Troy Hurtubise
Encyclopedia
Troy James Hurtubise (age 47)(Hamilton, Ontario
) is an inventor and conservationist
from North Bay, Ontario
, Canada
noted for his often bizarre creations that he tests on himself in spectacular ways. Some of these inventions include the Ursus personal armor suit, firepaste (an ablative
heatproofing material) various ray generators, and recently, Trojan, which is a type of body armor.
in Hamilton, Ontario, Hurtubise enrolled in Natural Science
s at Sir Sandford Fleming College in 1987. He is married, and has one son. He previously ran a scrap metal
business in North Bay, until he lost it due to financial difficulties.
he refers to as "the Old Man", while hiking near Humidity Creek in central British Columbia
. The encounter had a profound effect on Hurtubise. Returning to his home province of Ontario, he decided to learn as much about grizzlies as he could. He realized, however, that due to the bear's fierce nature, it is very difficult to get close enough to study them without physical danger, and he believed that drugging
the animal would have its own undesirable consequences.
One day after enrolling in a college program in November 1987, Hurtubise experienced an epiphany
while watching RoboCop
in his college dorm, which led to the Ursus series of protective suits. He decided to build a research suit that would be strong enough to survive a close encounter while preventing harm to the occupant. Such a robo-bear suit would allow him to study bear behavior from the bear's perspective.
Seven years and $150,000 later, Hurtubise had worked his way up to the Mark VI, the suit he believed could protect him from a grizzly. In order to test it, Hurtubise consulted with professors of physics
and asked them how to simulate a bear attack. The entire experience was recorded as a National Film Board documentary
and called Project Grizzly
, with many memorable scenes in which Hurtubise tested the capabilities of the suit using himself as the test subject.
Hurtubise approached a tall, heavy biker and his colleagues, and paid them to attack him while wearing the suit, with baseball bat
s, splitting mauls, and wooden two by fours. The suit survived, as did Hurtubise, while the weapons were reduced to splinters. Other tests included an impact by a swinging 300-pound log, a feat that the Ripley's Believe It or Not! television program later attempted with a BMW
. The suit additionally survived a fall off the side of an escarpment
.
Some of the testing the 145-pound (65 kg) Ursus Mark VI underwent included live bear tests in British Columbia
, Canada. After initial fear of the strange looking suit, the 545-kg (1200-lb) male Kodiak bear
began tearing apart the chainmail
. This clarified to Hurtubise that using less expensive butcher's chainmail from France
instead of shark
chainmail was not the best decision. The biggest safety concern with the Ursus Mark VI is that a bear is able to rip the helmet off of the suit.
The current iteration of the suit, the Ursus Mark VII, is the 6th prototype that uses a few of the concepts and technologies developed by Hurtubise. It was initially created using a large amount of titanium. While the titanium suit was strong yet not overly heavy, it still did not provide the amount of protection Hurtubise desired. The suit was then entirely rebuilt to replace the titanium with stainless steel. The resulting suit is extremely strong, much stronger than the Mark VI, but due to its materials it now weighs a total of 84 kg (186 pounds), with the upper and lower halves each weighing 93 pounds. To solve the helmet issues found in the Mark VI, the Mark VII integrates the helmet into the upper portion of the suit, splitting it in half down the middle as the top half of the suit is opened. Like the Mark VI, the Mark VII is internally padded with a type of cushion Hurtubise developed which is soft enough to cushion serious blows, yet stiff and strong enough to handle extensive use.
The ultimate goal is the creation of a suit that would encompass all the concepts in their final form. This form would have the ability to protect against injury from riot, explosions, fire, and high velocity projectiles, and be light enough to allow for mobility (with a goal to weigh equal or less than the heaviest equipment a firefighter might wear, 130 pounds). When/if it happens, its main protective materials will include Hurtubise's 1313 paste, as well as his firepaste instead of titanium or steel.
Part of the project was documented as Project Grizzly, which was based on his book White Tape — An Authentic Behind The Scenes Look At Project Grizzly. He has appeared on numerous television programs such as Daily Planet, performed guest lecturing at schools of all levels including Harvard, has been interviewed on hundreds of radio programs from around the world, and has been written about in countless magazines and newspapers throughout the world. In 1998 Hurtubise won an Ig Nobel
in Safety Engineering for his suit development.
