Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Team Advances in SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition

A UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department team has advanced to the top 20 groups of the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, making the team’s pod officially eligible to go through safety checks and, pending results, to race at the July 21 event.

The UC Davis 2019 OneLoop Team is comprised of 62 UC Davis students across both engineering and nonengineering disciplines. Sixty-one team members are undergraduate students, along with one graduate student. OneLoop Team’s stated mission is to “become the fastest US-based pod to race in the competition, having passed safety inspections and obtained permission to race.”

The SpaceX competition’s goal is to support the development of functional prototypes and encourage innovation by challenging student teams to design and build the best high-speed pod. The first three competitions were held in January 2017, August 2017 and July 2018 and were the first of their kind anywhere in the world.

Based on these successes, SpaceX has moved forward with the fourth installment: the 2019 Hyperloop Pod Competition. As with previous competitions, the 2019 competition will be judged solely on one criteria: maximum speed with successful deceleration. All pods must be self-propelled. 

Congratulations and good luck, OneLoop Team!