- Title: 3D printed jet takes to the air
- Date: 11th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) JET SUIT PILOT SAM ROGERS TAKING OFF FOR DEMONSTRATION FLIGHT MORE OF SAM ROGERS FLYING AND LANDING VARIOUS OF A JET SUIT BACKPACK VARIOUS OF CONTROL PANEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) JET SUIT PILOT SAM ROGERS SAYING: "This is the latest version of the fully 3D printed jet suit. So this is 3D printed aluminium, nylon and also steel. The backpack consists of 3D printed steel and nylon. The whole structure is nylon and we actually entrain air from the surroundings through the structure of the pack to keep it cool and the same with these arm mounts but to a lesser effect. So it's the lightest version of the suit and since we can have a polymer arm tube we can reduce the heat transfer from the engines to the arm mount so it allows us to make it lighter as well as have complex structures internally." SAM TAKING OFF, FLYING AD LANDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) JET SUIT PILOT SAM ROGERS SAYING: "Your using the sensory matrix of your skin to sense what is happening with each turbine. Your using your body which is sensored up anyway having a skin there anyway means you can get so much data out of it and fly it so much more dynamically and intuitively that it's a completely different type of flying." MORE OF SAM FLYING AND LANDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) JET SUIT PILOT SAM ROGERS SAYING: "In terms of commercialising it the best way of getting it out there to the public is to do the race series which we're doing. We're having multiple guys and girls from different backgrounds all racing it out over a lake and having people come and watch it in that sense rather than just giving people jet suits is probably not the right idea."
- Embargoed: 25th October 2019 15:12
- Keywords: 3D printed jet suit jetsuit jetpack Gravity Industries Sam Rogers
- Location: LONDON & GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON & GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0NL3KR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A 3D printed jet suit has taken to the skies over London on a low level demonstration of the technology.
Sam Rogers flew the body controlled jet powered suit over a car park in East London to show off the latest fully 3D printed version.
"This is the latest version of the fully 3D printed jet suit. So this is 3D printed aluminium, nylon and also steel. The backpack consists of 3D printed steel and nylon. The whole structure is nylon and we actually entrain air from the surroundings through the structure of the pack to keep it cool and the same with these arm mounts but to a lesser effect. So it's the lightest version of the suit and since we can have a polymer arm tube we can reduce the heat transfer from the engines to the arm mount so it allows us to make it lighter as well as have complex structures internally," Rogers said.
The suit consists of 5 small turbines producing just under a hundred kilograms of thrust, controlled by moving the arms.
"Your using the sensory matrix of your skin to sense what is happening with each turbine. Your using your body which is sensored up anyway having a skin there anyway means you can get so much data out of it and fly it so much more dynamically and intuitively that it's a completely different type of flying," Rogers said.
Gravity Industries, who make the suit, are planning to create the world's first International Jet Suit Race Series which is expected to begin in 2020 with 3 pilots racing each other over water.
"In terms of commercialising it the best way of getting it out there to the public is to do the race series which we're doing. We're having multiple guys and girls from different backgrounds all racing it out over a lake and having people come and watch it in that sense rather than just giving people jet suits is probably not the right idea," Rogers said.
Gravity Industries was founded by its chief test pilot Richard Browning, a former commodities trader, who began developing the suit in his garage with friends several years ago.
He holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine-powered suit from his flight using an earlier model of the jet suit, reaching a speed of 32 miles per hour (51.5 km/h) in 2017. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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