1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: Technology with tech Stuff from hastaff works dot com. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I am your host, Jonathan Strickland, 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: lover of all things tech, and today I thought i'd 4 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: talked about the technology that has often been associated with 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: our general concept of the future. When you hear the 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: terms the future, there's certain things that tend to pop 7 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,319 Speaker 1: up over and over again in people's minds. Now, when 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: I think of the future, I think of stuff like 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: artificially intelligent computers or robots. I think about meals and 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: pill form because you know, I was a kid of 11 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,240 Speaker 1: the seventies and eighties, and that was, for some reason, 12 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: the concept of how we were all going to survive 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: in the future was have these these meals that would 14 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: just be in a pill and uh, if you're really lucky, 15 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: you turn into a giant blueberry. But I also would 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: think of something else that's going to be the subject 17 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: for today's episode, jet pack x Uh. I've talked about 18 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: flying cars in the past, so that's off the table. 19 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: But jet packs are totally something I can tackle. They 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: are prominent in pop culture, and there are a few 21 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: real world examples of jet packs or variations on the theme. 22 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: In some cases it's not a jet pack. It might 23 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: be more like a jet hoverboard, and in some cases 24 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: it might be more of a rocket pack than a 25 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: jet pack. But we're going to cover all of that today, uh, 26 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,480 Speaker 1: and I want to talk about some of the gadgets, 27 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: how they work, and what their limitations are, and also 28 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: explain why I think jet packs will never become a 29 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: real consumer technology. Now, first, let's define a few things. 30 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,839 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about several different types of technology 31 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: today that tend to get lumped under the general category 32 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: of jet pack. But as I said, not all of 33 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: them use jet engine technology. Some of them are more 34 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: like rocket packs rocket belts because they use a type 35 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: of combustible fuel to generate thrust. And at least one 36 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: of the ones I want to talk about isn't a 37 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: pack at all. It's a platform you would stand on, 38 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: kind of like a quad copter or a drone, but 39 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: souped up to the point where it's powerful enough to 40 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: carry a human being standing on top of it, and 41 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: all of it I think can kind of sort of 42 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: be generously lumped under the term jet pack, even in 43 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: though in some cases you're not wearing a pack at all. Now, 44 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: the concept of strapping jets or rockets to your back 45 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: so that you can achieve flight is pretty old. In 46 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,679 Speaker 1: the October second issue of Scientific American, all the way 47 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: back in nineteen o nine, there was a piece that 48 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: was written by a guy named John Elfrith Watkins, and 49 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: it relayed the story of a supposed ancient Chinese astronaut. 50 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: In his story, this astronaut's name was Wong two. Watkins 51 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: said that according to legend, Wong to set upon a 52 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: chair moult to do on a platform and attached to 53 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: that platform where forty seven rockets. Forty seven attendants lit 54 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: these rockets which were meant to all ignite simultaneously and 55 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: lift Wong two to the heavens in a glorious demonstration 56 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: for the Emperor of China. But Watkins explained, one of 57 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: those rockets exploded and the explosion badly burned Wong too. 58 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: On top of that, the Chinese emperor was quite unhappy 59 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 1: about the whole thing, And supposedly this event happened all 60 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: the way back in two thousand b c. E. Now, 61 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: there's a very good chance that this whole piece was 62 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: just a tongue in cheek take on the idea and 63 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: a figment of watkins imagination that it was not meant 64 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: to actually relay a real Chinese legend, but it's still meant. 65 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: You've got a precursor to jet packs described in a 66 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: nineteen o nine periodical, which is still fairly early. In 67 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, Herbert s. Zem would tell a very 68 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: similar story to Watkins, except in his story the protagonist 69 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: was named Wan Who, and it took place in the 70 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: sixteenth century Common era, so well nearly three thousand, what 71 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: three thousand, six hundred years later it was crazy. In 72 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: any case, we still think the story is probably bunk 73 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: and was invented in the twentieth century, not an ancient 74 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: or medieval China. Also, this was one of the stories 75 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: that would later be tested on the series MythBusters, where 76 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: they would attempt to create a rocket powered chair and 77 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: things went about as well as you would expect. So 78 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: if you haven't seen that episode, you should probably dig 79 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: it up see if you can watch and see what 80 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: happens when someone tries to light a whole bunch of 81 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: rockets mounted underneath the chair. Now, between the accounts of 82 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,719 Speaker 1: Wong two in nineteen o nine and Wan Who in 83 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five falls. Another early depiction of jet packs, 84 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: and this was an illustration on the cover of the 85 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: short story periodical Amazing Stories. And man, did I love 86 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: Amazing Stories. Not that I was around when it was 87 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: first being published, but I've read several of the stories 88 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: that were that were originally published in Amazing Stories. And 89 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: I even enjoyed to some extent the television series that 90 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,200 Speaker 1: was inspired by it, the TV series that was produced 91 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: by Steven Spielberg in the nineteen eighties. Uh, if you've 92 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: ever had a chance to watch it, it's pretty terrible, 93 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: but I still enjoyed it anyway. Frank R. Paul created 94 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: the illustration for the cover of that issue of Amazing Stories, 95 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,360 Speaker 1: and there is a man wearing a jet pack flying around. 96 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: He's got a hand hold control, uh, the handheld control rather, 97 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,919 Speaker 1: and it's tethered to his harness, So it's clearly the 98 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: control for the jet pack. There's no visible signs of 99 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: what is creating the levitation effect, like there's no exhaust 100 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: or any other designs of what might be creating the thrust. 101 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: So it's not clear what Paul had in my mind 102 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: that would keep this guy up there, but it is 103 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,599 Speaker 1: an evocative image, and it's it's certainly illustrating a certain 104 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:11,720 Speaker 1: sense of wonder that a lot of people have had 105 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: at the thought of soaring through the skies without you know, 106 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: a plane around you. Now. In that issue of Amazing Stories, 107 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: there was also a tale titled Armageddon twenty four nineteen 108 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: a d and it featured a protagonist called Anthony Rogers, 109 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: or Buck to his friends. The world of Buck Rogers 110 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: featured many science fiction technologies, including those that ran on 111 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: the fictional substance inner Ton or inner Ton if you 112 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: prefer I N E R T O N. This was 113 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,360 Speaker 1: supposedly the densest substance in the universe. It was completely 114 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: fictional for the purposes of the story, and the author 115 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: Philip Nolan, described how that particular substance would allow scientists 116 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: to create magnificent technologies, including a belt. I would allow 117 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: you to adjust the effect that gravity would have on yourself, 118 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 1: so you could reduce the effects of gravity to the 119 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: point where you could, you know, kind of kind of 120 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: float around a little bit, and if you paired it 121 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: with some rockets, you could even fly, or at least 122 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: float with some sort of sense of direction. As for 123 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: working devices in the real world. One of the earliest 124 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: supposed jet pack precursors was the himmel Stummer. Now, this 125 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: was a mythical flight pack that supposedly was created by 126 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: Nazi scientists during World War Two, and it has been 127 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: widely reported as being an actual thing, but I'm here 128 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: to tell you that's likely not to be the case anyway. 