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Tethered, Water-Powered Jetpack Provides Two Hours of Flight Time
arshadk writes "Unlike 'ordinary' jetpacks, the JetLev is actually two vehicles, tethered by a hose the thickness of your thigh. On the water is a small speedboat-like unit which contains a 250 horsepower motor and a pump. This is connected to the pack — into which you strap your frail body — by a 10-meter hose. The water is pumped from the sea or lake below up to the nozzles on the jetpack, providing a 1,900-Newton thrust, enough to lift a human weighing up to 150 kilos."
This is like hanging onto a firehose.
Most useless invention ever...
I liked to leave Javascript enabled by default, I really did. But the appearance of things like the floater on this page, and the sneaker adds that lurk at the bottom, randomly springing up... it's too much. Javascript across the web is now whitelisted for me.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Maybe it's the American in me, but I was hoping to see the jet pack fail in mid flight as the guy takes a Red Bull flight contest dive.
ive always wondered if this sort of thing could be scaled up to pump high pressure hydrogen or oxygen up a hose attached to a rocket as its taking off for the first 10-20 km of its flight. or maybe a superconducting cable, or just pressured air for extra thrust. then the hose breaks away, and splashes down in the ocean
Seems to me they discovered the FLUDD, nice.
WARNING: Jet Pack does not function as a flotation device.
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The Tethered, Water-Powered Jetpack. With 1,900-Newton thrust.
Falling 30 feet onto water might not be pleasant, but neither is it going kill you.
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Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Why is 2 hours of flight time an apparent selling point for this thing? Why would anyone need or want to hover a few feet above the surface of a lake for 2 hours nonstop? Granted, you can "fly" much longer than in more traditional jetpacks, but it seems a bit like bragging about a car that can go 600 miles on a single tank but is permanently tethered to the gas station.
That said, it sure looks fun to try.
I think i've seen this before, I wonder where that was. Oh wait, it was two years ago, on /. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/02/17/0058202/Jet-Pack-Runs-For-Hours-On-Water
what a surprise?
Reminds me of an old joke about a wrist watch with a built in TV and built in radio and photo-camera and various other tools.
The only catch was that if you bought that watch you always had to carry 2 suitcases with you.
They were filled with batteries.
You can't handle the truth.
I'm watching that clip and wondering if you strap on SCUBA gear, make the engine neutrally buoyant, include oxygen tanks for its engine, and just go nuts under water.
Now you have a jet-powered underwater propulsion system. That's got to be rather cool and maybe even useful?
So I guess it's not much use for Americans :-)
*ducks and runs*
For a long enough tower (too lazy to compute now, but much larger than the distance Earth-Moon), the velocity given by a normal human toss would be enough
Much lower than that, it's geostationary altitude.
Imagine a Beowulf-cluster of...
No, I'm sorry guys, I've got nothing.
This is the idea behind laser powered flight. Rather then carry the energy (fuel) up with you, you fire the energy at the craft and save a lot of weight. The reason they want to use a laser and not a fuel hose is that nobody is willing to untangle several kilometers of hose after the launch and put it in the rather large garden shed.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
...piloting a wave runner from the top of a ten foot pole.
Jet Pack Runs For Hours On Water
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 17 2009, @06:11AM
from the got-your-back dept.
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.
It's 2009 again!
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Guess they wont be selling many in America.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Watch the video... It looks like the bit on the water gets pulled along by the hose as the user flies around.
The only constraint is the height and that you stay over water.
You've just got to make sure, if you're using it on a river that your base unit doesn't fly down a waterfall - even rapids would give quite a kick.
it costs $100,000 and your dragging a huge engine in a boat behind you.
would it save you from getting seasick or would you be bouncing up and down with the swell anyway?
wonder if it would be any use for sea rescue its relatively quick at 35 mph and you'd have a reasonable chance of spotting someone in the water. cheaper than a helicopter any way.
diving with it or something similar might be another interesting possibility
looks like fun anyway.
