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Jet Pack Runs For Hours On Water
Ponca City, We love you writes "Jet packs have been around for half a century, but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds. Now a German company has taken the standard jet pack design, run a fat yellow hose out the back, and connected it to a small unmanned boat that houses an engine, pump, and fuel tank and sends pressurized water up the hose, where it's shot out by two nozzles just behind the wearer's shoulders. Called the JetLev-Flyer, the design purportedly can reach a height of 15 meters, a speed of 72 kph, and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time. A digital fly-by-wire system is used to control the throttle. Future designs may achieve higher altitudes, higher top speeds, and extended range, and even travel below the water's surface. The American manufacturers claim it is 'amazingly easy to learn and operate' and they're taking orders now at $130,000 each."
and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time.
But based on the actual length of the hose, the range is more like 100 feet.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It actually runs on whatever powers the engine that drives the pump.
I assume this is dragging the boat after you.
What exactly are the advantages over just simply using a boat?
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
vapourware, except this is liquid water, not gaseous, and plus, it's been created.
... that is, not to have any wires or hoses connecting it to something else on the ground or in the air. Duh.
Seriously, these guys take some sort of high-output water pump and call it a jet pack?
I doubt how anything that makes you spin 300 km of circles around a fixed point in the water (and probably vomiting every now and then) is going to make you look cool.
Yeah, the prices are off. TFA states 160k pounds which would be 170k euros. The second link states 100k euros (130k dollars). The actual website of the product (followed a link from the second article) states 100k or 120k euros depending on how powerful machine you want.
The web site advertises two models :
155 HP = EUR 99,000 which is $125,116 (£88,122)
215 HP = EUR 119,000 which is $150,392 (£105,924)
so the Telegraph has the prices wrong.
(Exchange rates courtesy of Google)
God: An invisible friend for grown-ups.
I'm gonna start working on my triple jump
"Hello i am FUD. I am a jetpack that runs on gasoline from the 150 horse power engine that is connected to me from a tube.Pleasure to meet you"
FTFS:
:)
> but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds
But that's what made them fun in the game
And here is was, thinking that they had an actual jet pack. But this ... this is just a useless toy. Hey - when I want to fly around in the city, a *hose* isn't exactly practical.
But this leads to some inherent problems with jetpacks and flying cars: fuel problems aside, these things would be *hard* to pilot. Just think about it - you're flying around with your shiny jetpack, at what, 150mph? Imagine the accidents that could happen, or the amount of skill necessary to remain in control of that thing. Same for flying cars. Just look at the number of *regular* car accidents. Adding an extra degree of freedom will not exactly lower down that number.
This sig does not contain any SCO code.
I know this is Slashdot and you're not supposed to actually read the articles and such before you post, but most of you seem to have missed the point. The hose doesn't "run out"... it only limits your height (8.5m, which is really quite high). This is as close as you'll get to a "Jet-pack" that can actually fly for any length of time.
There's only really two limits:
1) Height is maxed at hose length (30 yards/8.5m)
2) You have to fly over water only
Now, the second item is a bit restrictive, indeed... but a Jet-pack in any form as we know science today isn't really going to be a means of practical transportation. They are too big, too heavy, and have to many restrictions (flight time, etc). Comparing it to a boat is kind of stupid. This is about the feeling of free flying, and having fun, of course. Expensive, sure, but lots of things are.
As far as transportation goes... this is the first "Jet-pack" to really me usable as such, albeit only from getting in from your summoner cottage on an island to the main land for picking up some small items, like a newspaper and some milk, and then back again. That is, provided there's something very close to the beach. :)
One of the earliest uses for balloons and large kites was to tow an elevated observer behind a ship. I guess navies will be extremely interested in this. It's much less visible than a helicopter, cheaper, and safer, yet it permits over-the-horizon observation. Think of pirates off Somalia. Currently they can easily see and avoid ships, but fast patrol boats can't see them beyond a few miles. With one of these a small intercept craft can see the pirates, while remaining almost invisible themselves. Think of it as a floating artillery OP and the uses are obvious.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
There's certainly useful applications for this. I could envision the Coast Guard using something like that to fill in where helicopters might be more expensive or cumbersome. Rescue access anyone?
You COULD add even more jets to it for a formidable firefighting platform!
Man, you are going to be able to collect loads of coins with that thing.
And at that price, it should come with a free holiday to Isle Delfino.
It can't go anywhere a boat can't go. It can't go faster than a boat. It has no more range than a boat. But it carries significantly more danger than most boats ever did. It can go up as high as -- oh my gosh -- 15m... around 50 feet. And it has no payload capacity whatsoever.