129 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: Himil Schemer literally means sky stormer or heaven stormer, and 130 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: legend would have you believe that the himmel Schemer jet 131 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: pack used what's called a pulse engine, which is a 132 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: real thing, and actually it was supposedly using multiple jet 133 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: pulse and and that these would create enough thrust for 134 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: a soldier to make a really powerful leap, so they 135 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: wouldn't really fly so much as they would jump really 136 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: high and really far, kind of like how Superman originally 137 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: couldn't fly, but he could leap tall buildings in a 138 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: single bound. It's true, like the original Superman didn't fly around, 139 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: he just jumped around a lot. Well we're talking jumps 140 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,239 Speaker 1: that would be around a hundred eighty feet in length 141 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: and fifty feet high, so it's pretty spectacular. And supposedly 142 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: it would allow soldiers to clear entire mine fields or 143 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,199 Speaker 1: other obstacles. But as the story goes, the war ended 144 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: before any of these left the prototype phase and got 145 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: deployed in the field, and that the units that were 146 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: created were either destroyed or, as French theory advocates argue, 147 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:52,960 Speaker 1: they were confiscated by the United States as part of 148 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: Operation paper Clip. Operation paper Clip was this super secret, 149 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: real operation that the US had. This part is absolutely true, 150 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 1: where they brought over science and scientists from the Nazi 151 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: Germany area and put them to work for the United States. 152 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: So a lot of the early rocketry program in the 153 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: US was courtesy of scientists who had previously been working 154 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: for the Nazis, So that part has some truth to it, 155 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: although there's no evidence that the himmel Schemmer was ever 156 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: part of this real operation. Now, supposedly these engines would 157 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: burn at temperatures low enough that soldiers would not need 158 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: special protective clothing. Only here's the thing, like I said, 159 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: there is no evidence that any of this ever existed, 160 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: that any jet packs were ever made. There are no photographs, 161 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: there's no documentation, and you know, it's impossible to prove 162 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: a negative. It's impossible to say there's absolutely no way 163 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: these existed, because you know, what you have to do 164 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: is find evidence to actually support the existence, but there's 165 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: no such evidence around. There are photos of a soldier 166 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: supposedly using the heimmel Strmer jet pack, but those are 167 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: just of a toy model that was photoshop to look 168 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: like it was a vintage photograph circa ninety four. If 169 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: you look at the original picture, it's a full color 170 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: picture of a toy with some rockets strap to it. 171 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: The earliest account of any sort of jet pack attributed 172 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: to the Nazis appears to be from a book titled 173 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: German Secret Weapons and Wonder Weapons of World War Two, 174 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: which was written in nineteen seventy six, and it was 175 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: written by a guy who was essentially a Nazi sympathizer 176 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: living in Toronto, Canada, so not exactly an unbiased source, 177 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: and as far as we can tell, it was the 178 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: first and only appearance of well first appearance of this 179 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,319 Speaker 1: jet pack idea that nothing predated that, and the same 180 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: author wrote lots of other stuff, including some Holocaust denial 181 00:10:55,080 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: uh literature, which is pretty awful, so devinly not a 182 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: reliable source. However, you'll find information on the Internet that 183 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: treats it like the Himmel Schemer was definitely a gadget 184 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: that existed in history, despite the fact that there is 185 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: no evidence that such a thing happened, and the person 186 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: who who first started sharing the story has no credibility whatsoever. 187 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: The first personal flying device, a real note that actually 188 00:11:23,559 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: did exist that I can really talk about it is 189 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: probably the Hiller VZ one, which was built in the 190 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties, And this was not a jet pack, 191 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: but rather a platform upon which the pilot would stand, 192 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: so kind of similar to that that apocryphal Chinese legend 193 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: in a way, except it wasn't powered by rockets. It 194 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: was powered by an enormous ducted fan that had a 195 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: pair of counter rotating coaxial propellers to generate the thrust 196 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: needed to lift the whole thing, pilot and all off 197 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,679 Speaker 1: the ground, and to steer it you actually had to 198 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,559 Speaker 1: shift your weight, which, as it turns out, is not 199 00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: the most precise way to conduct maneuvers. And some folks 200 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: in the Navy had a real fun little nickname for 201 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: this setup, and they called it the flying pie pan. 202 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: A December nine issue of Popular Science described some other 203 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: real world attempts at jet pack technology, or at least 204 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: ancestors to jet packs. These were rocket belts also known 205 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: as jump belts, so like the fictional Himmel Schemer, the 206 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: concept was these belts would use rocket power to give 207 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: a boost to a soldier needing to clear an obstacle 208 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:38,439 Speaker 1: or jump over hazardous terrain. There were some that were 209 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: created by the thecal Chemical Corporation Theicle and I'm probably 210 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,719 Speaker 1: mispronouncing their name, it's th h I O K O L. 211 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: They created the coal jump belts. Uh. These were solid 212 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: fuel rockets strapped to a belt. Uh. There is include 213 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: rockets that would be part of the early Space program 214 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: projects like Gemini and Mercury or Jiminy. If you prefer 215 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: I do not. I prefer Gemini. But the jump belt 216 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: ended up earning a nickname called Grasshopper. The whole idea 217 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,200 Speaker 1: being that again gives a boost to someone who's trying 218 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: to jump over, say, an obstacle. But the project never 219 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: received any funding beyond some early prototypes, so it ultimately 220 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: ended up fading away. It did not go beyond the 221 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 1: prototype phase. And then there was the flying belt from 222 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: Reaction Motors, which was detailed in that same issue of 223 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,839 Speaker 1: popular Science that talked about the vehicle jump belts. Uh. 224 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: This prototype look like an actual jet pack. It included 225 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: thrusters that you would then extend to either side, so 226 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: they kind of would go behind and uh and beyond 227 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: your shoulders and stick out to the sides a little 228 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: bit pointing downward, obviously, And it also had a couple 229 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: of large canisters on the back and or to hold 230 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: the fuel, because you need fuel to use. These rocket 231 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: thrusters had a hand control that was mounted by an 232 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: arm to the jet pack harness, so it kind of 233 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,200 Speaker 1: came up over one shoulder and then the arm came 234 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: down so that the handle would be right at arm 235 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: level and you would be able to use that to control, say, 236 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: the throttle. But this was a model of the concept 237 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: in Popular Science. It was just a kind of a 238 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: mock up, and it wasn't indicative of an actual working 239 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: jet pack. In fact, the piece said that we were 240 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: at least a couple of years away from a working 241 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: one that would allow you to fly several miles. As 242 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: it turns out, it would take three years before we 243 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: had a working jet pack, and the first one, i'll 244 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: let you go a couple of feet, uh, turns out, 245 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: if you're gonna strap rocket steer back, you tend to 246 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: be a little cautious the first time you take it 247 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: out for a spin. Now, before I jump into the 248 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: jet packs, that really worked figuratively speaking, um, not really 249 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: going to jump into any jet packs at all in 250 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 1: this episode, sad to say, Let's talk about the problems 251 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: the jet pack has to overcome in order to allow 252 00:14:58,080 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: a human being to take flight in the first place. 