An invention that exists for around half a century now, the jetpack, never quite got off the ground as a mass method of transportation. Despite the obvious problem of having fuel strapped to your back, the quantity that you could carry is quite limited. In fact it could only last for around 30-40 seconds.
A California company, called Thunderbolt Systems, based in San Jose, managed to double that flying time.
They managed to get the flying time to 75 second, by mixing into the hydrogen peroxide fuel some kerosene. Obviously, it doesn’t sound like much, but 75 seconds will alow for a 3,500 feet travel for a 160 pound man. That’s just over 1km of travel.
The jetpack they offer is called TP-R2G2 and it will be sold starting from August, at the price of $98,000.
Thunderbolt claims that the jetpack could be used well by firefighters or rescue teams, but I don’t think they would be too inclined to trust their lives to the 75 second limit. Especially since a firefighter with all his gear would get that 75 seconds down quite a bit.
And here’s the video of a jetpack test from Thunderbolt.
Tags:FlyingHuman,JetpackTravel,RescueTeam