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Jet-Powered Flying Suits Tested By Navy
The idea of a individual flight untrammeled by flapping arms or unwieldy wings is so appealing... that the US Navy thinks its getting close to having them.
A new beginning! https://t.co/UnTtYcuNvS
— Isegoria (@Isegoria) October 25, 2020
Remember those sf ideas of yesteryear, like the flying harness from E.E. 'Doc Smith's 1928 novel Skylark of Space, the anti-gravity belt from Philip Nowlan's Armageddon: 2419 A.D. and the cool jump harness from Robert Heinlein's 1961 classic Stranger in a Strange Land?
(Cover of Amazing Stories August 1928)
"Floaters" are a later development of "jumpers"--rocket motors encased in inertron blocks and strapped to the back in such a way that the wearer floats, when drifting, facing slightly downward. With his motor in operation, he moves like a diver, head foremost, controlling his direction by twisting his body and by movements of his outstretched arms and hands. Ballast weights locked in the front of the belt adjust weight and lift. Some men prefer a few ounces of weight in floating, using a slight motor thrust to overcome this. Others prefer a buoyancy balance of a few ounces...
(Read more about floater jumpers from Armageddon: 2419 A.D., by Philip Frances Nowlan)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/17/2020)
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Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.' - Don Wilcox, 1939.
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'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.' - Fritz Leiber, 1958.
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'JOAN strapped on her power-skis...' - Ursula K. Le Guin, 1964.
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'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...' - RH Roman, 1929.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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