Flying cars and jetpacks. Werent we all supposed to have those by now?

You know, along with the silver jump suits... thats what they always told us in those science fiction movies and stories all those years ago. The world of tomorrow always looked so exciting. And yet, here we are in 2010 and no one seems to be flying to work in hover-cars or have a personal jetpack, although I think everyone was a little relieved that those expected silver jumpsuits didnt become standard issue.

(images via 1, 2, Popular Science, TM Russia 1970)

The jetpack, the rocket belt or rocket pack are names given to a number of different devices worn on the back that use jets of escaping gas to allow a single person to fly. Such technology has been featured in movies, TV, novels, short stories and comic books for a very long time....

(top right image: art by Jeff deBoer)

However, despite advances in technology, jetpacks have not turned out, so far at least, to be very practical as a mode of personal transportation. Different types of jetpacks have been used on space missions, but the earths atmosphere and gravity, as well as limitations of the human body, have thus far hindered the use of jetpacks by the military or by the general public. Nazi's Himmelsturmer / Skystormer After conducting extensive research for an article about German Wonder Weapons earlier in 2009, I shouldnt have been surprised to discover that jetpacks were yet another one of the technologies explored by the Germans during World War Two.

The Himmelsturmer, which translates as Skystormer, was the result of experiments in the latter days of the war. The device employed two low-power rockets, which were strapped to the chest and back of the pilot, enabling him, in theory at least, to fly 180 feet in the air. It was hoped it would allow engineering units to leap across rivers or minefields and was not designed for regular troops. No images of the Himmelsturmer appear to have survived, but here are a couple of images of what it might have looked like:

images via 1, 2, top right: early Moore Rocket Belt test)Flights, or rather jumps, were measured in seconds, so there was no re

l descent time. The device shut down once the throttle was disengaged, so it was very simple to operate and there dont appear to have been any injuries during tests. Like a lot of other German technology, the Himmelsturmer ended up in the hands of the US military after 19 5. Bell Aerosystems did a few tests using a secure tether, since nobody wanted to take a risk with such an unknown and potentially un redictable contraption. The Himmelsturmer disappeared into history, b jetpack research took off, so to speak, soon afterwa s.A dizzying height of eighteen inches... it's a startThe U.S. Army began researching rocket pack technology in 1949 and by 1952 successfully tested a rocket pack, w for a few s econds lifted a man into the air. In 1953, Wendell F. Moore began working for Bell on hich jetpack us hydr ogen peroxide powered rockets. A device called the Jumpbelt was demonstrated in 1958, but only had a marginally longer f ing ight time than the early tests. The fi rst real rock et belt flight took place in April 1961, when Harold Graham reached a dizzying height of eighteen inches, but flew for 133 feet in just 13 seconds. Later that year, Graham demonstrated the belt at the Pentagon and then for President Kennedy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

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Longer, faster flights... but still too loud to be practical In the early sixties, the US army contracted Bell Aerosystems to build a rocket pack. Powered by hydrogen peroxide, it was commonly known as the Bell Rocket Belt or man-rocket. Over the following years, Bell improved the duration of flights, reaching speeds up to ten mph, but a jet powered model, which had been tested with longer flight times, was scrapped because the army considered it too big and heavy. Mostly though the fact that someone couldnt stay aloft for very long stopped the rocket belt from ever being put into production. Bells more substantial jet belt device developed in the later sixties had a flight time of around twenty minutes, but the military had been considering it for surveillance work and it was simply too loud to be practical.

(images via - Jet Flying Belt 1969)

"The Bell gang liked to attach rockets to almost anything even this everyday office chair" (source):

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To read about the first rocket belt pilots, visit this website. After that, there was no further serious work done on jet pack technology and the devices have been used mostly for short demonstrations at entertainment venues, sports stadiums, monster truck shows and so on, as well as for scenes using stuntmen in movies and TV shows. At the opening of the summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, 100,000 spectators in the stadium and around 2.5 billion television viewers around the world witnessed a rocket pack flight. Michael Jackson also used a stunt double to zoom off in a jetpack at the end of his concerts during the nineties. The Rocketman franchise currently uses a rocket belt based on the Bell Aerosystems model, giving demonstrations around the world.

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Nasas Manned Maneuvering Unit isnt strictly a jetpack, but deserves a mention here. The MMU is a propulsion backpack, utilizing gaseous nitrogen as a propellant, which was operated by US astronauts on three shuttle missions in 1984. The unit allowed the crew to take part in spacewalks without a tether away from the shuttle and was used at the time to retrieve two communications satellites, which were malfunctioning. The satellites were captured, put in the payload bay for stowage and returned to Earth. The MMU wasnt used after the third mission but has been succeeded by a smaller device known as the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue or SAFER, first flown in 1994. Also using gaseous nitrogen, it is a simplified version of the MMU and intended for emergency use only:

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The Soviet space program had a similar device known as the SPK, occasionally used by cosmonauts on flights to the Mir space station. It was bigger than the American model, used oxygen instead of nitrogen and was attached to a tether for safety. The SPK was still attached to the exterior of the space station when Mir was destroyed on reentry after it was decommissioned in 2001.

