From Munich to Berlin in 35 minutes – that is the vision of the Scientific Working Group for Rocket Technology and Space Travel (WARR) at the Technical University of Munich. With their latest project, they want to get closer to this goal – and are supported with materials and know-how from the SGL Group.
At the beginning of the year, the students of the Munich working group were able to win the main prize in the first round of the “SpaceX Hyperloop competition”. The Hyperloop is a concept by Tesla founder Elon Musk, with the help of which high-speed trains are to be transported at almost the speed of sound through a tube with a partial vacuum. To implement this project, 30 selected student teams presented their concepts for the transport capsules (“pods”) in Los Angeles, which will one day be used to transport passengers through the tube. In the final of the three best teams, the group from Munich prevailed as the “fastest pod” and also won the award for the “best flight performance”.
While the first competition was about a functioning overall concept of a Hyperloop pod, the focus of the second competition is mainly on the maximum speed that can be achieved on the test track. The students of the WARR Hyperloop team have developed a new prototype made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) and were supported in this project with carbon fiber materials from the SGL Group. In addition, SGL provides the WARR team with know-how, resources and systems from its Lightweight and Application Center (LAC) in Meitingen near Augsburg, where the students work intensively on the development and manufacture of the carbon Components for the Hyperloop pod prototype were working.