Rocket science: Former NASA engineer invents snowball machine gun

6 Feb, 2016 16:10

Snowball fights are about to get way more intense now that an actual rocket scientist has figured out how to modify a household leaf blower into a snowball machine gun.

When winter comes, there’s nothing worse than being outnumbered on a snowy battlefield…

...especially when we don’t have Buddy the Elf on our side.

Mark Rober, an American mechanical engineer who says he used to work on the Mars Rover project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labratory (JPL), found himself in such a predicament when facing down his nieces and nephews.

All it took was some pipe, duct tape, and the aforementioned leaf blower to make a high-powered addition to his snowball-fighting arsenal.

Additional snowball magazines can be added, although Rober suggests using a 3D-printed mold to get the right-sized snowballs.

If you feel you need to teach some kids a lesson, a seven-step instruction manual can be downloaded here, and it’s quite easy to follow.