I was very honored to be invited to the roll-out of the WARR Hyperloop Pod today. The team from the Technical University of Munich is in the final round of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition.

The WARR group was founded in 1962 to advance the science and technology of spaceflight in Germany.

I was impressed by the technology and thoroughness of the Hyperloop pod design. The vehicle uses an electrodynamic suspension, based on eddy currents in the aluminum tube of the Hyperloop. It also uses an electrical turbine to suck in the air in front of the pod (the tube is not maintaining a perfect vacuum) to reduce drag and shockwaves when traveling around Mach 1.

Best of luck to the team. They are still looking for funding to ship the vehicle to the US in autumn.