So... what's it going to be used for? Rescuing cats from trees along the river?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0snTqLQLpBA
YouTube video
Most people are missing the point of this. It isn't a sensible solution, it is a FUN solution. I would love to have a go.
wot no sig
If this is useless then so are waterskis, wakeboards, kiteboards, surfboards and etc. for they can not go anywhere a simple boat can not go. Yet many people buy and use those. Go figure...
Water is heavy stuff - you don't have to expel much of it at a mediocre velocity in order to support the weight of a adult human.
What made those portable jetpacks interesting is that they used a limited amount of reaction mass and managed to expel it with sufficient velocity that it was able to support the weight of the pilot+jetpack.
Personally, I would be satisfied to see a solution based upon small jet turbines with vectored thrust. In some ways, it would be more tricky to make stable due to the response lag on controlling the jet engine's thrust and that the exhaust output cannot typically be considered as a point thrust. If made to work, I'd imagine that hovering/flying time in the order of several tens of minutes would be feasible.
This water jet thing is just *yawn* by comparison.
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
This is pretty much a human Water Wiggle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_WdavMuKs
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Mario has been doing this for years, and he doesn't even need the "small unmanned boat". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Sunshine
As many others have pointed out, the name "jet pack" conveys entirely the wrong meaning. Jet packs are by implication untethered, with the "pack" containing everything required by the jet. So we need a more appropriate name to convey that the pack is tethered, and that the jet is pulling something on the end of its tether along.
Well the answer is obvious: this is a JET CART, because the jet takes the place of a horse and is pulling the cart (boat) along. Naturally the horse is tethered to the cart, and it can't get any further from the cart than the length of its tether (pipe) --- the name conveys the right meaning exactly.
With a bit of flexibility from readers, this could even be taken as a car analogy. ;-)
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
In other news, a perpetual motion machine was built, it requires a 120 volt power source and runs indefinitely.
lol omg i want tht soooo badly ima get it once i turn rich lol
its amazing what sorts of crap people can write with a keyboard. my head will implode if i read another line like this.
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
to take a ride on the Firehose.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
This sounds like a recreational device, and perhaps an interesting one. Calling it a "James Bond-style jet pack" is rather misleading, though.
Safety: a fall into water from that height is not safe but not suicidal. I wonder how bad it is to be underneath and accidentally get sprayed by one of those jets? The video clip is silent; I'll bet the thing makes a hell of a racket. I wonder how many waterfronts will put up with it.
I'm thinking, team sports. An extreme kind of polo or soccer or something. With players deliberately maneuvering to hit each other with the jets and/or tangle their hoses.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
...idiotic contraption to make noise, and spoil the serenity of my local lake. Fricking manufacturers should be stopped from producing these things that serve no purpose other than to encourage stupid people to waste their money.
The same retards buy 500 hp speedboats to drive at 60 miles an hour on a mile long lake. Shit-for-brains people like that should be buried young.
I struggle to see this as a jet pack. It's more a small boat with a very strange propulsion system. Having said that I wouldn't mind having a go.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
I guess nobody responding to this post actually knows a damn thing about real world conditions. Fifteen metres above sea level enormously expands your range of vision. Ask any sailor.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
This would be a fantastic device for annoying the shit out of anyone hanging out on a dock or outside their house that's on the lake.
Just imagine Norm and Agnes, outside on the deck, enjoying a quiet cup of tea when suddenly... what on earth is that?
VVVRRRROOOOMMMMM! You show up, 30 ft. in the like a supersoaker from hell and hover over them, pounding them into the deck with your aerial twin water cannons.
Move over jet-skis, there's a new douchebag in town!
I have a crane that runs on gravity!
i wish i could stop
Yeah this idea is so old, I mean...cmon:
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/8178/446755-mario_with_fludd_super.jpg
How much lift do you think that giant hose with pressurized water is adding?
His name is Gregory Thomas I think. He had made prototype equipment that could be used among many things a jetpack, using a 1 gallon water jug in capacity to circuitry and copper pipe with valves and harnesses backmounted less than 20 pounds. The water was split into 2Hydrogen and 1Oxygen at an efficiency calculated for over 10 hours of turbine thrust per 400 pounds (IIRC).
This article can't hold a candle to some of the things those Royal Raymond Rife experiments are turning out to be. I for one welcome our flying amish overlords.
Is this going to replace/augment the firetruck with a more flexible and maneuverable rescue platform?
Who says that it needs to be connected to a boat.
Oh, sure, it sounds good, but what if the hoses rupture while you're being towed over the ocean-- that's straight water pouring out, at tens of gallons per second! It'll get all over everything! And what are the people running it going to do then, when there's suddenly water all around them? Float? Didn't anyone think this through?
