One of mankind's most adored gadgets (yes, the
jetpack) is moving one step closer to mainstream today with the unveiling of the Martin Jetpack. Revealed in front of a crowd in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this human transporter is technically defined by the FAA as an "experimental ultralight airplane, equipped with a gas-powered, V-4 piston engine and two ducted fans that provide the lift." Currently, the $100,000 machine can only hover for around 30 minutes and rise to 8,000 feet, and those who sign up to purchase one will first have to complete 15 hours of flight training as well as a "safety screening." Check out an all-too-short video after the jump to see the device lift off, float around and land -- totally underwhelming, but the optimistic few will surely see promise.
Read - Martin Jetpack unveiling, video
Read - Details on Martin Jetpack
Read - More photos from EAA AirVenture
posted Jul 29th 2008 1:20PM
If there is no jet engine, it is not really a jet pack.
Fan Pack?
Fan-ny pack!
What is a jet? An external combustion engine? A turbine engine? Then what's a jet boat? What's a jet ski?
I agree, it's not what I *thought* a jet pack would be, but if you go to the website and look at their definition of a jet, you'll see that "jet" is not a clearly defined word in terms of the technology. This qualifies as a jet pack by one definition.
BTW, fan-ny pack had me rotfl!
Ginger is quaking in her tracks!
Holy crap. Can we get an engadget giveaway of one of these?
off the topic but what happened to the engadget giveaways for Bill Gates' day?? who got those??
Like most Engadget competitions you never find out!
They're all too happy to take your details and "how you would change X gadget" data to be sold to companies as marketing data, but they never tell you who has won! Booooooo!
Sweet. Two bad those two guys had to handle the steering.
I like the guy in the end who yellowed, "I WANT ONE!" in the background. LULZ
Too*
-_-
hm I read this as Martian at first
Wow - humanoid training wheels!
Evaaaaaaaaaaa!
WANT!
but it's totally fake... those 2 guys are just really really strong.
What are you talking about? If it was fake, then why are all the people cheering so exstacica...exta...oh hell they're just not very excited okay.
I think what Jeff was trying to do is what us humans call a joke. Do you know what a joke is?
Had to reply to note that I watched this the first time at work with no sound. The cheers you hear -> voiceover. Watch it again muted, it's like a graduation audience. Sad.
Na, they're not really strong - you can see the wires lifting it up.
Yeah Buns, mine was a joke too, get a jetpack and lighten up, man.
Ok. Let me get this straight. It is 2008 and we don't all have jetpacks. I was promised jetpacks by now.
Very unfortunate sir. Alas, it's time to go back into CryoStasis, Mr. Disney.
It's in the trunk of your flying car. Check behind the instant food maker.
Yeah! And where is my frikin moon base vacation!
From the site I normally go to:
WHERE'S MY FLYING CARS
I wish they would have completely let go of it for a sec for Flamers sake.
And lol, at the end of the vid some1 screams ''I WANT 1 !!''
Ask (actually read the article) and you shall receive.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25907397#25907397
what are you people talking about? they never let go!
Oh silly, they're just there so it doesn't break his legs when he lands from 2 feet off the ground.
Or so that he doesn't go out of control and fly into the crowd.
ok does any one rember the one from thunderball the real one that really worked and was about a 1/3rd the size? yeah when did we take like 2 steps back?
that one had about 1-3 minutes of flight time in it before it needed to be recharged/refilled. with 30 minutes of flight time out of one tank of gas, this thing has much greater potential. The real "jet" pack you are thinking of used hyrdogen-peroxied as a propellant and not gasoline to power an engine... and it was WAY cool and WAY ahead of it's time.
THAT one STILL can not do more than 30-45s even after all these years of development
One of the reasons this works is that you can carry around more fuel than any jet pack, and it has a slower rate of consumption.
Mythbusters was looking at online plans (build your own send ME $29.95)
Depending on cost/production/ease of use, I could see this going from "toy" to practicle use in various fields.
Well, at least it's practicley practical.
it also featured at the LA Olympics opening ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvwd5gYaILI
('jet man' is 1 minute into the video)
Those dude's are just holding him up!!