253 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: And these are not trivial problems. The first is that 254 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: we've got this pesky concept called gravity, and we've got 255 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: to deal with that. Gravity is one of the four 256 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: fundamental forces of the universe. It's the weakest of the four. 257 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: A's the one that we aren't really able to incorporate 258 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: into our standard model in a way that makes nice 259 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: clear sense. The other three fundamental forces are the strong 260 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and electromagnetism. Gravity is 261 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: the force that describes the attraction between any two objects 262 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: that have mass, and I'm talking about any two objects 263 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: in the universe. That's the interesting thing about gravity, because 264 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: technically speaking, you have a gravitational pull on everything else 265 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: in the universe around you that has mass, But gravity 266 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: is a force dependent upon two things, the mass of 267 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 1: the two respective objects, and then the distance between them. 268 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: The formula to determine the gravitational attraction between any two 269 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: objects goes like this. First, you take the mass of 270 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: the two object x, and you multiply those figures together. So, 271 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: if you're talking about two people, you've been taking the 272 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: mass of two people and multiplying that together and you 273 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: get a figure. Next, you would divide that number by 274 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: the distance between the two masses squared. So if the 275 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: two people are a thousand kilometers apart, you would take 276 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 1: a thousand kilometers and you would square that. You would 277 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: then divide the product of the two masses by that, 278 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: and that that a result you've got, which I think 279 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: would be what one million kilometers. That's so you end 280 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: up with a very small number. Uh So, the this 281 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: part of the formula already tells us that the greater 282 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: the distance between the two masses, the smaller the gravitational 283 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: effect is going to be between them. Finally, there's a 284 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: gravitational constant that you have to multiply against this number. 285 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: This was determined by Newton's law of universal gravitation, and 286 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: the constant in case you're curious, is six point six 287 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: seven four times ten to the minus a leventh power 288 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,679 Speaker 1: meters cubed per kilogram per second squared. Now, the important 289 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: thing to remember is you need this constant to make 290 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: the math work out properly. We're not going to go 291 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 1: into greater detail of where this constant came from because 292 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: it gets super complicated, but we multiply this times the 293 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: result we got before, and what you end up with 294 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: is a figure that describes the force of gravitational attraction 295 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 1: between those two masses. So for relatively small masses, this 296 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: attraction is so weak that we can ignore it. So 297 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: while it is true that I have a gravitational pull 298 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: on all of you listening right now, it's so weak 299 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: that you can just ignore that. It's it's the gravitational 300 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: pull to a pencil that is close to you is 301 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: greater than the gravitational pull I have on you, unless 302 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: you're sitting really really close to me right now, in 303 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,239 Speaker 1: which case back off, man. I'm a scientist. But if 304 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: one of those masses is considerably large and the distance 305 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: is relatively small between the two masses, that gravitational attraction 306 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: can be significant, such as the attraction between Earth, and 307 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: you know people on Earth. Now we're gonna talk more 308 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: about gravity and how we can overcome it in just 309 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: a second. But before I do that, let's take a 310 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsor. So, here on Earth, 311 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: the acceleration of gravity is nine point eight meters per 312 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: second per second. At least that's the value of the 313 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: acceleration of gravity at sea level here on Earth. Because 314 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: remember I talked about how the force of gravity is 315 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: dependent upon partly upon the distance between two centers of mass. Uh, 316 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: Since that magnitude depends upon that distance, the acceleration of 317 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: gravity decreases as you climb in elevation. It's actually lower. 318 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: But for most practical applications, it's fine to say nine 319 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: point eight meters per second per second, because the difference 320 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,120 Speaker 1: is for again, for most practical applications are so small 321 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,199 Speaker 1: as to not really be that that important. They're not 322 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: going to make a world of difference for what we're 323 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: talking about. So if you want to slip the surly 324 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,680 Speaker 1: bonds of Earth and dance the skies on laughter, silvered 325 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: wings points to whomever can tell me what that's a 326 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: reference to. You need to create enough force to counteract 327 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: the gravitational pull you experience here on the ground. So 328 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: you need something has a good thrust to weight ratio, 329 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: meaning you need a mechanism that can provide enough thrust 330 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: downwards to nullify the effects of gravity and allow you 331 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: to climb into the air. This ratio has to be 332 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: greater than one, and it means that the thrust must 333 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: be more than the mass of the object you want 334 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,120 Speaker 1: to send into the air, namely, you plus your jet 335 00:19:47,119 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: pack multiplied by nine point eight one. Now, let's complicate 336 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 1: things a little bit. In popular culture, you'll see characters 337 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:00,480 Speaker 1: use jetbacks to do amazing aerobatics and maneuvers. Characters like 338 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 1: the Rocketeer can fly like a bullet to another location, 339 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: kind of like Superman. This, unfortunately, is not realistic, and 340 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: that's because we humans don't have bodies that can really 341 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: generate lift. Now, for aircraft, lift is the force that 342 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: opposes the weight of an airplane or a helicopter. Clearly, 343 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: they're not shooting any kind of thrust straight down in 344 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: order to maintain height, unless it's a vt O L. 345 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 1: Helicopter kind of is, but an airplane's not. So. For 346 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: a plane, the wings generate the bulk of lift. Although 347 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: the entire body is responsible for lift, it's the wings 348 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: that have the majority of this. And this is an 349 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: aerodynamic force is dependent upon the atmosphere. If we didn't 350 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 1: have an atmosphere, lift would not be a factor. You 351 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to fly. So this is one of 352 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: the reasons why places like Mars, which has a very 353 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: thin atmosphere, it would be very difficult to fly through 354 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: mars atmosphere just because there's not a whole lot of 355 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: density there. Now Earth has a nice dense atmosphere. Flight 356 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: means you're flying through a fluid because the gas typically 357 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: is described as fluid. We would say fluid dynamics play 358 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: apart here. Lift is directed perpendicular to the flow direction. 