#bytevaria Jul 27, 2018

World Champions in Hyperlooping

Three races – three world records! The team of students from TU Munich once again left the competition way behind with their prototype for the Hyperloop project for the future – a transport system where people will travel on the ground at nearly the speed of sound.

The WARR team from Munich hadn’t even been able to test its Hyperloop capsule until just before the start. Now their “pod” was going into experimental tube in Los Angeles: 290 miles per hour! 50 percent faster than its predecessor, miles faster than the competition and the fastest in SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s competition for the third time.

The WARR Hyperloop crew from the Technical University of Munich (Source: TU Munich)
Hyperloop initiator Elon Musk talking to the WARR team in California (Source: TU Munich)

Musk launched the race in 2015 to develop a “revolutionary transport system” for the future. One day a transport capsule (pod) is going to take people from A to B at over 760 mph in a vacuum tube. The WARR Hyperloop team from the Technical University of Munich has been dominating the competition against other teams right from the start. Just three of the original 18 teams had qualified for the latest third round. TU Delft (Netherlands) reached just 88 mph instead of over 253 mph though and ETH Lausanne (Switzerland) virtually plodded behind with 53 mph.

The international WARR team from Munich was supported financially by TUM. By the way, the abbreviation “WARR” stands for: Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Raketentechnik und Raumfahrt (Scientific Association for Rocket Technology and Space). They use Makerspace, the centre for innovation and start-ups at the university, as their major workbench.

The Bavarian government also funds the project. Minister President Markus Söder himself recently announced in his policy statement that he wants to build a Bavarian Hyperloop test track.