In July 2018 I used the Principal’s Go Abroad Fund to travel to Los Angeles, California to assemble HYPED’s 2nd Hyperloop prototype, Poddy II. After a year of designing and building, it was time to send our pod to the SpaceX Hyperloop competition. 2 weeks were spent in a workshop finalising the components, and 1 week was spent at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne for testing and for competition day. The HYPED team also enjoyed a tour of NASA’s JPL, and breakfast at the British Consulate in LA. While in California I gained a lot of experience in practical Engineering, teamwork and logistics and enjoyed experiencing a different part of the world with a different culture to that in the UK. Blogs on the story of Poddy II from concept to California, and on being a student in HYPED can be found here: https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/poddy-the-second-from-idea-to-reality; https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/hyped-a-student-engineers-perspective.

Arriving in LAX with carbon fibre parts for Poddy II in a large box

In the workshop in California assembly the pod

Putting finishing touches (stickers and a gloss coat) on the pod’s bodywork

Sending Poddy to SpaceX on the back of a truck

Day off at Huntington Beach

The Falcon 9 at SpaceX Headquarters

Poddy II on display at the SpaceX competition

Tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Flying over San Francisco on the way back to Edinburgh