359 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: So think of an airplane wing. UH an airplane wing 360 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: as it's flying through the air, the flow of atmosphere 361 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: is across the wing, both above and below it. The 362 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 1: direction of lift is up. It's a ninety degree angle 363 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: from the flow direction. Lift is generated when a fluid 364 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: is turned by a solid object, and lift is a 365 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,439 Speaker 1: force that's in opposite direction to that turn. Now, this 366 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: is in line with Newton's third law of action and reaction. 367 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: There has to be a motion between the object and 368 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: the fluid. So in other words, the wing has to 369 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: travel at a different speed than the air it's moving through. 370 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: If you had incredibly strong winds, I mean, like super 371 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 1: strong blowing in the same direction as a plane that's 372 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 1: trying to take off, the plane would not be able 373 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: to get off the ground because the air and the 374 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: wings would be moving at the same speed. You have 375 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 1: to have a difference in velocity in order to generate lift. Now, 376 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,479 Speaker 1: to go deeply into the concept of lift would require 377 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: a discussion of the work of Danielle Bernowley and Isaac Newton, 378 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: and it would take a long time because there are 379 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 1: a lot of misconceptions about lift. There are a lot 380 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: of of uh hypotheses that have been talked about that 381 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 1: are kind of correct but not really correct, and it 382 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: just that's a whole episode on itself. So let's just 383 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: cut to the chase. The human body does not have 384 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: a shape conducive to generating lift, So to stay up 385 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,440 Speaker 1: in the air, you have to consistently apply thrust downwards 386 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: to counteract gravity. You can't just turn the thrusters directly 387 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: behind you and then shoot off into the distance. Otherwise 388 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,919 Speaker 1: you would just come crashing down. The only way you 389 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: could avoid this is if you were moving forward fast 390 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,199 Speaker 1: enough so that as you fall, you're falling at the 391 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,360 Speaker 1: same rate as the Earth's surface is curving away from you. 392 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: Because you're moving forward that fast. Uh, the Earth is 393 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: a sphere. Just news flashed any out there who were 394 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 1: not aware of this, So you'd have to be going 395 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: wicked fast. You'd have to be going just as fast 396 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,439 Speaker 1: as the Earth is falling away from you. There's actually 397 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 1: a name for this particular type of falling. It's called orbit. 398 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:20,119 Speaker 1: But there's no way you would ever achieve a speed 399 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,439 Speaker 1: that incredible using a jet pack. And still, you know, 400 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: keep all your skin on you. So even if you 401 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: had an incredible jet pack in the classic design we 402 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: all think of, you would not be able to fly 403 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,400 Speaker 1: like Superman, because you would steadily fall to the Earth 404 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: until you crashed or you managed to maneuver to apply 405 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: your thrust to counteract gravity. So, in other words, you're 406 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,320 Speaker 1: back in a standing position. If you watched people use 407 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: various types of jet packs, you've probably seen people in 408 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: more or less this upright position, almost as if they 409 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: are standing on solid ground and moving slowly around that way, 410 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 1: and the limitations around lift are the reason for this. Now, 411 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,080 Speaker 1: there are exceptions. There are wings suits that incorporate a 412 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 1: jet pack or rocket pack design that can provide lift 413 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: due to their designs. Uh. These are like souped up 414 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: hang gliders almost, and that's a little bit different than 415 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: the jet packs, say Moba set wears in the Star 416 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,959 Speaker 1: Wars series. But there are people who have pulled off 417 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:19,399 Speaker 1: some amazing stunts using jet packs with a wing design, 418 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 1: so we'll get to those a little bit later. Now, 419 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,440 Speaker 1: another big limitation with jet packs is where they get 420 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 1: the energy to create all that thrust. Jet Packs need 421 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: fuel or potentially some other energy source like batteries. But honestly, 422 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: to get the power they need, fuel tends to be 423 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 1: the way, so fuel or batteries doesn't really matter. That 424 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: represents more weight, so that adds to the overall weight 425 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: that you need to get off the ground. This is 426 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,160 Speaker 1: the sort of stuff that rocket scientists deal with all 427 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 1: the time. It's one thing to calculate the thrust you 428 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: need to get an empty rocket off the launchpad, but 429 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,000 Speaker 1: then you start adding that fuel in there, and suddenly 430 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: the rocket is much heavier. It's not just the rocket, 431 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,439 Speaker 1: is the rocket plus the fuel. That means you have 432 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: to have even more thrust to lift the full rocket 433 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: filled up completely with fuel. While a human being obviously 434 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: ways significantly less than a rocket, you still have to 435 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: factor in things like fuel weight or battery weight when 436 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: calculating the amount of thrust you'll need to get someone airborne, 437 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: and you want enough thrust to have a nice, smooth 438 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: lunch rather than you know, shooting someone off dozens of 439 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: feet into the air with little warning. At least I 440 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: hope that's what you want. Finding a good balance between 441 00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: fuel weight and flight time is also tricky. For a 442 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: long time, a lot of jet packs had a maximum 443 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: flight time of around thirty seconds maybe a minute, which 444 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: isn't really that great, but it's because a longer flight 445 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: time would require more fuel, which again, as we know, 446 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: adds more weight, which means you need more powerful thrusters 447 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,160 Speaker 1: which are going to burn fuel through fuel faster, and 448 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: so you can keep chasing these equations. Now these days, 449 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: you can find jet packs that have a much longer 450 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: flight time, up to maybe ten or twelve minutes, which 451 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: is pretty impressive considering that before the maximum was about 452 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: thirty seconds. It's still not a long time to be 453 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: able to fly around, but it's much better than it 454 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: used to be. So if you're using a device that 455 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,439 Speaker 1: consumes fuel, then the safety of that fuel also becomes 456 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: a big concern. After all, we get energy from fuel 457 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: by burning it, you know, combustible fuel. So if you 458 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: put on a backpack that's going to shoot you into 459 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: the air while simultaneously combusting a flammable fuel source, that's 460 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,080 Speaker 1: a little intimidating. It's something you have to take into consideration. 461 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: You have to have safety measures there, which also adds 462 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: typically more weight. There are other limitations to jet packs 463 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: are loud. If you want to strap one on, you 464 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: probably also want to wear some sort of ear protection 465 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: or you're gonna risk damaging your hearing. And you want 466 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: to keep your distance from other people, not just because 467 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: your thrusters might be shooting out hot exhaust or winds 468 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: at high speeds, but also because you wouldn't want to 469 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: harm anyone with all that noise you're generating. So why 470 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: haven't we seen more work to make jet packs quieters, safer, 471 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: and more efficient. Why why are they so far behind 472 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: compared to some other technologies. One large part is because 473 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: there's not really a market for jet packs not a 474 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: big one anyway, and that means there's very little money 475 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,400 Speaker 1: to continue the R and D work on a large scale. 