Aircraft

Marc Newson's “Body Jet” re-imagines the jetpack

Marc Newson's “Body Jet” re-imagines the jetpack
The Body Jet was designed for a French aerospace company (Photo: Marc Newson)
The Body Jet was designed for a French aerospace company (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet was designed for a French aerospace company (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet was designed for a French aerospace company (Photo: Marc Newson)
The Body Jet features a carbon fiber yellow and black body (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet features a carbon fiber yellow and black body (Photo: Marc Newson)
The Body Jet would have a single large engine providing thrust (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet would have a single large engine providing thrust (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet harks back to a time when many felt jetpack travel and flying cars to be just around the corner (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet harks back to a time when many felt jetpack travel and flying cars to be just around the corner (Photo: Marc Newson)
Close-up of the Body Jet's dual-joystick controls (Photo: Marc Newson)
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Close-up of the Body Jet's dual-joystick controls (Photo: Marc Newson)
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Adjustable straps for the pilot of the Body Jet (Photo: Marc Newson)
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Adjustable straps for the pilot of the Body Jet (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet would reportedly contain enough fuel for approximately 45 - 60 minutes of air time (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The Body Jet would reportedly contain enough fuel for approximately 45 - 60 minutes of air time (Photo: Marc Newson)
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The jetpack is arguably the most game-changing method of transport one could envision using technology available today. However, despite some progress, a jetpack-powered commute still seems a very long way in the future. Not to be daunted by this, Australian designer Marc Newson has turned his hand to producing a compelling jetpack design concept, dubbed the “Body Jet.”

The Body Jet boasts the designer's usual flair for beautiful simplistic style and harks back to a time when many felt jetpack travel and flying cars to be just around the corner. Indeed, rather than a toy for the rich, the Body Jet concept appears to be more comparable to Ford's iconic Model T, and could be imagined as the vehicle which finally brings jetpack travel to the masses.

Close-up of the Body Jet's dual-joystick controls (Photo: Marc Newson)
Close-up of the Body Jet's dual-joystick controls (Photo: Marc Newson)

Newson's design features a carbon fiber yellow and black body, with a single large engine providing thrust. A dual-joystick setup is employed for controlling the jetpack, and the Body Jet would reportedly contain enough fuel for approximately 45 - 60 minutes of air time.

The Body Jet was commissioned by a French aerospace company and remains a concept at present – fingers crossed we'll soon see such a device brought to market.

Source: Marc Newson via CoDesign

View gallery - 10 images
17 comments
17 comments
yinfu99
What would make this more useful and interesting is the stand piece used to hold the pack up so you can get into and out of it easily. If instead of a static stand, you had an extendable one with retracting/telescoping pole segments. Thus when you get in the stand is active, once air born you flip a switch and the poles retract into the pack. and when landing, click a button, and they extend to aid in landing at a stance. Additionally they could be spring loaded somewhat to provide a little flexibility.
Snake Oil Baron
More of an art story than science I'd say. I have often wondered whether or not a jet pack that was meant for assisted jumping rather than sustained flying would be practical to a degree that full flight jet packs are not.
BigGoofyGuy
I think the retractable stand idea is a good one (even if it is just to raise it higher and shows on the outside).
It would be neat to see it in a movie like a similar one used in the Cody Banks movie.
I think it would be cool if it was powered by a tiny turbo prop engine.
Mariano Dupont
For this idea to become a total winner, it needs to:
1. Forget stands, it should fly directly to the user's back and position itself for fitting. 2. No complex two-joystick controls. To be massively adopted, it has to be completely autonomous. Set waypoint and forget. It should avoid obstacles. Google already does this in its cars. 3. Low noise.
ChillZilla
The current fuel capacity suggests this may only be useful for low altitude short commutes, but I see a possibly better application for this.
Could this be re-engineered as an alternative to traditional aircraft ejector seats or, with the necessary structural considerations built into the fuselage, integrated into passenger seating on larger airliners (i.e. Escape pods)?
christopher
Those jets drink one liter per minute (that's about 3.5 minutes per gallon), are rip-year-ears-off loud, and you don't want anything spinning at 70,000rpm in line with parts of your body...
Kwazai
would it be quieter and more controllable as a quad copter design? maybe better mileage to boot?
frogola
nice shot of reality christopher. and why is the intake pulling you downward, i think this is a children's toy.
nutcase
This is basically just someone doodling with a 3D CAD program right? The intake would suck your pants off and probably extract the contents of your rectum. Actually rectal content expulsion would occur naturally as you tried to control it.
Gregg Eshelman
Why doesn't someone make a lighter weight and updated version of the Williams Aerial Systems Platform? That one had a useful range and payload capacity. Modern composite materials would improve it.
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