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  • 2/9/2017

SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition:

TUM students awarded for fastest pod design

All of the hard work has paid off: A team of students from the TUM was one of two European university groups to win top honors in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition. Testing their pod at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA near Los Angeles, TUM’s WARR Hyperloop Team picked up the award for fastest pod.

Victory in Los Angeles: The TUM’s WARR Hyperloop Team (Photo: Dolores Volkert/TUM)
Victory in Los Angeles: The TUM’s WARR Hyperloop Team (Photo: Dolores Volkert/TUM)

SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, was on hand to watch the WARR prototype race to success. He launched the Hyperloop Pod Competition in 2015. The concept envisions transport capsules, or pods, that will travel at high speed – close to the speed of sound – in a near-vacuum environment through a system of tubes.

Hundreds of student teams from around the globe submitted their pod designs to the competition, and in early 2016, 30 semi-finalists were chosen to build their prototypes and prepare for the competition at the SpaceX test track.

Test run: Only three teams

Over the past weekend from January 27-29, 2017, the TUM WARR Hyperloop Team was one of 27 of the original 30 semifinalists to gather at the SpaceX test track in Hawthorne, CA, near Los Angeles.

The pods were tested on a track built especially for the competition. Ultimately, only three teams were given the green light to proceed with the actual test run: the TUM WARR team and teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT – U.S.) and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft – Netherlands).

The students from Munich put their pod to the test and wowed onlookers – including the innovator behind the competition, CEO Musk – as the design with the highest speed.

"We did everything right"

WARR team members accepted a Hyperloop Pod trophy printed in titanium and hand-signed by Musk himself. TU Delft earned the highest overall score and was awarded for the best design and construction, and MIT came in third with a Safety and Reliability Award.

"We’re unbelievably proud to have won this award on behalf of TUM," said WARR’s Thomas Ruck. "It’s a fantastic feeling – after a year and a half of hard work and effort – to be able to say we did everything right."

More information:
hyperloop.warr.de

Technical University of Munich

Corporate Communications Center

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