476 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 1: A lot of the prototypes that have come out have 477 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,480 Speaker 1: been sort of passion projects by eccentrics who happen to 478 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: have a lot of money and a desire to have 479 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,440 Speaker 1: uh an engine strapped to their back that will push 480 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: them through the air like a maniac. Uh what. I'm 481 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,360 Speaker 1: thankful for them, but they are kind of crazy. The 482 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: other source tends to be things like the Defense Department 483 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: that might have some money set aside for these sorts 484 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: of projects, but otherwise you don't really have a market 485 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: for them. Consumer market for jet packs has only recently 486 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,400 Speaker 1: become a possible, and even then just for people who 487 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: are phil they rich not grubby little podcast here like myself, 488 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: And considering how challenging it must be to keep a 489 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: jet pack in the air and keep the pilot safe, 490 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 1: it's probably for the best, all right. So let's talk 491 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 1: about some of the early attempts to make jet packs 492 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,359 Speaker 1: leading up to the kinds that are being developed today. 493 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: So here's another dive into the history of jet packs 494 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: that actually we're working and we're real windle more of 495 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 1: Bell Arrow Systems created the Bell Rocket Belt, which used 496 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: hydrogen peroxide as rocket fuel, which is useful and that 497 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: it's not explosive, so you don't have to worry about that. Uh, 498 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: And it's safe for a jet pack where to carry around. 499 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: And it was impressive for its time. It worked, it 500 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: did not work for very long. The maximum flight time 501 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,959 Speaker 1: was about twenty one seconds. The belt had three tanks 502 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: mounted on a fiberglass course, which I'm sure was very slimming. 503 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 1: And they called it a belt instead of a corset, 504 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: I assume because maybe they thought that otherwise it would 505 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: be bad pr The left and right tanks had a 506 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,479 Speaker 1: hydrogen peroxide mix and the center tank contained nitrogen gas. 507 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: So the nitrogen was used to force the hydrogen peroxide 508 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: into a catalyst and that would end up creating this 509 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: chemical mixture of water oxygen and generate a lot of heat. 510 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: And it was all under a great deal of pressure. 511 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: The belt created two hundred eighty pounds of thrust. The 512 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: first successful untethered test flight of the Bell Rocket Belt 513 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: was in the nineteen sixties. The flight lasted for fourteen 514 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: seconds and Harold Graham, the pilot, hit a top speed 515 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: of six miles per hour, a blistering speed, and traveled 516 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: thirty ft. A public demonstration saw him fly for ten seconds, 517 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: flying over a truck at about fifteen feet and traveling 518 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: a hundred fifty ft in distance at about ten miles 519 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: per hour, and more tests revealed that on a typical flight, 520 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:08,480 Speaker 1: about ten seconds would be required to make a safe landing. 521 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: So if you need ten seconds to land and you've 522 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: got a maximum flight time about twenty one seconds, it 523 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: really limited how much you could actually do and a go. 524 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: So when ten seconds of fuel remained, the pilot's helmet 525 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: would begin to beep, so it would be an alert saying, hey, 526 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: you better start your landing procedure now, because in a 527 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: very short time you will not have that option, and 528 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: we're coming down whether you're ready or not. One of 529 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: the test pilots for the Bell Rocket Belt was a 530 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: guy named Bill Suitor. Suitor would go on to fly 531 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 1: the jet pack as a stunt double for Sean Connery 532 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:47,200 Speaker 1: in a little movie called Thunderball. Gordon Yeager was also 533 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,719 Speaker 1: a stunt pilot of the Belt in some shots, so 534 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't just Bill Suitor. H Then you also have 535 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,720 Speaker 1: Robert Quarter who also worked on the jet flying belt, 536 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: which used a w R nineteen fan jet engine from 537 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: Williams International. That would make this a true jet pack, 538 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: but they still called it a belt at the time, 539 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: as opposed to a courset. This was a project funded 540 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as ARPA. 541 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: That's the same agency that funded the development of technologies 542 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 1: that would later become the underlying tech of the Internet itself. 543 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: So the reason we have the Internet largely is because 544 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: of ARPA. They funded a project called Arpanet, which some 545 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: call the grandfather to the Internet. It's definitely true that 546 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: the people who worked on Arpanet started to develop the 547 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: protocols that would end up being the backbone of the 548 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: Internet itself. Now, this jet flying belt was the product 549 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,520 Speaker 1: of John K. Hilbert and Wendell F. Moore. So we're 550 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: back to talking about more again. Now More had worked 551 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: on the rocket belt that bell Aero Systems was looking 552 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 1: at a few years earlier. Now they were looking at 553 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: a fan based belt, a fan jet engine belt, so 554 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,479 Speaker 1: they're moving away from rockets to jet engines um And 555 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: it definitely looked like a jet pack. It was large 556 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 1: and bulky with thrusters that would extend out to the sides. 557 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: It kind of looked like oversized shoulders behind the pilot 558 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: um or a little bit like exhaust pipes that you 559 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 1: would see like the exhaust hose that you see out 560 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: of the back of a of a dryer and a 561 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: washer dryer, but or you know, just some ducting. That's 562 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: what kind of what it looked like. Quarter was able 563 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:36,479 Speaker 1: to fly to an altitude of about seven meters and 564 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: he hit top speeds of forty five kilometers an hour. 565 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: And the big events here was that it was in 566 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,960 Speaker 1: fact a jet belt, not a rocket belt, So I 567 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,680 Speaker 1: was using that real jet engine to generate thrust rather 568 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: than busting rocket fuel, which meant that you didn't have 569 00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 1: that super hot exhaust like you did with the rocket belts, 570 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: and that could make it a little safer to operate, 571 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: at least in the sense that you're not likely to 572 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: set yourself on fire right away. Brad Barker partnered with 573 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: a guy named Joe Wright and another guy named Larry 574 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: Stanley to build a new rocket belt, and they based 575 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: it off of Wendell Moore's design, but this time they 576 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: were using lighter components and they were using more fuel 577 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: and in this way, they were able to create a 578 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: jet belt that would uh actually or a rocket belt 579 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,959 Speaker 1: I should say, that would actually allow for longer flying 580 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: times because it was less weight and more fuel. They 581 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,320 Speaker 1: even got Bill Suitor to test fly it, so the 582 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: same guy who test flew the previous rocket belt that 583 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: William Moore had made. But this story it ends up 584 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: getting very kind of crazy and tragic. It's one of 585 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: those stories that when you read it, it seems impossible 586 00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: to believe it first because it's so unusual. So you 587 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: have Brad Barker and Larry Stanley. They have a disagreement 588 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: that escalated, and then it escalated to the point of violence. 589 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: Brad Barker actually attacked Larry Stanley with a hammer, so 590 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:10,280 Speaker 1: Barker was arrested for assault and Stanley in the lawsuit 591 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,400 Speaker 1: one ownership of the rocket belt, which was called the 592 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,200 Speaker 1: RB two thousand. So Larry Stanley goes to claim the 593 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: device from Barker's shop, but he finds that when he 594 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: gets there, both Brad Barker and the device have gone missing. 595 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: So Larry Stanley tracks down the other partner, Joe Right, 596 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,760 Speaker 1: to find out if Joe Wright knows where Brad Barker 597 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:38,359 Speaker 1: had gone off to but when he finds Joe right, 598 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: Joe Wright is dead. He had been beaten to death. 599 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,839 Speaker 1: Larry Stanley eventually would find Brad Barker, would take him 600 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:51,240 Speaker 1: to court and win a ten million dollar UH reward. 