Tesla has used cold-gas thrusters for the Roadster. What if similar technology were used for an autonomous skydiving rescue vehicle?
The concept is a truck equipped with upward-facing thrusters that tracks a skydiver from high altitude, continuously predicts their trajectory, and repositions itself throughout the descent. This would be a routine safety precaution, not something initiated only after a parachute failure.
If both parachutes failed, the vehicle would already be near the predicted landing location. Its thrusters would direct high-speed gas upward to decelerate the skydiver enough for a survivable landing on a padded truck bed.
The main engineering questions are:
- Could cold-gas jets transfer enough momentum to safely decelerate a falling human?
- How far above the truck would braking need to begin?
- Could the airflow be distributed without injuring or destabilizing the skydiver?
- Could autonomous tracking and positioning achieve sufficient accuracy?
- Would fans or another propulsion technology work better?
Is there a fundamental physics limitation that makes this impractical, or is it primarily an engineering challenge?
P.S. To clarify, the truck would always be on the ground. The idea is to use the thrusters to slow down the falling skydiver so they can survive a landing on the padded truck bed.
The truck would act proactively by going to where the skydiver is currently headed to land even before there's a parachute failure.