Renting it could prove popular
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This so reminds me of Wile E Coyote. Finally, the Acme Jet Pack!
I'd particularly like to watch this when the flier is up at maximum height and going 35mph, and suddenly the boat hits something and stops.
Pretty useless, as is.
On the other hand, connecting it to a fire hydrant and using it to wash the windows of a 3 or 4 story building....
Perfect for drawing fire on the battlefield.
One more overpriced toy that I'll never have. Next
"We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
Of course first US Navy and Marines will fund the R&D to develop it as AMBaIV (Advanced Marine Boarding and Inspection Vehicle) to serve in the blockade missions. The R&D Center will be in the home district of some powerful senator. So it will get funded. Then the specs will creep up, ability to hover with a machine gun ... 200 rounds of ammunition... SatNav system... eventually a 105 mm naval gun will be added (and 200 rounds of ammunition). Eventually the cost of the system will be so much that actual deployment will never get funded. But using all the R&D knowledge accumulated in the Defense Contractor, they will create a civilian version. Which will start out as a recreational vehicle. Once the production tooling and factories have been paid off the prices will drop. So the early units coming out of service will have very low resale value. These will be bought by the Somali pirates.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It is nifty but completely impractical. According to the article, it needs a 250hp motor to drive a pump to deliver enough thrust to achieve some levitation. It is cool as a stunt, but unless they figure out how to cram 250hp into something small and light weight, I'd say it is showmanship.
Now all I need is a canal between my home and workplace and I can ride a (water) jet-pack to work.
On second thought, call me back when I can get a real jet-pack that runs for 30 minutes or so.
turn of the pump and ride in the boat
Put a 10 meter scissor-lift on a boat?
I can't imagine shooting a massive fire hose directly into the water is exactly "stealthy", I'm not sure how stable the guy floating on that water jet is, making recon photos (at the least) blurry, and if you have to keep a boat and a tether with you, what are you saving versus a boat with a scissor-lift.
Or, perhaps you could use one of those "mobile surveillance towers" I've seen in some parking lots/sporting events
Ken
So what happens when hundreds of gallons per minute are spewed at high velocity directly downward into a less-than-fully-stable watercraft?
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
Will it have adjustable nozzles and can I spray away pollution with it?
with this rig and a remote control in the victim^h^h^h^h^h^hthrill seekers hands he or she can feel like they are flying. For an accessory, change out that cable for a bungee cord and really have some fun. Get your friends to try it and don't tell them you have the extra over-ride remote and slap them into the water a few time for great youtube video fun.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Looks like something the Seals could use to board a ship rather quickly.
So this is jut like hanging from a crane boom mounted on a boat, just much more expensive, using much more energy and not as safe?
Brilliant.
Bosun's chair and a block or two, medieval technology and cheap.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
enough to lift a human weighing up to 150 kilos.
That is one fucking big human that has no business being in the air.
You only live twice, twice.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Just like after a kegger.
Have gnu, will travel.
so, I'm wondering if this is better or worse than the method used by traditional hovercraft? more efficient? less? safer in rough seas?
AB HOC POSSUM VIDERE DOMUM TUUM
This device will likely be immensely popular. Even though there are dozens of posts here that dismiss it because one flaw or another, they overlook one of the most obvious and lucrative fields. Tourism. Just like getting parasailing (boat pulling a parachute) is not a practical form of travel, it is quite fun. Also, I suspect the 8.5 meter water jet flight is probably safer than the 15-20m parasail experience. Expect to see jetpack trips on every popular tourist beach in a few years.
From TFA: "The rub is that this costs $100,000 to buy. At this price, it is aimed more at water-sports–rental businesses than at the private user"
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
If this thing went wrong it could give you the enema from hell.
If only /. would be so smartass as to find its own dupes. I saw the same story years ago, and i believe it even was on the frontpage.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
I'm sure there have been some small improvements but here is the story from 2 years ago.
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.