601 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,200 Speaker 1: I guess or or you know. Barker was fined ten 602 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: million dollars by the judge and was supposed to be 603 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: paid to Stanley, but Barker refused to pay Stanley. So 604 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:05,760 Speaker 1: Stanley goes finds Barker, grabs him, shoves him in a box, 605 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: and holds him for eight days until Barker managed to escape. 606 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 1: Police would then arrest Larry Stanley on kidnapping charges, and 607 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 1: the RB two thousand never turned up. It was lost. Uh. 608 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,320 Speaker 1: Who knows where it is? Maybe Brad Barker. Who's to say? 609 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 1: That's a pretty crazy story. Now there are other jet 610 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 1: packs we can talk about some that that really aren't 611 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: jet packs, their rocket packs, because jets wouldn't work in 612 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: the situations that were used in like e v A 613 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,800 Speaker 1: jet packs. These are rocket packs or rocket belts uh, 614 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,800 Speaker 1: and they're meant for extra vehicular activities e v A 615 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,920 Speaker 1: s for space vehicles, so spacewalks is what we're talking 616 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: about here. So clearly jets would not work in space. 617 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: There's no air for you to use to create thrust, 618 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: so you would need to have rockets instead. There was 619 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 1: an early such rocket pack meant for astronauts. It was 620 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,320 Speaker 1: referred to as the Manned Maneuvering Unit or m m U, 621 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 1: developed by NASA in the nineteen eighties, specifically for Space 622 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,320 Speaker 1: Shuttle missions UH. It was the descendant of a previous 623 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: project that the US Air Force had been working on 624 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,160 Speaker 1: that was known as the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit or a 625 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 1: m U. Later on, NASA would develop a smaller system 626 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: called the Simplified AID for e V A Rescue, which 627 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: had the acronym SAFER, and that intended use was for 628 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: emergency rescue of astronauts during spacewalks, rather than as a 629 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: means of propulsion. In general, the mm us were only 630 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: used on three missions. NASA determined that there are alternative 631 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: means of allowing astronauts to perform spacewalks that are safer 632 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:57,319 Speaker 1: and less complicated. Typically tethering the astronauts to the various spacecraft, 633 00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: whether it was the space station or a shuttle or 634 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 1: whatever was the preferred method, because operating one of these 635 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: in space is hard, and it would be very easy 636 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,480 Speaker 1: to give a command that could make the situation worse 637 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: rather than improve it. So despite films like Gravity where 638 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,319 Speaker 1: you see folks using it all over the place and 639 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: shooting all over, it's very rare that any one would 640 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,760 Speaker 1: actually use one of those in the In outer space, 641 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,760 Speaker 1: they would more likely use robotic arms and tethers to 642 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,840 Speaker 1: help astronauts get around in spacewalks, and not the actual 643 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,840 Speaker 1: rocket packs. We got a little bit more to talk about, 644 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 1: but before I jump into the final section, let's take 645 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 1: another quick break to thank our sponsor. All right, let's 646 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: get back into terrestrial jet jet packs. Since we just 647 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,399 Speaker 1: talked about the space one. So besides the ones I've 648 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,080 Speaker 1: already mentioned, there are a few more that I can 649 00:37:56,160 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: chat about. There's a group called Jet Machines Extreme. They 650 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: created a project called the jet Vest and they claimed 651 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:07,920 Speaker 1: it was the world's smallest jet turbine flying belt, so 652 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: it's really more of a jet pack. Their design would 653 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,280 Speaker 1: allow for flights of up to three or four minutes, 654 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: so much longer than those hydrogen peroxide based units. In 655 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, they decided to hold a kickstart a 656 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: campaign to try and raise thirty dollars to fund the project, 657 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,240 Speaker 1: but the campaign failed with less than two thousand dollars 658 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: raised by the end of it, which is that's an 659 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 1: ouch where you were twenty eight thousand dollars short of 660 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,960 Speaker 1: your goal. Uh and I feel you guys, I know 661 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:40,719 Speaker 1: what that feels like. So there are several companies that 662 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,359 Speaker 1: make jet packs that were based off that old more 663 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:49,359 Speaker 1: design from Bell Aeronautics, obviously updated ones that include a 664 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,799 Speaker 1: company called t AM or TAM, There was another one 665 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: called Go Fast and one called Thunderbolt Arrow Systems. They 666 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 1: all kind of created variations off that same theme. Um 667 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: Eve's ROSSI that was a person who created one of 668 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,680 Speaker 1: the winged jet packs, demonstrated his in two thousand six. 669 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,759 Speaker 1: He leapt out of a hot air balloon went into 670 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: a free fall. He then ignited his engines and flew 671 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: around for more than six minutes before activating his parachute. Uh. 672 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,400 Speaker 1: He said he didn't have any plans to market that 673 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,880 Speaker 1: version of the jet pack. He has since done several 674 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 1: stunts using this design, including flying alongside other aircraft like 675 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 1: a Boeing uh jet. So it's kind of cool. They's 676 00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: been managed to do that also, because his design largely 677 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,840 Speaker 1: meant that you were already h igniting engines while you 678 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,360 Speaker 1: were in the air, meant you no longer had to 679 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 1: take off from the ground. And that wing design also 680 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:46,319 Speaker 1: means that flying forward he could generate lift. Uh, those 681 00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,720 Speaker 1: wings would help him generate lift unlike just the normal 682 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,719 Speaker 1: human body, so that also helped him. He meant that 683 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: he could do crazier maneuvers and not just kind of 684 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,680 Speaker 1: be in this upright standing position and slowly drift around 685 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,400 Speaker 1: left or write or forward or backward or up or 686 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: down as the case. Maybe. Uh. There's a guy named 687 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,320 Speaker 1: Frankie Zapata who recently showed off a hoverboard, which obviously 688 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,040 Speaker 1: isn't quite the same thing as a jet pack, but 689 00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:15,520 Speaker 1: it is similar to that old flying pie pan design 690 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,600 Speaker 1: I talked about previously in this episode, only it's way 691 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,120 Speaker 1: more compact. It looks kind of like a quad copter 692 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: or drone, and according to Zapata, it can fly autonomously 693 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,440 Speaker 1: up to ten thousand feet at a top speed of 694 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,800 Speaker 1: a hundred fifty kilometers perer or ninety three miles pour, 695 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:36,040 Speaker 1: and it can fly for ten minutes. It's powered by 696 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: kerosene jet fuel, so you know, yikes. It has four 697 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 1: fifty horsepower engines in it, and it contains a microcomputer 698 00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 1: that calculates how much thrust each engine should generate in 699 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:51,600 Speaker 1: order to stabilize the platform and allow you to make 700 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,759 Speaker 1: turns and go in certain directions so that way, it's 701 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: not entirely up to the pilot's balance. So the previous 702 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: flying pie pan design meant that you had to shift 703 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,560 Speaker 1: your weight in order to make the hovercraft essentially go 704 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,000 Speaker 1: in whatever direction you wanted. With this high tech version, 705 00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,840 Speaker 1: you have a micro controller in that quad copter design 706 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: that does it for you. So what it does is 707 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:18,239 Speaker 1: it tells each engine how how frequently to turn a 708 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,920 Speaker 1: propeller essentially or a fan in order to generate the 709 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,920 Speaker 1: right amount of thrust to keep the platform relatively stable, 710 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 1: or to introduce planned instability in order for you to 711 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,760 Speaker 1: go in a specific direction. It's actually a really clever design, 712 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,360 Speaker 1: and it's one that is based off of drones and 713 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,359 Speaker 1: quad copters. That's how those are able to fly at 714 00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:43,719 Speaker 1: a level uh out attitude without you constantly having to 715 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,799 Speaker 1: adjust things on a controller. They'll