 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2006 
Ready For Takeoff?
 Larry Smith - popsci.com
| | Juan Lozano, backyard Rocketeer. (Photo: John B. Carnett) |
From Buck Rogers to 007, the jetpack has fueled our greatest personal-technology fantasies. For Juan Lozano, it has inspired a lifelong obsession.
If he’s lucky, when he turns the throttle, his 90 percent hydrogen peroxide will expand to 5,000 times its size and convert to steam that will reach 1,300°F. If he’s lucky, he will then be thrust 30 feet into the air, where he will fly for as long as 30 seconds, all while tethered to a 20-foot safety pole. If he’s lucky, self-taught Mexican rocket scientist Juan Manuel Lozano will someday become one of just a handful of people in history to make an untethered flight with a rocket belt. And if he’s very lucky, he’ll do all this without breaking any bones - or blowing himself up.
The road to a rocket-belt flight is long. Today Lozano, 51, will attempt his 12th tethered flight since he first deemed his rocket belt ready for liftoff. That was on September 9, 2005 - eight years and more than half a million dollars after he began building his device. Today and every other day that Lozano has test-flown his rocket belt in the backyard of his home in Cuernavaca, an upscale suburb 50 miles south of Mexico City, he goes through a 17-step checklist. He always begins with the fuel: Is the hydrogen peroxide distilled to the ideal 90 percent concentration? If it’s less, he won’t fly as long. After he’s filled and checked the fuel tanks, he adjusts the nitrogen regulator and makes sure the throttle valve is free and smooth.
And then there’s the timer. Among the approximately $10,000 worth of parts it takes to build a rocket belt from scratch, the tiny drugstore timer Lozano has hacked for his purposes is among the most crucial. Does it work? Can he hear it? Because there’s enough fuel for only 30 seconds of flight, Lozano needs to make sure he begins his descent with, oh, at least 10 seconds left. He waits as long as possible to put on his protective flying suit - it’s hot in there - and then he’s ready to take his rocket belt off its stand and buckle himself in.
He tightens the lower straps so they’re snug around his chest and legs. He checks the control bars and the jetovators, the devices that regulate his movement from side to side. Finally, he inserts his earplugs, opens the nitrogen valve, and does a last-second scan for any cables, objects or small animals in his flight path. Then Lozano smiles at Isabel, his wife of 30 years, says a quick prayer - and turns the throttle.
Click HERE for the rest of the story at the Popular Science website, and a slideshow of outtakes from Juan Lozano's photo shoot! |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us