Without any support from outside sources such as government or private investment and with previous business partners faltering, the project has bankrupted him once and almost cost him his marriage. But with the support of family and friends and with the backing of an investor, the Ursus Mark VII was completed and Project Troy was launched.
heated up, popped the air bags and left Hurtubise with numerous burns
. Like Project Grizzly, Hurtubise has tested the material on himself. For a dramatic demonstration for the media and military in summer 2004, he made a thin mask of the material, put it over his face, and aimed a specialized blowtorch at thousands of degrees directly at the mask. The temperature was intentionally much hotter than the temperatures reached by the Space Shuttle
on reentry. A thermometer
located between his face and the mask measured no appreciable temperature change below the mask after nearly ten minutes, and the integrity of the material stood strong.
Hurtubise keeps the list of ingredients for his concoction secret, but during a segment aired on Discovery Channel
's daily news show Daily Planet, he revealed one secret to be Diet Coke
. Images from electron microscopes show that the particles in the paste are very porous, which makes it a good insulator. Other tests showed the paste contained lithium
and bromine
bound into compounds in the paste. Microscopically, it looks like a diatom
absorbent, such as kitty-litter
or any common industrial oil absorbent.
fiber pad and then subjected to a high pressure press for a day. The result is a board or tile-like panel. The panel is placed in layers with other materials such as tiles. The resulting composite material can withstand a direct assault by shotgun slugs, rifle fire, and enough high explosive to demolish a car, yet is quite inexpensive to manufacture.
At an enthusiastic demonstration taped by Daily Planet
, Hurtubise displayed its capability to a Canadian military observer. In one of Hurtubise's demonstrations, the composite material was placed in cushions meant to be placed over the outside of a Humvee. In the tests, the material successfully blocked explosive charges greater than those of a rocket propelled grenade, although they were not shaped charge
s, and was able to block shot after shot on exactly the same point of impact by a sniper rifle (which is a feat no material in use by the U.S. nor any other military has matched in public demonstrations).
It is Hurtubise's desire to see military vehicles, currently in service in Afghanistan
, equipped with such protection in order to stand up to a landmine
explosion, which has already claimed the lives of Canadian soldiers serving there. That, along with his younger brother serving in the Canadian military, inspired the creation of 1313.
According to Hurtubise, the device makes walls, hands, stealth shielding, and other objects transparent. He also claims that beams from the device have the side-effects of frying electronic devices and killing goldfish. After testing the device on his own hand, Hurtubise claims he could see his own blood vessels and muscle tissue as clearly as if the skin had been pulled back, but the beam caused numbness and he began to feel ill. He also claims to be able to read the license-plate on a car in his garage from his workshop, and can see the road salt on it. Hurtubise also claims to have tested the device covertly with the help of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
.
After he discovered that it had harmful effects, he dismantled it. Hurtubise, however, said the French government sent agents to North Bay to witness a demonstration of the Angel Light. He said the reps were so impressed with the device they gave him $40,000 in cash to finish it. The French, Hurtubise adds, have also agreed to pay him a “substantial” amount of money to use the technology if it passes rigorous tests in France
.
", Hurtubise describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." Weighing in at 40 lbs, he claims that the suit can withstand bullets from high powered weapons (including an elephant gun
). Hurtubise claims that he has been unable to test the suit against live ammunition because no one is willing to shoot him in it. It also features a knife holster and air conditioned helmet.
The suit has many features including a solar powered air system, recording device, compartments for emergency morphine and salt, and a knife and gun holster. He estimates that the cost of each suit to be roughly $2,000 if mass produced. It has been called the Halo suit, after the fictional MJOLNIR battle armor worn by the Master Chief
character in the Xbox and PC game series HALO.
In early February, after failing to receive any offers to buy the Trojan, Hurtubise, now bankrupt from the expense of creating the suit, was forced to put the prototype up for auction on eBay in the hopes that it would bring in enough money to sustain his family. The auction's reserve bid was not met. There was a raffle for the suit on the Mission Trojan website, whose goal is to raise money for further prototypes and testing of the Trojan Suit to demonstrate its abilities for military applications. The suit was won by Sara Markis of Florida who re-donated the prototype back to Hurtubise for work on his next prototype.
The money raised from the raffle of the Trojan T model armour was used to finance the Trojan S type armour. This new model is superior to the T model in many ways as detailed on his website and YouTube channel. The new type S armour purports to be lighter, tougher, more flexible, cheaper to produce and provide more complete body coverage than any other type of armour anywhere.
