(it all starts with this… an ion-propelled backpack)
One of my dreams, besides owning a Honda scooter museum or growing a Jamiestache and grabbing my beret for an appearance in Mythbusters (no, not so Kari can sculpt me out of polymer clay… though that’s not a bad idea) is to ride a Speeder Bike. Well, looks like Gizmag caught wind of a new patent from California’s Personal Flight Systems. It seems they want to harness the energy of ion-propulsion to create a jet-pack of sorts.
Now, back in the days I used to be a big follower of lifters and one major drawback of their design, as far as them being useful for something, is the necessity of an exterior power supply. The craft could not carry its own weight plus the weight of its virtually unlimited electron source (power from a wall outlet).
To make a long story short they are talking about using Nikola Tesla’s broadcasted DC power to give life to a supersized ionocraft that straps to ones back. Let’s take that idea, stick it on a ‘bike’ and throw a couple a thrusters on the back. We’ll be just about there. I’d say by 2024 we’ll at least be able to see some test flight footage.
Click on the title link to see the whole, geeky story.
***UPDATE***
Speaking of “geeky story”, Jay points out what should have been obvious to me and that’s the fact that the patent office submitted sketch of the ionocraft is basically a Lambda class shuttle minus wings. You cheeky monkeys… couldn’t you have based it on THIS sketch instead?
13. June 2007 at 8:41 pm
Hey Steve, As a fellow “Lifterphile” I would like to say that it’s only a matter of time before we fully understand the physics involved in the lifter phenomenon at which point we will be able to fully optimize the effect and thus create some usefull thrust!
14. June 2007 at 10:02 pm
I hate to brake this to you guys, but that thing is totally fake. The design is a crappy CAD drawing of an Imperial Lambda Class Shuttle with the wings removed.
http://www.starwars.com/databank/starship/lambdashuttle/index.html
That and the amount of voltage and the size of the collector needed to lift a human would be impractical and dangerous.
14. June 2007 at 11:56 pm
Please refrain from raining on our proverbial parade…
15. June 2007 at 3:21 am
STORM CLOUD WEEEEEEE!!!!
Hey, I’m not saying it wouldnt be cool to see something that big and goofy fly.
I just wont be the one to test it out. ;)
But heres the bright side. Once that a material can be made into a superconducting state at room temperature you could generate magnetic fields more than strong enough to make star warsish speeders. At least thats what Dr. Michio Kaku has said.
No choking on ionized air particles, and no where near as risky as having a couple megavolts of DC aimed at your ass. :O