thomas Ruck: At the beginning, we were one of 700 teams that submitted their design. All the top universities in the world were represented. We were confident that we could come up with something good, but we never thought it would go so well. In the design competition last year in Texas, we came in the top 20. That's when we realized that we actually had to build the pod. We started to organize sponsors, and we needed a lot more people; at that point, we had about 15 students. We invested a lot of time in getting the funding, materials, and the necessary know-how. We actually started building in April. We had most of it finished by October, then we started fine-tuning.
Things get serious on January 27
What were the preparations for the competition like?
Thomas Ruck: We began the packaging and transport process at the beginning of December. This involved cataloging every single part we wanted to take with us and declaring it to customs. In total, there were 19,000 individual parts with a combined weight of 1.2 tons. And the pod counts as one part. The pod arrived at the workshop in Los Angeles on January 6th. (...) In Los Angeles (...) we will begin the final system integration, during which we will attach the last parts to the pod, such as the magnets and batteries. We shipped these parts separately by ship because they are not allowed on airplanes.
On January 22nd, we'll move to SpaceX, where the test campaign will begin. We'll have to prove that we've built everything according to the rules. And, most importantly, that our pod is safe and won't damage the tube or the push vehicle inside the tube. There's a 17-page checklist that has to be completed. The actual competition begins on January 27, which will take place over three days, with the results being finalized on the 29th. Two winners will be chosen: the team with the fastest pod and a winner in the technical category.
The special feature of your concept is the compressor. Why is it so important?
Thomas Ruck: At high speeds in a tube…