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
) is an inventor and conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
from North Bay, Ontario
North Bay, Ontario
North Bay is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing.-History:...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
noted for his often bizarre creations that he tests on himself in spectacular ways. Some of these inventions include the Ursus personal armor suit, firepaste (an ablative
Ablation
Ablation is removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. This occurs in spaceflight during ascent and atmospheric reentry, glaciology, medicine, and passive fire protection.-Spaceflight:...
heatproofing material) various ray generators, and recently, Trojan, which is a type of body armor.
Early life and career
After completing a grade 12 equivalent at Mohawk CollegeMohawk College
Mohawk College is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology located in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario, Canada. Mohawk has three main campuses: the Fennell Campus located in Hamilton, the Brantford Campus located in Brantford and the STARRT Institute located in Stoney Creek, as well as the...
in Hamilton, Ontario, Hurtubise enrolled in Natural Science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s at Sir Sandford Fleming College in 1987. He is married, and has one son. He previously ran a scrap metal
Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage. The band toured nationally as part of the Bran Nue Dae musical and with...
business in North Bay, until he lost it due to financial difficulties.
History
Hurtubise's obsession with bears began on August 4, 1984, when he was 20 years old and survived a skirmish with a grizzly bearGrizzly Bear
The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...
he refers to as "the Old Man", while hiking near Humidity Creek in central British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The encounter had a profound effect on Hurtubise. Returning to his home province of Ontario, he decided to learn as much about grizzlies as he could. He realized, however, that due to the bear's fierce nature, it is very difficult to get close enough to study them without physical danger, and he believed that drugging
Sedation
Sedation is the reduction of irritability or agitation by administration of sedative drugs, generally to facilitate a medical procedure or diagnostic procedure...
the animal would have its own undesirable consequences.
One day after enrolling in a college program in November 1987, Hurtubise experienced an epiphany
Epiphany (feeling)
An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...
while watching RoboCop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
in his college dorm, which led to the Ursus series of protective suits. He decided to build a research suit that would be strong enough to survive a close encounter while preventing harm to the occupant. Such a robo-bear suit would allow him to study bear behavior from the bear's perspective.
Seven years and $150,000 later, Hurtubise had worked his way up to the Mark VI, the suit he believed could protect him from a grizzly. In order to test it, Hurtubise consulted with professors of physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and asked them how to simulate a bear attack. The entire experience was recorded as a National Film Board documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and called Project Grizzly
Project Grizzly
Project Grizzly is a 1996 National Film Board of Canada documentary about the lifelong project of Troy Hurtubise, a man who has been obsessed with researching the Canadian grizzly bear up close, ever since surviving an early encounter with such a bear....
, with many memorable scenes in which Hurtubise tested the capabilities of the suit using himself as the test subject.
Hurtubise approached a tall, heavy biker and his colleagues, and paid them to attack him while wearing the suit, with baseball bat
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is no more than 2.75 inches in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches in length. It typically weighs no more than 33 ounces , but it...
s, splitting mauls, and wooden two by fours. The suit survived, as did Hurtubise, while the weapons were reduced to splinters. Other tests included an impact by a swinging 300-pound log, a feat that the Ripley's Believe It or Not! television program later attempted with a BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
. The suit additionally survived a fall off the side of an escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
.
Project Troy
Project Troy is the moniker given to the current stage of a 15-plus year effort undertaken by Hurtubise to develop protection suit technology. It began as a desire to create a suit capable of withstanding a bear attack, but the process has developed ideas and technologies whose purposes go beyond simple bear attack protection.Some of the testing the 145-pound (65 kg) Ursus Mark VI underwent included live bear tests in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada. After initial fear of the strange looking suit, the 545-kg (1200-lb) male Kodiak bear
Kodiak Bear
The Kodiak bear , also known as the Kodiak brown bear or the Alaskan grizzly bear or American brown bear, occupies the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in South-Western Alaska. Its name in the Alutiiq language is Taquka-aq. It is the largest subspecies of brown bear.- Taxonomy :Taxonomist C.H...
began tearing apart the chainmail
Mail (armour)
Mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.-History:Mail was a highly successful type of armour and was used by nearly every metalworking culture....
. This clarified to Hurtubise that using less expensive butcher's chainmail from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
instead of shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
chainmail was not the best decision. The biggest safety concern with the Ursus Mark VI is that a bear is able to rip the helmet off of the suit.
