"Hyperloop SUPAERO" Project: Master students together to contribute to future and sustainable transport technologies

Imagine if you could travel from France to Portugal in only 1 hour and stay on the ground?

It might be possible in a close future thanks to the Project Hyperloop Supaero!
A group of ISAE-SUPAERO Master students are working actively on this project. The Hyperloop technology is a proposed high-speed transportation for both public and goods transport that relies on a pod and runs substantially free of air resistance or friction inside a large, sealed tube. Has it been released yet ? Not yet, but our team is dedicated to make it happens !

A Unic and Multicultural team

The Hyperloop SUPAERO team was born out of the motivation and desire of a small group of Master students in Aerospace Engineering to face new technological and environmental challenges. What was just an idea in the beginning has become not only one of the largest student team in ISAE-SUPAERO, but also the 1st and only student team in France to develop Hyperloop technology.

One of the hallmarks of Hyperloop SUPAERO is the multiculturalism. In 2023, the team is composed of more than 64 students from 12 different countries: France, Spain, India, Portugal, Italy, Lebanon, Greece and Ireland among others. People with different background, worldviews, values, ideas, skills, or competences brought together to bring a more global vision to the project and take into account most of the aspects when looking for solutions.

The team is well organized and divided into the following groups: Levitation, Structures, Propulsion & Magnetics, Electronics & Software, Energy, Management and Marketing. Each group will do their assigned tasks that will be supervised by the head of the subsystem and finally discussed together at the weekly overall team meeting. Although everyone is free to work when it suits them best, every Thursday afternoon the team gets together to share ideas and improvements in a friendly environment.

Like all projects The Hyperloop team is facing challenges both financial like technical

With any innovative technology, financing represents a large part of its success story. The prototype we aim to create incorporates various components: electrical, mechanical, structural, energy, and obviously levitation related. This journey till now would never have been possible without the help of their sponsors: Hyperloop TT, Safran Group, Magnet Store among others who are backing them up financially and technically. But to continue to purchase components and launch experimentation, the team is actively seeking for any financial help.

Why and how the Hyperloop strategy could contribute efficiently to build a more sustainable transport mode

⅕ of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from transport. Around 45% of these transport emissions are consumed by cars and trucks. As young people committed to the environment, the team believes that Hyperloop will help advance future transport technologies. The team envisions innovating transport using the sci-fi technology of levitation. The creation of a prototype pod that can travel at speeds up to 500 km/h, has unimaginable advantages, the primary one being able to travel goods and people in a much faster and more efficient way.

The team is defined as a project based on RD, the aim is to contribute to society through research and development of new technologies that can have an impact on it, to evolve towards a more sustainable and efficient world.

How the MSc Aerospace Engineering helping you in this project?

Within the development of our prototype, the design of the structure and the aerodynamics play a big role. Thanks to the knowledge gained in the respective majors Aerospace Structures and Advanced Aerodynamics & Propulsion, the team has been able to approach these tasks with a deeper and more accurate vision.

Their project for 2023:

However, ideas must be translated into action. That is why the team’s objectives is to build a scaled prototype POD of the Hyperloop concept and present it to the European Hyperloop Week 2023. This competition of reference gives the opportunity to student teams to present their research, innovations and development on the Hyperloop project.

Currently, they are at the first stage of the competition by presenting their prototype portfolio and aim to start building the physical prototype as soon as possible. New challenges are coming, and we believe this adventure to success is just starting ! Stay update of their achievements and follow them on LinkedIn!