HOAX! :D
Those two guys must've gotten real tired after holding that guy and his suit up for more than a minute!
I wonder if the 2 guys come with the jetpack, cause they dont leave him an inch..
do want.
Pfft. Fake.
But I am really impressed with the two guys lifting it up, they must be super buff.
:)
now we just need to work that into one of those power enhancing exoskeletons and we just might be able to fend off our robot overlords. and if that doesnt work, maybe we'll be able to pass AS a robot overlord.
I for one, welcome our robot overlords with their jet packs of oppression.
Anyone using this thing for a while will probably go deaf.
What?
YOU'RE RUNNING LOW ON GAS!!!!!!
Take that, Mythbusters!
Yeah, as long as these guys are holding onto the thing to make sure it doesn't go spinning out of control and crush the guy (or spectators), I just can't help but be unimpressed.
Can we see some footage of this thing cruising around at 8000 feet? Or is 8000 feet and 30 minutes of flight time what you hope to some day accomplish?
My thoughts exactly. I mean, if you're going to make a big deal about your oh so amazing "jet pack" cruising at those altitudes, the least you can do is prove it. Among many other things, it's obviously still not useful. I want a jet pack so that I can avoid traffic and travel a long distance. I'm not going to pay 100,000 dollars, which I don't have, so I can go to Wendy's and come back!!! That's preposterous!! Besides, since when is the concept of the jet pack the size of a smart car?!
No it's made in tech measurements, it's not 8000 ft and 30 minutes it's 8000 ft or 30 minutes with two guys holding you.
sounds kinda wrong if you ask me.
I'm gonna fan the 'those guys were holding him up' flame by saying that what we just saw could have been done without the engines.
Here's two guys holding up another guy. Well rattle my bones, what a miracle.
Also, it's kind of a bummer that engine failure at 8,000 feet = certain death, unlike most other flying machines where engine failure = a controlled descent to the ground.
And how much does it cost to power this thing? Probably considerably more than any other, safer form of transport. I'm calling a fail on this.
you can't just cruise up to 8,000 feet whenever you want. you'd have to take off from a designated area and have approval to take off at all.
"Currently, the $100,000 machine can only hover for around 30 minutes and rise to 8,000 feet"
ONLY?!??!? Uh, you get to play Superman for a half hour. I think that's a pretty big accomplishment.
If he's gonna fly that high, then the jetpack needs to be equiped with a parachite system.
8000 feet..... that's a LONG way up. Hope it has an emergency chute!
Yes, the thing has an emergency chute, similar to one available on several models of small aircraft.
Read the actual article. He has a ballistic chute. I don't know the minimum altitude for it, they don't say.
9000 ft
i cant wait till the dude is 8000 feet up and a gust of wind throws him into a deadly spin
"9000 ft"
rofl!
I can't wait to see this combined with a Segway and an Iphone ... thousands of tech-savy soccer moms will kill themselves on their way to Spacebucks ... sweet future.
"...one will first have to complete 15 hours of flight training as well as a "safety screening.""
I'm assuming you have to demonstrate that you want to learn how to land as well as take off!!
I kept waiting for dude in the "jet"pack to start kicking at the guys holding him up so he could actually try to go somewhere. I'm pretty sure I could strap my leaf blower to my son's back and hold him up while he revved it too.
Seriously, cause if it was me those two are holding me down, not up. They're the test-pilot-theft-prevention-lojack device.
Stop it you guys, I'm crying ROFL :)))
Check out this jetpack!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTE7b-a0QQ&NR=1
How much for the jet pack PLUS the two guys? Do they fold up for storage?
It looks like all the support is right up in the groin area.
Is that a female pilot? If not, he is now.
Is that Criss Angel in there?
I have the same feelings as everyone else: cool but too big, too loud, not controllable, gas guzzling, expensive, huge barriers to entry and it was promised years ago. Still, as I said, it's cool.
