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Space Diving: Iron Man Meets Star Trek Suit In Development
cylonlover writes "Science fiction may well become reality with the development of a real life Iron Man suit that would allow astronauts or extreme thrill seekers to space dive from up to 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth's surface at the very edge of space, and safely land using thruster boots instead of a parachute. Hi-tech inventors over at Solar System Express (Sol-X) and biotech designers Juxtopia LLC (JLLC) are collaborating on this project with a goal of releasing a production model of such a suit by 2016. The project will use a commercial space suit to which will be added augmented reality (AR) goggles, jet packs, power gloves and movement gyros."
...in case nobody wants to read it. ...and in case we thought you were a real Trek fan, not a fan of the recent epic fails.
...to which will be added augmented reality (AR) goggles, jet packs, power gloves and movement gyros.
I'd love the power gloves– they're so bad.
I understand their efforts to relate it to the Iron Man and Star Trek suits, and while this may contribute to the development thereof, it's not quite there yet...and I think it's nuts, but would be fun if the freefall works.
I'm waiting for nanotube muscle fibers that, with EEG, operate as a part of the body. From there, armor and flight capabilities.
"Space dive"? Not from orbital velocity, you're not. Is this another sub-orbital thrill ride masquerading as sci-fi level "space travel" for uncritical mental midgets? All I see so far is crappy generic CGI, which makes this about as reliable as the sales brochure for an unbuilt condo.
Vaporware is exactly what this is. The red bull team spent years designing and prepping for their suit, and it was a one off. These guys are going to have a suit production ready by 2016? Hogwash.
Seems like vaporware to me, it seems to take every precaution they can think to survive the trip but no mention of the actual energy required to make a safe landing form that altitude. Jet boots need fuel and no parachute is mentioned.
I don't see how this could possibly end badly.
Pure Amish country, we have a lot of fresh baloney here, try a free sample! But not as much baloney as this absurd slashvertisement blogosphere link doohickey!
If the astronaut moved her/his leg the wrong way, it could be melted off by the jets. Then what will (s)he do?
So, what happens if one or both legs fail? By the time it is needed to power the boosters, a parachute would probably already have been deployed for a safe landing. If not, then whats the benefit. What are the backup measures in place?
You're hurtling to your demise at past the speed of sound in atmospheric conditions that would literally make your blood boil. How much more extra sense of realism and stimulation do you need at that point?
I love the power glove. It's so bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya0F83Bmbl4
If you can have a parachute, why not include a parachute? I'd consider retroboosters as the backup system, not the primary, for safety. By the time you're close enough to the ground to fire them, the parachute is no longer an option, so if they fail, you get about 3 seconds to contemplate your own stupidity before cratering.
A company that can provide two layers of life-saving security and yet only manufactures one should be charged with manslaughter, but instead we're allowing it because it caters to thrillseekers? Where was this kind of logic during the anti-smoking campaigns of yesteryear? "Smoking is okay; it's a thrill-seeking behavior!" Yeah.... okay, sure.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
How'd you solve the icing problem?
Why do they want to do this again?
buuuuullshit
Does it come in 3XL or bigger?
Did anyone else read the headline and assume it was going to have something to do with a lawsuit in the making?
Just remember to point your feet the right way when you land or you make quite a deep hole.
Felix Baumgartner adjusted his scarf and cleaned his horn rimmed glasses before mumbling something about space jumping before it got popular.
...did it before anyone knew how to do it and walk away after.
Just ask Pyotr Ivanovich Dolgov.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
In the early 1960's, General Electric was working on an emergency "bail-out" system for astronauts in low-earth orbit. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/moose.htm
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOSE
Land using rocket boots. Nope. 90% death rate for that one. the Human body does NOT have the strength to handle controlling and vectoring thrust with the legs. Anyone trying this will simply die. And it's a very stupid idea. A parachute works great, I'd rather have that than a giant tank of rocket fuel on my back.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
... like the armor of Samus from Metroid.
Until Elon Musk starts a company to do this, I'll consider it basically suicide. When Elon Musk tells me it can be done and he puts together something that can do it, I'll sign up in a heartbeat.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
"I see you are trying to start the thruster boots, would you like help with that?"
In NSA America social networks join you!
n/t
Paul: Father... father, the sleeper has awakened! - Dune
riight.. I can't grasp the 62 mi. altitude limit ... Surely the enironment at that altitude is essentially the same as at 300 miles, no? I mean, if ya wanna thriLLL GO for it!
Oxygen, etc, should not be a problem .. nor can i think of any other safety issue more far-fetched than the project itself (other than the stupid 'boot thruster' idea!)
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
"safely land using thruster boots instead of a parachute" Completely incorrect. According to the article and video, the suit will use not one, but TWO parachutes. As for the boots, they are not really "Iron Man" type thrusters, but simply for ensuring a smoother parachute-assisted landing (and probably mainly to look cool): From the article: "The other main function of the diver’s gyroscopic boots will kick in as he nears the surface of the Earth and he fires off his miniature in-built aerospike thrusters to gently descend to the ground for a feet-first perfect landing. " This is AFTER both parachutes have deployed. It seems like window dressing to me.
A concept illustrated by Lee J. Ames from the 1959 book "Man’s Reach Into Space" by Roy A. Gallant. http://mfwright.com/spacebailout.html
mfwright@batnet.com
"Space dive" to me sounds like a process whereby one dives into space, not from out of it, but I'm probably being semantically pedantic.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
... commercial space suit ...
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Nanofibre? Sure, but I want to use them to create a hybrid organic / inorganic mental lattice. My current brain can then interact with the additional brain power and more and more power can be added. Hopefully by the time my organic cells are old and dying it will be a mere fraction of the total mind and be redundantly duplicated across the neural network from recalling the memories. Bodies? Where I'm going, I don't need bodies.
I'm all for the kind of mind extension you're talking about, but unfortunately once that organic "fraction" of your neural net dies so does your consciousness, or at least it (you) will no longer be in that neural net. All that will be left in that extended neural net are a bunch of abstract patterns and processes with no capability to experience reality or even care about it.
I never understood how the fuck Iron Man's jet boots are supposed to work. They're clearly rocket motors, but somehow powered by his arc reactor which afaik just produces a lot of electric power? Unless he's invented the most badass ion drive units ever it makes completely no sense.
When I think space-dive, I don't think of Star Trek or Iron Man at all... I reckon Kurt Hectic had this sewn up with his ribbon-chute equipped Coilsuit in MDK :p