The current iteration of the suit, the Ursus Mark VII, is the 6th prototype that uses a few of the concepts and technologies developed by Hurtubise. It was initially created using a large amount of titanium. While the titanium suit was strong yet not overly heavy, it still did not provide the amount of protection Hurtubise desired. The suit was then entirely rebuilt to replace the titanium with stainless steel. The resulting suit is extremely strong, much stronger than the Mark VI, but due to its materials it now weighs a total of 84 kg (186 pounds), with the upper and lower halves each weighing 93 pounds. To solve the helmet issues found in the Mark VI, the Mark VII integrates the helmet into the upper portion of the suit, splitting it in half down the middle as the top half of the suit is opened. Like the Mark VI, the Mark VII is internally padded with a type of cushion Hurtubise developed which is soft enough to cushion serious blows, yet stiff and strong enough to handle extensive use.
The ultimate goal is the creation of a suit that would encompass all the concepts in their final form. This form would have the ability to protect against injury from riot, explosions, fire, and high velocity projectiles, and be light enough to allow for mobility (with a goal to weigh equal or less than the heaviest equipment a firefighter might wear, 130 pounds). When/if it happens, its main protective materials will include Hurtubise's 1313 paste, as well as his firepaste instead of titanium or steel.
Part of the project was documented as Project Grizzly, which was based on his book White Tape — An Authentic Behind The Scenes Look At Project Grizzly. He has appeared on numerous television programs such as Daily Planet, performed guest lecturing at schools of all levels including Harvard, has been interviewed on hundreds of radio programs from around the world, and has been written about in countless magazines and newspapers throughout the world. In 1998 Hurtubise won an Ig Nobel
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...
in Safety Engineering for his suit development.
Without any support from outside sources such as government or private investment and with previous business partners faltering, the project has bankrupted him once and almost cost him his marriage. But with the support of family and friends and with the backing of an investor, the Ursus Mark VII was completed and Project Troy was launched.
Firepaste
Firepaste is a white paste that, when dry, is flame and heat resistant. It has a consistency and texture similar to clay when wet and dries into a gray ceramic material which resembles concrete. The impetus for firepaste came from a failed fire test with the Ursus Mark VII where the metal exoskeletonExoskeleton
An exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
heated up, popped the air bags and left Hurtubise with numerous burns
Burn (injury)
A burn is a type of injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation or friction. Most burns affect only the skin . Rarely, deeper tissues, such as muscle, bone, and blood vessels can also be injured...
. Like Project Grizzly, Hurtubise has tested the material on himself. For a dramatic demonstration for the media and military in summer 2004, he made a thin mask of the material, put it over his face, and aimed a specialized blowtorch at thousands of degrees directly at the mask. The temperature was intentionally much hotter than the temperatures reached by the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
on reentry. A thermometer
Thermometer
Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...
located between his face and the mask measured no appreciable temperature change below the mask after nearly ten minutes, and the integrity of the material stood strong.
Hurtubise keeps the list of ingredients for his concoction secret, but during a segment aired on Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
's daily news show Daily Planet, he revealed one secret to be Diet Coke
Diet Coke
Diet Coke is a sugar-free soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It was first introduced in the United States on August 9, 1982, as the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark...
. Images from electron microscopes show that the particles in the paste are very porous, which makes it a good insulator. Other tests showed the paste contained lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
and bromine
Bromine
Bromine ") is a chemical element with the symbol Br, an atomic number of 35, and an atomic mass of 79.904. It is in the halogen element group. The element was isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig and Antoine Jerome Balard, in 1825–1826...
bound into compounds in the paste. Microscopically, it looks like a diatom
Diatom
Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons , fans , zigzags , or stellate colonies . Diatoms are producers within the food chain...
absorbent, such as kitty-litter
Litter box
A litter box, sometimes called a sandbox, sand box, litter tray, litter pan, dirt box, catbox, or cat box, is an indoor feces and urine disposal box for cats that are permitted free roam of a home but who cannot or do not always go outside...
or any common industrial oil absorbent.
1313 Paste
One of Hurtubise's latest projects has been the creation of a new paste that he has called 1313 and believes could be put to military use. It is a mixture of all his previous concoctions applied to a kevlarKevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires...
fiber pad and then subjected to a high pressure press for a day. The result is a board or tile-like panel. The panel is placed in layers with other materials such as tiles. The resulting composite material can withstand a direct assault by shotgun slugs, rifle fire, and enough high explosive to demolish a car, yet is quite inexpensive to manufacture.