This does sound seriously fun... and smart too. Shades of Armadillo's EPA visit for their earlier hydrogen peroxide rocket, paraphased "what do you do if there's a fuel spill" 'We run away!' "That's not acceptable containment of contaminents!!" 'Sure it is, it'll turn to water and air' "Oh, cool!"
***
want some astronomy? http://scientificblogging.com/sky_day/
A.
+ VAT / sales tax whatever..
But at least it is compatible with over 70% of the earth's surface
This is not a jetpack. It is a device for riding a firehose.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
You've just pointed out ONLY possible use for this thing - a training device for Jet-Packers.
Or what ever the name for people flying around with Jet-Packs would be.
Rocketeers, Jetsons...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
To allow respectable recreational boaters over 50 to be armed with twin torpedo tubes and surface-to-air missiles. As the NRA keeps telling you, an armed society is a polite society.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
The float is portable, the jetpack wearer tows it along, and that range is 300 miles.
Now apologize to kdawson for your own stupidity.
Infuriate left and right
In the UK (and Germany too, I think) prices are quoted including VAT. Fatty.
I don't think you get the design. The hose reaches down to a raft. The raft has the energy plant and sucks up the water which is pumped to the jet pack.
Essentially, this is a Jetski seat which hovers above the water via a tether down to the jetski.
Sure it looked fun, but my reaction was more like, "wouldn't it be easier to just ride in the boat?" And if the added feature is being able to gain elevation and move back and forth, well, a cherry-picker in a boat then. Without having to wear the propulsion system on you.
Think about it...
You're off the coast of Somalia. Pirates come at your vessel. You just smile, as 5 members of a special forces unit deploy. Skirting around 45 meters off the water with tactical weaponry, RPGs, and machine rifles.
Within moments the pirates have been decimated, the few remaining have turned and fled.
G.I JOE!!!!!!
Real American Hero!!!!
More like insightful. Perhaps if the summary had included something like "for recreation" and omitted the useless range.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Go and look up what a jet actually is. Here. Let me help you.
Pay particular attention to number 4.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
They should put a seat on the part being pulled in the water. Those that "get it" can use the jet pack. Everyone else can ride the boat. :)
Transporter_ii
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
The term "jet pack" gets thrown around rather freely these days. The "jet pack" that James Bond used was a rocket belt. I suppose this "hose pack" is more like the jets used in jet skis. The other "jet pack" in the news recently is actually a ducted fan piston engine.
Last time I checked, there's no such thing as "kph" but we do use the standard km/h.
It's really overpriced. At the heart of it all, this is is just a Waverunner with the output hooked up into a hose and attached to a directional output and some valves. A Waverunner can already produce a water jet with enough thrust to easily lift a person. Considering that you can get a top of the line 200HP Waverunner for about $20K (and you just need the motor/pump parts for this), what justifies the extra $100000 they're asking for this device?
Hmm... This gives me an idea... what if you put the motor/pump on a stand-alone floating platform, and drag it along with you instead of having to require a separate boat/driver to carry it around behind you? For $100000 you can even make the platform smart enough so it can follow the jet packer so he doesn't feel it dragging. I think that would be worth the money and it would be a lot more fun.
Yup you are right. The lift is not from the water exiting the "jet pack", but from the hose getting stiff (excuse by enliglish).
The force generated in the jetpack is negated by the force that is needed to turn the water IN the yetpack going down to getting up...
It will look like the lift is coming form the water splattering arround, and you will have some control from this water spalshing arround.
Still could be great fun!
In reality you are pushed up by the tube getting ridginge by filling it with a powerful pump.
In Soviet Russia... the [waterskier|parasailer] tows the boat!
I can see it now, there you are taking a row boat down the river in elegant comfort.... ..then some f**ker flies one of these things overhead fill your boat in seconds and sinks it!
Am I the only one who thought of that?
according to the article its 160,000.00 GBP which according to xe is $227,799.31 USD
Clap on: Amazing device that is completely useless.
Clap off: Recession (and reality) checks in. End of extremely useless device.
*** Don't be dull.***
It would be cheap to learn to fly on this, out in open water where crashing isn't dangerous. Once mastered you could progress to the real, expensive, dangerous, fuel powered jetpack.
[Intentionally left blank]
The downthrust is water that's being lifted up the pipe - the masses are the same, the speed must be the same, so don't they cancel out?
Why don't they just block the thrusters and use the turgidity of the pipe to hold the pack in the air?
45 meters off the water? I'm pretty sure you can't pump water that high, or if you could, the sled part of the vehicle would weigh so much, it wouldn't be very maneuverable.
It would also surely kill you if the hose went out.
A cool toy, and that's all it is.
Don't thank me, thank Newton (who is probably currently revolving in his grave at about 3600rpm).
