Sky’s the Limit: James Bond and the Future of Jet Pack Technology
By Bianca Longlisci, C2ST Intern, Loyola University
What if humans could fly? It’s a question almost every person has asked themselves, but it seems like the answer to it may no longer be something left for science fiction to decide. After a recent visit to the Museum of Science and Industry’s new 007 Science exhibit, I became fascinated by a unique technology that theoretically allows humans to soar through the air– jet packs. Jetpacks appear in several blockbusters like Star Wars and Asteroid City, but what is unique about the jetpack in the 1965 Bond film Thunderball is that it is fully functional in real life. How do jetpacks work, and are they still only free to be used by fictional super spies?
The jet pack used in Thunderball is known as the Bell Rocket Belt and is considered to be the first functional jetpack. It uses nitrogen to push hydrogen peroxide into a small chamber. Inside, a reaction occurs that produces a burst of steam, propelling the wearer into the air. It sounds simple, but the Rocket Belt cost roughly $200,000 to create (almost $2 million in today’s money) and could only keep a person in the air for 20 seconds before running out of fuel. The high input cost combined with such a short flight time are the main reasons why the Rocket Belt never really “took off” as a product.