Bob Maddox and one of four rockets
Bob Maddox wants to strap himself to a homemade four-engine pulse jet rocket, ride it to around 25,000 feet and then jump off. [via Wired.com and the Medford Mail.
Oregon live has a feature on Bob Maddox.
Bob’s Contact as per Oregon Live and probably to Donate: 541-779-3800, rrocketmann at charter dot net
The rockets will burn gas and kersosene and generate 4,000 pounds of thrust. Although liftoff will be a relatively low 250 mph, the rockets will be capable of nearly supersonic velocity, according to the Medford Mail. Gyroscopes and servos will monitor the pulse jets, and he’ll use small rockets in the nose of his contraption for steering.
Maddox envisions a rocket that will generate 4,000 pounds of thrust. It will start at a relatively low speed, 250 mph, so if anything bad happens, it won’t happen quite so fast. Top velocity, though, will be close to supersonic.
The most dangerous moment for anything that flies is just getting off the ground. Maddox said his reserve parachute is designed to open, if he needs it, at an altitude of just 50 feet.
Steering a rocket that’s climbing five miles into the atmosphere might sound a little tricky, but Maddox said he’s making all parts using computer numeric code software, so they will all have identical performance. He’ll monitor the engines with gyroscopes and servo mechanisms, which will nudge four small nose rockets for steering.
When he reaches an altitude of 25,000 feet, Maddox plans to go skydiving. A rocket in his ejection seat will fire for half a second, pushing him out of the rocket.
Skydiving from that height is the least of his problems. Maddox has parachuted more than 2,000 times, and he jumped from 20,000 feet in a mass jump of 100 people.
When he bails out, the engine will stop and a parachute on the rocket will deploy so that it can be recycled and used again.
Unlike the character in Doctor Strangelove, Bob will be in a rudimentary cockpit. It was mentioned that he has a ejection seat
Bob Maddox will Evel Knievel and his attempted Snake River Canyon jump look small time.
Bob Maddox effort reminds of a line from the Simpson’s by Homer Simpson
Homer: Nobody snuggles with Max Power. You strap yourself in and feel the “G”s!
Good luck Bob.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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