just kind of most 716 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: of these level out naturally on their own and by naturally, 717 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: I mean it's all controlled by a tiny computer that's 718 00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,960 Speaker 1: making very quick decisions as to how much thrust each 719 00:41:56,040 --> 00:42:02,200 Speaker 1: quad or each copter, each propeller should generate. Um, it's 720 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:07,799 Speaker 1: pretty interesting. Uh. I think we should be glad that 721 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,320 Speaker 1: this is the case, because otherwise, if you were to 722 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 1: over balance, if you're traveling at that speed, the crash 723 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 1: would be catastrophic at best, possibly fatal. On Zapata's website, 724 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: he says the flyboard, which is what he calls it, 725 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 1: is not for sale. If it were for sale, it 726 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:28,479 Speaker 1: would cost you about two thou dollars. He does offer 727 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 1: other products, so it's not like this is the one 728 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:33,680 Speaker 1: thing he's ever done. He's created a bunch of water 729 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,879 Speaker 1: based hoverboards. I'll talk a little bit more about those 730 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: in a second, but these are essentially uh jet engines 731 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,560 Speaker 1: that shoot out water, not air. So you have a 732 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,720 Speaker 1: tether that goes down into the water, a hose essentially 733 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:49,520 Speaker 1: that goes down into a body of water like a 734 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: lake or river or something like that pulls water up, 735 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,080 Speaker 1: and then the engines shoot the water out at high velocity, 736 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:02,799 Speaker 1: thus creating the thrust you need to altitude. Ramsey is 737 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,160 Speaker 1: determined to get me into one of these things on 738 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:07,399 Speaker 1: Lake Lanier and have me fly around. And I am, 739 00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,879 Speaker 1: for the record, fully in favor of it. I don't 740 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:12,759 Speaker 1: want you to think that I'm saying Ramsey had this 741 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:16,000 Speaker 1: idea and I'm terrified of Ramsey. I am terrified of Ramsey, 742 00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:19,720 Speaker 1: but for totally different reasons. I do want to strap 743 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,279 Speaker 1: on one of these water jet packs. And um apparently 744 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:28,240 Speaker 1: Lake Lanier, which is not too far from Atlanta, has them. 745 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,800 Speaker 1: So keep an eye out for a potential tech stuff 746 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: video summer of possibly Jonathan Swan song. We'll see. It 747 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 1: really depends upon a few factors like budget and insurance. Anyway, 748 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,239 Speaker 1: moving on, there was a company called actually there is 749 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,360 Speaker 1: a company called Gravity who was founded by Richard Browning, 750 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 1: and it broke records in late with a jet engine 751 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:56,279 Speaker 1: body suit called, and this is a great name for 752 00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: a flying body suit, the Dadalus. At least it's not 753 00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,240 Speaker 1: the Icarus. If it were the Icarus, I would definitely 754 00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 1: be raising some eyebrows. But the Dadalists. The record he 755 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,880 Speaker 1: set was a speed record. He topped out at fifty 756 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:12,120 Speaker 1: one point fifty three kilometers per hour or about thirty 757 00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,560 Speaker 1: two miles per hour. Now, that's slower than a lot 758 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: of the other devices I've talked about on here. But 759 00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:21,600 Speaker 1: the specific record he broke was for the fastest speed 760 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:25,520 Speaker 1: in a body controlled jet engine power suit, which is 761 00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:27,399 Speaker 1: such a cool sentence to say that, I'm pretty sure 762 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:31,520 Speaker 1: I'm iron Man now. Browning estimates that customizing a suit 763 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:35,239 Speaker 1: costs about two fifty thousand dollars, so very similar to 764 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:39,160 Speaker 1: the Zapota flyboard. His suit includes thrusters that are mounted 765 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,960 Speaker 1: to the arms, meaning you can fly around kind of 766 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,520 Speaker 1: like Iron Man does when he's in his standing position 767 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: and he's using his repulsors to sort of hover in place. 768 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,640 Speaker 1: That's kind of what it looks like when Browning is 769 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,879 Speaker 1: using his jet suit. There are also thrusters that are 770 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,320 Speaker 1: on the base of the backpack itself that are providing 771 00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:00,720 Speaker 1: enough downward thrust to keep you elevated above the ground. 772 00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:02,960 Speaker 1: And you can use the thrusters on the arms to 773 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:06,239 Speaker 1: sort of guide yourself around and and uh and sort 774 00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:10,080 Speaker 1: of direct your your motion. Um, but it looks a 775 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,719 Speaker 1: lot like the pose that Iron Man has when he's 776 00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,200 Speaker 1: hovering in the air. It's kind of cool. And there 777 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,360 Speaker 1: are videos online so you can look at Richard Browning 778 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,920 Speaker 1: and the Dadalists jet Engine body suit and see this 779 00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:27,280 Speaker 1: in action. He also did a TED talk in seventeen 780 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:31,440 Speaker 1: talking about his journey about deciding to build such a 781 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,879 Speaker 1: thing and what it took to do it and kind 782 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,319 Speaker 1: of the challenges he had to overcome, as well as 783 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:40,359 Speaker 1: footage of him testing the thing. It's pretty cool. There's 784 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:43,480 Speaker 1: another company called jet Pack Aviation that has built several 785 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: jet pack models, including one that an actual civilian got 786 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: to fly. Someone who wasn't working for jet Pack Aviation 787 00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,560 Speaker 1: was chosen to be a test pilot for one. Uh 788 00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:58,239 Speaker 1: it was a YouTuber named Misha Pollock who flew a 789 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:02,120 Speaker 1: JB ten jet pack and with no training, he was 790 00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:05,280 Speaker 1: able to hover around. He was tethered to a safety line, 791 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:09,880 Speaker 1: but he was flying actually in an avocado orchard. So lovely. 792 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 1: If Jetback Aviation would like a podcaster to do the 793 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,480 Speaker 1: same sort of thing, I happily volunteer. The JB ten 794 00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:21,239 Speaker 1: was announced as a consumer product in two sixteen. They 795 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,560 Speaker 1: said that it would start to be available in uh 796 00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:28,080 Speaker 1: the spring or summer of seventeen. And if you have 797 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,960 Speaker 1: to ask how much it costs, apparently you can't afford it, 798 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:33,759 Speaker 1: So I don't know how much it costs, but that 799 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:37,800 Speaker 1: means I can't afford it. At CS eighteen, they showed 800 00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:41,239 Speaker 1: up at the Consumer Electronics Show, so Jetpack Aviation was 801 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,200 Speaker 1: there and they showed off a prototype of the JB eleven, 802 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:48,120 Speaker 1: the next model in their series. That one is supposed 803 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 1: to be able to fly up to altitudes of fifteen 804 00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 1: thousand feet for up to twelve minutes with a top 805 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,520 Speaker 1: speed of two hundred miles per hour, which is mind boggling. 806 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 1: According to the company, you can manage to find your 807 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,880 Speaker 1: self as far away as twenty miles from your starting 808 00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:05,560 Speaker 1: point if you were determined to do so. The weight 809 00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:10,360 Speaker 1: limit for those jet packs is two sixty pounds. It 810 00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,960 Speaker 1: is able to fly through courtesy of six turbo jet engines, 811 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:19,200 Speaker 1: and the pack can carry of fuel as part of 812 00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:22,759 Speaker 1: the setup. Uh. Then there's the Martin jet pack that's 813 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:26,200 Speaker 1: marketed as the world's first practical jet pack. It's another 814 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:30,040 Speaker 1: ducted fan approach similar to the platform I mentioned earlier, 815 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:32,600 Speaker 1: but this one's in backpack form and has a range 816 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,839 Speaker 1: of thirty kilometers or thirty minutes of flight time, and 817 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,279 Speaker 1: it runs on gasoline, so the fuel is actually quite 818 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:42,680 Speaker 1: easy to get hold of in that case, there's the 819 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:44,960 Speaker 1: jet level flyer. This is where we start to move 820 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,040 Speaker 1: into the water based jet packs. So you could call 821 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:51,640 Speaker 1: it a uh jet in the sense that a jet 822 00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,880 Speaker 1: ski is called a jet. So they're using water or 823 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,319 Speaker 1: not air. But you put on your bathing suit, you 824 00:47:57,320 --> 00:47:59,160 Speaker 1: put on your sun screen, you put on your pool shoes. 