(left: NASA's Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue; right: Russian SPK device)

Jet packs have been featured in books, magazines, movies, TV, comics and other areas of popular culture for decades. Buck Rogers, Rocketman, Adam Strange, Boba Fett... In the movie Thunderball in 1965, James Bond flew a jetpack, which was based on the Bell Aerospace Rocket Belt. This type of jetpack also featured in the TV series Lost in Space:

Flight time: 9 minutes. Cost: $200,000 Jet Pack International of California has updated some of the early rocket belt designs with modern materials and fuels, increasing flight times to over thirty seconds. The company offers regular public demonstrations, but also sells some jetpacks and rocket belts. The T-73 model runs on regular jet fuel and is a true jet pack. The flight time is nine minutes and the device sells for $200,000. Thunderbolt Aerosystems also from California has plans to develop a jet pack with a flight time in excess of thirty minutes. Currently, their hydrogenperoxide/kerosene blend rocket pack flies for around seventy five seconds and costs over $90,000.

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(left image credit: William S. Higgins, right image is Monocopter by Andreas Petzoldt)

Not really a jet pack, but probably the most promising of new developments - and the one that is already produced commercially: New Zealand's Martin Jetpack is big, bold, and pretty efficient - read more info

While the vast majority of us may never have the financial resources to own one of these, its incredible to think that such devices are being seriously developed and flight times are definitely increasing. Maybe one day well all have a personal jetpack after all? The Backyard Rocketeer From his backyard in Morelos, Mexico, Juan Manuel Lozano has engineered and test-flown a staple of rocket-powered conveyances, from rocket belts to bikes to carts to the most ludicrous personal helicopter we've seen this side of Inspector Gadget - each of them powered by his home-brewed ultra-pure hydrogen peroxide jet fuel. He's like a one-man turn-of-the-century flying machine montage. Watch a very entertaining and informative interview with this man here.

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Here is a great video about the history of rocket belts: Link The greatest invention that never was? A lot of the material in this article is also covered in much greater detail and with a personal touch in "Jetpack Dreams: One Mans Up and Down (But Mostly Down) Search for the Greatest Invention That Never Was", by Mac Montandon, Da Capo Press 2008. Mac Montandons book investigates how such a cool idea straight from science fiction became reality, but then simply ran out of gas, never making it into the mainstream.

Montandons personal journey is a fascinating, engrossing and often amusing look at the greatest invention that never was, or at least the greatest one that never seemed to prove to have a practical application, such as the cell phone, internet, television, cars and so on. We learn just why the jetpack has not become an established mode of personal transportation and the book is very well written by someone who longs for the personal, affordable and practical jetpack to be real, yet has to reluctantly accept, for now at least, that it isnt.

(image credit: Sacha Maric & Tom Gottelier, for Libertine-Libertine)

Jetpacks for everyone were supposed to be an integral part of a glorious future, but the reality of zooming through the air like a superhero continues to be elusive. The technology remains expensive to develop, the fuel difficult to obtain and flight times too short to make the device practical for everyday use. While Montandon ultimately found that rather depressing, he hasnt given up on his dream. You can check out Montandons website at www.jetpackdreams.com.

Your own personal sky The idea of a personal flying vehicle was bouncing around for long time, until the Military took it in their capable hands, coming up with a significant number of prototypes:

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FLYING PLATFORMS & FLYING JEEPS De Lackner DH-4 "Aerocycle" flying platform was the first of several one-man flying machines the Army evaluated during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It had a top speed of 120 km/h and was surprisingly stable despite its rather ungainly appearance. Four small air bags served as a landing gear, though this system was ultimately abandoned in favor of helicopter-type metal skids:

Hiller VZ-1 "Pawnee" (1955) The craft was intended to explore both the practicality of the ducted fan as a propulsion unit and the potential military value of the flying platform as a reconnaissance and transport vehicle. The Army was favorably impressed by the VZ-1's performance and ordered a couple evolutionary prototypes built.

Chrysler VZ-6 (1959) In 1957 Pentagon asked plane and car manufacturers to submit bids for a "flying Jeep." Chrysler was one of the companies to take up the project:

A few other "air-jeep" concepts from this time: Piasecki 59 / VZ-8P

Curtiss-Wright VZ-7:

Here is the Flying Platform VAK-191 test:

The most unusual was perhaps "Convair Model 49 " from 1967 (maybe young George Lucas saw it, and got inspired in a certain direction?

Lighter fare takes off better:

Keeping it simple keeps it in the air

According to Popular Mechanics, there are currently two models competing for attention of the market: both are about as bare-bones as a flying machine can get: an engine to spin two sets of rotor blades, and a chair hanging underneath. $50,000 is all it takes to cast off your Earth-chains. Air Scooter II:

Gen H-4:

If not a helicopter, then a Personal Blimp, perhaps? -

But wait! Recently there were some good advances in the "Personal Wings" category GRYPHO "Gryphon" is not exactly personal flight vehicle, but rather an empowered parachute. It's been designed by ESG (Elektroniksystem-und -Logistik-GmbH). The Gryphon enables parachutists to fly through the air at a high speed before opening their chutes, so they could b dropped miles away and fly to their intended targets

Read more about it here: 1, 2, JET MA And finally, someone who got tired of waiting for big corporations to come up with R&D and justification for personal flight Yves Ross y from Switzerland developed wings which allow him to fly - spectacularly! (mainly because of 4 attached model-engines) Wit these, he can fly at over 200km/hr and conquer mountain summits. "During the flight, Yves's body becomes the likes of a bird and, other than a gas handle, Yves does not ride his wings but truly flies them using various light body movements that he has learned to handle with perfection. These body movements are equal to those that birds us to fly..."

Sources: DamnInteresting, AviaRussian.ee, BusinessWeek, Jet-Man