So jet packs and ray guns will not become real until we create miniature power packs, perhaps in the form of a nanobattery that can store energy at the molecular level.
On a planet with a thin atmosphere and rugged terrain like Mars, perhaps the most convenient way to travel is the jet pack, a staple of science fiction cartoons and movies. It appeared in the very first Buck Rogers strip back in 1929, when Buck meets his future girlfriend while she is soaring through the air using a jet pack. In reality, the jet pack was deployed during World War II when the Nazis needed a quick way to transport troops across a river whose bridge had been destroyed. The Nazi jet pack used hydrogen peroxide as fuel, which quickly ignites in contact with a catalyst (such as silver) to release energy and water as waste products. However, there are several problems with jet packs. The main one is that the fuel supply lasts for only thirty seconds to a minute. (In old news clips, you sometimes see daredevils using jet packs to float in the air, such as at the 1984 Olympics. However, these tapes are carefully edited since people float for only thirty seconds to a minute before they fall to the ground.)
The solution to this problem is to develop a portable power pack with enough energy to power longer periods of flight. Unfortunately, no such power supply is available at the present time.
This is also the reason why we don’t have ray guns. A laser can work like a ray gun but only if you have a nuclear power plant generating the energy. However, it’s impractical to have a nuclear power plant on your shoulders. So jet packs and ray guns will not become real until we create miniature power packs, perhaps in the form of a nanobattery that can store energy at the molecular level.
