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NASA unveils personal flying suit named ‘Puffin’; flies at 150 mph
Smart Planet ^ | Jan 22, 2010 | By Andrew Nusca

Posted on 01/22/2010 9:56:10 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran

NASA on Wednesday said that it is working on a personal flying suit.

Called “Puffin,” the conceptual and highly experimental project is part one-man stealth plane, part personal jet pack.

Unveiled at a San Francisco meeting of the American Helicopter Society on Jan. 20 by Mark D. Moore, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, the Puffin promises — on paper at least — a self-contained design with proper “cockpit” and helicopter-style blades that allow for high-altitude flying up to 30,000 ft.

(Excerpt) Read more at smartplanet.com ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Miscellaneous; Science; Travel
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To: stylin_geek

I think someone somewhere said that this guy had “titanium cojones in a kevlar sack.” Yep - I’d say so. This guy is heroic in a way that is truly inspirational.


21 posted on 01/22/2010 10:09:20 AM PST by Noumenon ("Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he has grown so great?" - Julius Caesar)
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To: stylin_geek
A real man straps 4 jet engines on his back and flies.

Here's video of that guy flying across the Channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMjuzy68hw0

I understand his day job is flying 747s.

22 posted on 01/22/2010 10:09:43 AM PST by cynwoody
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

I don’t see the mechanism that causes it to transition from vertical take off to level flight. In the animated cartoon, it just leaned forward somehow.


23 posted on 01/22/2010 10:11:29 AM PST by ZX12R
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

Maybe it’s intended to be dropped from 30,000 ft and auto-giro its way down.

Otherwise, no way.


24 posted on 01/22/2010 10:12:56 AM PST by agere_contra
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To: Paradox
That thing wont have much of a range at all.

In the cyberpunk novel "Neuromance" there is a reference to "Operation Screaming Fist" led by Colonel Willis Corto. The mission was to knock out the Soviet radar installation at Kirensk by dropping Green Berets who would fly in on ultralights and then hack into the computer network.

That didn't work out either. But sounds marginally more practical.

25 posted on 01/22/2010 10:13:01 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (We have the 1st so that we can call on people to rebel. We have 2nd so that they can.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

First laugh I have had in days, thanks!


26 posted on 01/22/2010 10:13:12 AM PST by kalee (The offences we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: Noumenon; cynwoody

Then, there is Howe and Howe, twin brothers who came up with the most advanced tracked unmanned vehicle in the world..working on their own dime developing their concept.

Appropriately named “Ripsaw”

http://www.howeandhowetechnologies.com/

Check out the videos. Ripsaw is something else.

My point being both of these are private innovations that were built without government funding.


27 posted on 01/22/2010 10:16:34 AM PST by stylin_geek (Greed and envy is used by our political class to exploit the rich and poor.)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
Would easily fit in my garage.
28 posted on 01/22/2010 10:19:34 AM PST by dragnet2
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To: ClearCase_guy
In the cyberpunk novel "Neuromance(r)"

Hey, I read that book. Many years after it came out, and long after it was a "cool" book to read.

29 posted on 01/22/2010 10:21:22 AM PST by Paradox (ObamaCare = Logan's Run ; There is no Sanctuary!)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

If you can’t mount Hellfire missles or a Minigun on it, I’m not interested.


30 posted on 01/22/2010 10:23:41 AM PST by Malone LaVeigh
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To: Paradox

Thanks for correcting my spelling! I saw that I had dropped the “r” but was too lazy to post a correction.


31 posted on 01/22/2010 10:24:07 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (We have the 1st so that we can call on people to rebel. We have 2nd so that they can.)
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To: Paradox
It works on the "propeller beenie" principle. Needs a strong chin strap. lol...
32 posted on 01/22/2010 10:24:30 AM PST by JasonC
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

That landing feet first looks pretty darn tricky.


33 posted on 01/22/2010 10:28:32 AM PST by Touch Not the Cat
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

I don’t like it.. I get claustrophobic just looking at it.


34 posted on 01/22/2010 10:37:29 AM PST by divine_moment_of_facts (Give me Liberty.. or I'll get up and get it for myself!)
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To: Brugmansian

Luzz Bitequeer.


35 posted on 01/22/2010 10:38:15 AM PST by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

I assume they have a built in relief tube, but what if you’ve got an itch?


36 posted on 01/22/2010 10:51:37 AM PST by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: stylin_geek
Flying Suit
37 posted on 01/22/2010 11:07:05 AM PST by SC DOC
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To: dragnet2

I WANT ONE!


38 posted on 01/22/2010 11:14:40 AM PST by NCC-1701 (ON 1-19-09 GAS WAS, ON AVERAGE IN MEMPHIS, $1.43 A GALLON.)
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To: gibtx2
"Specious"? Didn't ACME Engineering prototype this awhile back?


39 posted on 01/22/2010 11:26:54 AM PST by CowboyJay (RiNO - It's 'what's for dinner'...)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing
Anointment utensil he poots forths a quarter-ounce green rosette (oh ah yuk
Yuk... lets try that again...!) he poots forth a quarter-ounce green rosette
Near the summit of a dense but radiant muffin of his own design.
Later he says:

Some people... some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say
There is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of gods grey
Earth as that prince of foods... the muffin!

Girl you thought he was a man
But he was a muffin
He hung around till you found
That he didn’t know nuthin

Girl you thought he was a man
But he only was a-puffin
No cries is heard in the night
As a result of him stuffin

Muffin Man - Frank Zappa


40 posted on 01/22/2010 12:06:57 PM PST by Eddie01 (Billy was a mountain, Ethel was a tree growing off of his shoulder)
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