Cheap Rocket Jetpacks At Last
Posted by Jason on
February 1, 2008
Ever since James Bond strapped on that Bell Textron rocket belt in the opening segment of Thunderball I have wanted one. I was convinced back then (1965) that we’d all have one by now and I recall thinking it would be fun to take one on my annual holiday on the Moon…
The reality back then was jetpacks had a flight time of around 30 seconds, and were more or less guaranteed to kill anyone, other than a certified test pilot in all senses of the word stone dead on its first outing.
This spring I’ll be a little closer to realising that dream when Thunderbolt Aerosystems plan to market a Hydrogen Peroxide fuelled Thunderpack called TP-R2G, and it’ll be a snip at only £45,000, or thereabouts. A dual-fuel version (petrol and methanol) will be available later in the year for just £5,000 more.
So what’s the catch? Well, I’m sorry to say that the endurance hasn’t improved much over the years, the Hydrogen Peroxide only model can still only stay aloft for 45 seconds, but this rises to a more promising 75 seconds on the dual fuel model. However, I’m pinning my hopes on a claim made in a press release on the company’s website that says within a year it foresees a model with a flight time of 35 minutes. That one has my name on it, where do I sign…
