Arizona students prepare for SpaceX competition
A group of Arizona college students are competing against teams from around the world in hopes of impressing Elon Musk.
The tech guru’s company, SpaceX, is hosting its third annual Hyperloop Pod Competition on July 22. SpaceX hopes to use the high-speed transportation system to transport people between cities at a fast rate.
Three years ago, 13 students formed AZ Loop. Now the team has more than 60 members from Arizona State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The team created a self-propelled, model-sized pod that is about 10 feet long and travels on a track. It has navigation, propulsion, braking and stability mechanisms.
Undergraduate and graduate students came together to work on the project. Not only are students studying engineering, some are majoring in graphic design and business.
“It’s the variety of people that we get to work with that increase our knowledge,” said Surya Rajagopalan, a Ph.D. student studying aerospace engineering.
Rajagopalan said even though many of the students working on the project are undergrads, he has learned different skills outside of his focus of study.
“I have been amazed by their knowledge and I have learned a lot,” he said.
Mykol Reklaitis said working with different majors helped him get a different perspective.
“As an electrical major, I think about, ‘Oh, that wire is going to burn,’ ” said the 20-year-old. “As a mechanical major, they are going to think of other different problems.”
Preparing for the competition hasn’t been easy for the students. According to Rajagopalan, things didn’t always go according to plan.
“When we make a design, we make a design based on our targets,” said the mechanical and systems integration lead.
However, issues such as funding interfered with the original design.
Materials and manufacturing lead Leann Scott said the team had to redesign systems to solve their funding issue. “We had originally sourced a different motor, but then we had to backtrack because we couldn’t afford it and we had to design a different one,” Scott said.
Another challenge the team faced was its size, according to AZLoop President Joshua Bowen.
“It’s challenging by nature to coordinate this many people with this big of a project, but it turned out great,” he said.
He said at times, the team expanded to more than 100 students.
AZLoop will compete at the SpaceX Hyperloop competition in Hawthrone, California, on July 22. The competition focuses on maximum speed.
“There’s going to be a lot of amazing teams that have poured blood, sweat and tears into this competition,” Reklaitis said.
To prepare for the competition, AZLoop received help from Composites One, a company that provides materials and technical solutions. Scott said the the company gave the team pointers with the design.
Rajagopalan said he hopes AZLoop will reach the top speed this year. Last year’s winner, WARR, had a speed of more than 200 miles per hour.
“Nothing is going to compare to actually turning it on and running it full speed down the track, so I’m really excited to see that,” Bowen said.