At an enthusiastic demonstration taped by Daily Planet
Daily Planet (TV series)
Daily Planet is a television program on Discovery Channel Canada which features daily news, discussion and commentary on the scientific aspects of current events and discoveries. The show first aired as @discovery.ca in 1995. It was renamed to Daily Planet in 2002. The show relaunched with in high...
, Hurtubise displayed its capability to a Canadian military observer. In one of Hurtubise's demonstrations, the composite material was placed in cushions meant to be placed over the outside of a Humvee. In the tests, the material successfully blocked explosive charges greater than those of a rocket propelled grenade, although they were not shaped charge
Shaped charge
A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Various types are used to cut and form metal, to initiate nuclear weapons, to penetrate armor, and in the oil and gas industry...
s, and was able to block shot after shot on exactly the same point of impact by a sniper rifle (which is a feat no material in use by the U.S. nor any other military has matched in public demonstrations).
It is Hurtubise's desire to see military vehicles, currently in service in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, equipped with such protection in order to stand up to a landmine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
explosion, which has already claimed the lives of Canadian soldiers serving there. That, along with his younger brother serving in the Canadian military, inspired the creation of 1313.
Angel Light
Most recently, Hurtubise said he designed what he calls the Angel Light, a large device that he claims can allow people to see through objects, detect stealth aircraft, see into flesh, and disable electronic devices. Hurtubise says that the design for the Angel Light came to him in a series of three dreams, and that he was able to build a working device from memory, without the aid of schematics.According to Hurtubise, the device makes walls, hands, stealth shielding, and other objects transparent. He also claims that beams from the device have the side-effects of frying electronic devices and killing goldfish. After testing the device on his own hand, Hurtubise claims he could see his own blood vessels and muscle tissue as clearly as if the skin had been pulled back, but the beam caused numbness and he began to feel ill. He also claims to be able to read the license-plate on a car in his garage from his workshop, and can see the road salt on it. Hurtubise also claims to have tested the device covertly with the help of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
.
After he discovered that it had harmful effects, he dismantled it. Hurtubise, however, said the French government sent agents to North Bay to witness a demonstration of the Angel Light. He said the reps were so impressed with the device they gave him $40,000 in cash to finish it. The French, Hurtubise adds, have also agreed to pay him a “substantial” amount of money to use the technology if it passes rigorous tests in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Trojan armour
In early 2007, Hurtubise made public his new protective suit which was designed to be worn by soldiers. Calling it the "Trojan Ballistics Suit of ArmorTrojan Ballistics Suit of Armor
The Trojan Ballistics Suit of Armor is a protection suit designed by Troy Hurtubise for U.S. and Canadian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively...
", Hurtubise describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour." Weighing in at 40 lbs, he claims that the suit can withstand bullets from high powered weapons (including an elephant gun
Elephant gun
An elephant gun is a large caliber gun, rifled or otherwise, so named because they were originally developed for use by big-game hunters for elephants and other large dangerous game. They used black powder at first but then started using smokeless powder...
). Hurtubise claims that he has been unable to test the suit against live ammunition because no one is willing to shoot him in it. It also features a knife holster and air conditioned helmet.
The suit has many features including a solar powered air system, recording device, compartments for emergency morphine and salt, and a knife and gun holster. He estimates that the cost of each suit to be roughly $2,000 if mass produced. It has been called the Halo suit, after the fictional MJOLNIR battle armor worn by the Master Chief
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is a fictional character and protagonist of the Halo fictional universe, created by Bungie. Master Chief is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 and will appear in the...
character in the Xbox and PC game series HALO.
In early February, after failing to receive any offers to buy the Trojan, Hurtubise, now bankrupt from the expense of creating the suit, was forced to put the prototype up for auction on eBay in the hopes that it would bring in enough money to sustain his family. The auction's reserve bid was not met. There was a raffle for the suit on the Mission Trojan website, whose goal is to raise money for further prototypes and testing of the Trojan Suit to demonstrate its abilities for military applications. The suit was won by Sara Markis of Florida who re-donated the prototype back to Hurtubise for work on his next prototype.
The money raised from the raffle of the Trojan T model armour was used to finance the Trojan S type armour. This new model is superior to the T model in many ways as detailed on his website and YouTube channel. The new type S armour purports to be lighter, tougher, more flexible, cheaper to produce and provide more complete body coverage than any other type of armour anywhere.