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What do former NASA engineers do for fun?

Answer: Build glitter bombs to teach porch pirates a lesson.

When ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober learned that his missing Amazon packages were being taken by thieves (a.k.a., porch pirates), he spent the next six months designing a little surprise for them.

With the help of Sean Hodgins, Rober developed a package that looks like an Apple HomePod. Inside, however, is a device that sprays first glitter and then fart spray when the box is opened. Rober and Hodgins built it using a 3-D printer, and it contains a custom-printed circuit board and GPS, so that the package can be located once its been opened (and likely disposed of).

Additionally, everything is recorded thanks to four smartphones with cameras that catch every angle around the package. Rober shared some of the footage in a YouTube video (below), in which he also reveals that the project was sponsored by NordVPN. So technically its an ad, but it’s a pretty impressive one.



Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.