825 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:01,319 Speaker 1: You strap on this backpack with a big old y 826 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,719 Speaker 1: shaped pipe that's right behind your head and it kind 827 00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:07,279 Speaker 1: of follows the contours of your shoulders, the ends of 828 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,399 Speaker 1: the y shape turned down towards your feet, with two 829 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: nozzles that spray water at an incredible rate, and it 830 00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:15,640 Speaker 1: looks basically like you've got to fire hoses strapped to 831 00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: your back, spraying toward the ground. There's a promo video 832 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,240 Speaker 1: that has a disclaimer that says doc takeoff and landing 833 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,760 Speaker 1: our high risk maneuvers. Expert training required. So that fills 834 00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,600 Speaker 1: me with confidence. And from their marketing materials they say 835 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:31,120 Speaker 1: you don't buy only a jet pack add on kit, 836 00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:35,160 Speaker 1: you will buy a new way of happiness, which involves 837 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:39,080 Speaker 1: being propelled at high speeds above bodies of water. Apparently 838 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:42,439 Speaker 1: there's some really cool stuff about this approach. The water 839 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,600 Speaker 1: does not have to escape at the same velocity as 840 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:47,319 Speaker 1: gas wood in a typical jet pack, because water is 841 00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,680 Speaker 1: a higher density and us can provide more thrust at 842 00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:54,160 Speaker 1: lower velocities than a gas would, so you're not shooting 843 00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:55,880 Speaker 1: water out at the same speed that you would have 844 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:57,960 Speaker 1: to shoot out air in order to get that amount 845 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,520 Speaker 1: of thrust. Also, the engine and the fuel system are 846 00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:03,640 Speaker 1: on a separate floating platform, so the jet pack doesn't 847 00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,200 Speaker 1: have to take that weight into account. You are tethered 848 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 1: both to a floating platform and to the water itself 849 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:12,480 Speaker 1: in order to have that constant supply of water, and 850 00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:16,600 Speaker 1: that offloads some of the actual weight that you would 851 00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:20,080 Speaker 1: have to carry otherwise for a fully self contained system. 852 00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:22,000 Speaker 1: On the other hand, this does mean that you are 853 00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:26,680 Speaker 1: actually tethered to a surface um and it's really a 854 00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:28,799 Speaker 1: machine on the surface of the water that supplies the 855 00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: water pressure for your fire hose jet pack. It's not 856 00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:34,640 Speaker 1: like your fire hose jet pack has a vacuum that's 857 00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:38,240 Speaker 1: sucking up water. You've actually got that on that mounted 858 00:49:38,239 --> 00:49:41,600 Speaker 1: platform as well, but you are still tethered down by 859 00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,919 Speaker 1: that water supply hose. And it looks like you could 860 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:47,880 Speaker 1: attach the jet pack add on to jet skis if 861 00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:51,279 Speaker 1: you wanted to and be really super crazy. And there 862 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,120 Speaker 1: are a lot of different variations of this. I've actually 863 00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:55,920 Speaker 1: seen them in action in various places that I've gone to. 864 00:49:56,040 --> 00:49:58,680 Speaker 1: I've just never been brave enough to strap one on. 865 00:49:58,760 --> 00:50:03,080 Speaker 1: But as I say, perhaps you will get a chance 866 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:08,040 Speaker 1: to see your beloved podcaster Jonathan Strickland in a very 867 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:14,760 Speaker 1: not flattering tight wetsuit kind of outfit being tossed around 868 00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:18,200 Speaker 1: in the air by giant torrents of water. And if 869 00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:20,799 Speaker 1: you have never wanted to see that, I bet you 870 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:25,360 Speaker 1: do now, because I mean, come on laughing at others misfortune, 871 00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,440 Speaker 1: it's it's part of life. Well, that kind of wraps 872 00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,680 Speaker 1: up this discussion about jet packs. There are other examples 873 00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:34,359 Speaker 1: I could have talked about, both fictional and real, but 874 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:38,480 Speaker 1: these I felt gave a good overview of the technology 875 00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:41,000 Speaker 1: and what is necessary in order for you to be 876 00:50:41,120 --> 00:50:43,600 Speaker 1: able to actually have a working jet pack. It also 877 00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:45,800 Speaker 1: is kind of a wake up call to say, hey, 878 00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:49,200 Speaker 1: if you want to fly around like Superman, uh, we 879 00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 1: just don't really have the tech for that unless you're 880 00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:53,959 Speaker 1: going to put on one of those winged suits um 881 00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:57,120 Speaker 1: and and launch from the air already. And even in 882 00:50:57,120 --> 00:51:01,040 Speaker 1: that case, it requires incredible amounts of skill on athleticism 883 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,600 Speaker 1: in order to do it properly. And that kind of 884 00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:06,600 Speaker 1: leads me into that final point about how I don't 885 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:08,200 Speaker 1: think jet packs are ever going to be a real 886 00:51:08,239 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 1: consumer technology, largely because they're just so difficult to control 887 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:16,200 Speaker 1: and they're so expensive. Those two barriers I think are 888 00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:20,239 Speaker 1: going to be constant. I don't see them getting any 889 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,680 Speaker 1: different anytime in the near future. I don't think we're 890 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:26,280 Speaker 1: gonna have a breakthrough in the cost of jet packs. 891 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:30,120 Speaker 1: It's going to be a really expensive plaything for a 892 00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,439 Speaker 1: few people who can afford it and are crazy enough 893 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,320 Speaker 1: to do it. And then on top of that comes 894 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:39,160 Speaker 1: the necessity for expertise to be able to operate them safely. 895 00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:41,120 Speaker 1: Most of us don't have that. If you want to 896 00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:43,919 Speaker 1: see what I think a future filled with jet packs 897 00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:46,439 Speaker 1: would look like, you need to look up the jet 898 00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:49,399 Speaker 1: packs sketch from that Mitchell and Web look because I'm 899 00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:54,080 Speaker 1: pretty sure it's incredibly accurate to how a real future 900 00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:57,479 Speaker 1: filled with jet packs would go, which mostly means people 901 00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:01,160 Speaker 1: would be turned into projectiles and uncontrollably being hurled into 902 00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:05,880 Speaker 1: various surfaces and obstacles. And I don't think that's the 903 00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:08,640 Speaker 1: future we all want, at least not for most of us. 904 00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:12,319 Speaker 1: But it is a fascinating thing to think about. It's 905 00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:16,200 Speaker 1: this enduring idea and enduring enough for people to actually 906 00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:18,720 Speaker 1: have gone through and made some of the darn things. 907 00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:22,200 Speaker 1: And to me, that is really impressive. Maybe not practical, 908 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:27,080 Speaker 1: but still a really impressive testament to human achievement. And 909 00:52:27,239 --> 00:52:29,800 Speaker 1: I think that's worth talking about now. If you guys 910 00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:32,120 Speaker 1: have any topics you would like me to cover in 911 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:34,520 Speaker 1: future episodes of tech Stuff, or maybe there's a guest 912 00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:37,400 Speaker 1: you would like for me to interview on the show, 913 00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:40,080 Speaker 1: or a guest host you would like to have here 914 00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:42,600 Speaker 1: to talk about a specific topic, you should let me 915 00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:45,279 Speaker 1: know send me a message. The email address for this 916 00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:48,560 Speaker 1: show is tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 917 00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:51,280 Speaker 1: or you can drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter. 918 00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:53,600 Speaker 1: The handle at both of those is tech Stuff hs W. 919 00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:57,439 Speaker 1: You can go follow us on Instagram crystals sharing lots 920 00:52:57,440 --> 00:52:59,799 Speaker 1: of cool stuff over there, so check that out. And 921 00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:03,200 Speaker 1: remember you can tune in on Wednesdays and Fridays over 922 00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:05,960 Speaker 1: at twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff. You can actually 923 00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:08,560 Speaker 1: watch me record this show live. There are people doing 924 00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:12,200 Speaker 1: that right now. They're filling up the chat room with funny, 925 00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:14,520 Speaker 1: insightful things that I haven't been able to read yet 926 00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:16,680 Speaker 1: because I've been going over my notes, but I'll be 927 00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:19,560 Speaker 1: reading them shortly and interacting with them. If you ever 928 00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:21,719 Speaker 1: want to get into a conversation with me and say 929 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,680 Speaker 1: nice things to me, preferably, please go to twitch dot 930 00:53:24,719 --> 00:53:27,560 Speaker 1: tv slash tech stuff. You'll see the schedule there and 931 00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:29,440 Speaker 1: maybe you can tune in the next time I do 932 00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,279 Speaker 1: one of these shows and be part of the conversation. 933 00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:34,279 Speaker 1: I would love to see you there, and I'll talk 934 00:53:34,280 --> 00:53:42,520 Speaker 1: to you guys again really soon. For more on this 935 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,200 Speaker 1: and fathoms of other topics because it has to works 936 00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:55,400 Speaker 1: dot com