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
If you could just make the supply hose a litte longer I could see this as fun way to put out fires.
These people are going to get jacked by sharks.
I know; that was the point I was making. For every kg of water fired downwards as thrust another kg must be lifted, thus negating it. At least blocking the end so the pipe fills with water under pressure would give some actual, measurable degree of support. :-)
What a let down. That's like posting... "Man has discovered how to levitate! The crane this test subject is hanging from allows him to levitate for extended periods of time with minimal energy output." Whoever titled that needs a kick in the pants.
I ran across this item a couple of weeks ago.
I immediately emailed the URL to all my friends (plus my sons) with the message header, "New best-way-to-die-ever!". Males responded with "COOL!" and females with catty remarks about stupid daredevil males.
I told them that if/when I'm ever diagnosed with a terminal illness, I'm gonna buy one of these. I mean, if you're gonna die anyway, might as well die spectacularly, right?
'Coz I'm sure it wouldn't take long to die in one of these things....
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth gets you modded -1 Troll
Those figures won't be useful for very long. Let me future-proof them for you.
Note to readers: Add a trailing 0 to the USD amount for every 6 hours after the parent's post time.
"Strangers have the best candy" -Me
..in the final episode of MacGyver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2lWIMIFPA#t=40m
It will be better to purchase from an owner who is a good farmer and a good builder.
This is basically the F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine:
Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device:
http://www.mariowiki.com/F.L.U.D.D.
Um - this seems more useful for the pirates to use than as a defense against them. An unarmed boat would surrender even faster to a couple of badass buckeroos hovering over the deck carrying automatic weapons and grenades - and pumping a few hundred gallons a minute into the bilge.
This has existed for several years, see Super Mario Sunshine.
So basically you're at the end of an uncontrolled firehose tethered to a boat? Didn't Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin do this?
God help the poor people who live on a lake if one of these things were running. I can image that the noise produced by the two high pressure streams and the pump must be brutal.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I think some practical uses of this type of device are being overlooked. It could be a great tool to do things like bridge inspection or hull inspection of very large ships. These are currently tasks that either require a lot of effort to create rigging, or simply dont get done adequately. Both are near water, and require that you be able to reach heights above a conventional ladder/scaffold structure.
Boxing is a lot like ballet. Except there is no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
- Jack Handy.
The downthrust is water that's being lifted up the pipe - the masses are the same, the speed must be the same, so don't they cancel out?
Velocity is proportional to mass over cross-sectional area. If the nozzle is smaller than the hose, the velocity in the nozzle will be higher than the velocity in the hose.
(This is just standard physics for fluid flow in pipes... constrictions cause higher velocity, higher velocity can cause problems like cavitation and turbulence, turbulence in turn can cause problems like vibration and noise. It's all very important, usually because you're working with relatively inflexible pipes. In this case, though, the pipe is flexible... but the velocity difference is still important.)
Why don't they just block the thrusters and use the turgidity of the pipe to hold the pack in the air?
Somehow I think riding a jet-pack ought to be easier than just balancing on the top of a mostly-stiff 15m pole.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
If you guys like this sort of thing, check out the hackaday blog.
It gets a lot of stories that slashdot eventually picks up - usually sooner.
But I find it deals with cool hardware/software a lot more than slashdot does, and less with industry news.
This might be interesting as a rescue device.
Welcome to the land of the free...pay toll ahead...no photography...please open your bag...
pack (plural packs)
1. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.
This is just a hose with a jet attachment.
IOU one (1) signature
how feasible would it be to have a hose attached to a rocket, that sends up fuel, or oxidiser to the rocket for the first few kms of its launch, then detaches.
This is cool and all, but what advantage does it have over, say, a 15 meter mast (with a ladder) in the boat?
Just like the game, pretty sweet
This is a dead thread on a board discussing driving jeeps at 12000 feet with no water anywhere around. http://www.colorado4x4.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=141946 Why are we talking about this outrageously overpriced bit of silliness again, especially here, on the cutting edge?
"Jet packs have been around for half a century, but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds."
Except: they don't...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7637327.stm
Easy enough to build in a sensor that quickly, yet gradually shuts down the jets to lower the person down.
Now whether this is built into the system is another question. I would bet that the designers have thought of this, and have some sort of safety shut down feature. I would if I were selling something that looks ripe for lawsuits unfortunately.
A pressurized reserve tank of water would tend to equalize out any "chop" from the water surface supply, and would enable a reserve for a soft landing function. This is more complex to build than just a fancily re-routed jet-ski
I think the height is limited by the weight of the user + the weight of the jet pack steering system + weight of the hose. If you develop an air bubble, it might actually propel you higher (less weight occupied by the compressed air bubble).
..........FULL STOP.