Oddly, I'm thinking that I could design something better. A 600cc inline four from a sportbike, and segway like stabilization. I'm sure that it wouldn't be easy, but this video makes me think that its 4 weedwacker engines taped together with no computer controlled stabilization.
Go for it. No, really. Do it.
Stop tempting me... I haven't even punched numbers for plausibility with a 600cc engine, but I'm guessing $8000 in parts could make it happen. I could fire up solidworks tonight...hmmmm
Sure you can...
My thoughts exactly.
Maybe you can actually design a better -looking- fan-ny pack. Though this one took the guy 27 years to develop.
Check out the full history:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29jetpack.html?scp=1&sq=jetpack&st=cse
Safety screening - OK, so you have $100K to spend on this, you still weigh 300 pounds and you can't have one!
I'm impressed they get this power/weight performance from a piston engine, but since they do, they get the efficiency to last 30 minutes unlike the previous 3 minute versions that used rockets. :)
So, jetpack, space tourist carrier aircraft rollout, and rocket racing league demo - all this week. That's a whole lot of 21st-century sweetness!
Thanks EAA Airventure!
Ok, that had to be the poorest publicity promo for any product, they never let go. I bet if they did he'd probably start spinning like a balloon flying around once you release it from your fingers. If I were in the crowd, you would have heard a very loud BOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
completely unremarkable.
If this makes it to market, I can foresee the air-time rapidly decreasing in proportion to rapidly increasing waistlines and obesity.
e.g.: "Mommy, what was walking like?"
obviously none of you have been to the EAA's Air Show before...this is a REAL jet/fan pack, and due to the amount of people that go to the show they'd HAVE to have people to hold on and keep the pack in check so a major accident/lawsuit didn't occur.
let me know when they make a smaller one like IronMan's, then sign me up for one!!
Why bother with a helmet? If that things goes down from 8,000 feet they'll be using an ice cream scooper to get all of you out of that helmet.
Can "Only" fly for 30 minutes? Every previous jetpack had like 60 seconds of lift.
In 50-70 years a jetpack will be as big as a backpack
Honey, have you seen my jetpack?? Hmm...junior left his schoolbooks behind.
And 50 years ago they were saying we'd be living on the moon in flying cars.
.. and the fuel will cost more than a house.
Man, and I was hopping to avoid traffic with this thing on I-70 as I go skiing. I guess the 8000ft will be a problem for me. Oh, and I will probably need another person to hold me up when I add the weight of my skis.Why does the "pilot" need a helmet? Was he afraid the two guys were going to drop him?
Wait, $100K will buy me a lot of hotels up on ski country so I can avoid the traffic.
You'd think they'd add attitude control with a computer and a few directional jets or ducts so they don't have to keep him steady. What a waste.
Now.. strap it on, go straight up 1000 feet, put it on autopilot and hover.. take some photos.. me want! Til then, they can keep their death trap.
It looks to me as if it DOES have 3d control with the two handles. But it's not a video game, and it's someone's life and a nearly priceless prototype at risk. We're not sure who's at the controls, either, and how much hover practice they might have.
I'm pretty sure that the insurers of the EAA Airventure had something to say about untethered flight of an early experimental vehicle that close to spectators, too.
Can't you get a much better power to weight ratio from a gas turbine or something like that? They're very common in helicopters precisely for that reason. Yes, they're more expensive than a piston engine, but when you're playing in the "$100k for a toy" arena, why not just bump it up to $150 - $200k and have one that works a lot better. Also, I really don't think the two "outrigger" guys are actually lifting the thing, but I'm not seeing a whole lot of stability from the unit either. I think the makers should just go for broke and have $200k unit with a turbine engine and computer-aided stabilization. If you're going to do something like this, might as well do it right. Oh, and have a techno version of the "Jetsons" theme on your Superbowl commercial.
Sure you have better power to lift, but it sucks four times the amount of fuel. They're also louder, lots louder. Like they say in the airlines, in the event of a multi-engine failure, the remaining engine will get you to the crash site at least a half hour before the emergency crews.
uh...not exactly the Rocketer. You'd have to be def to ride that beast too.
The 8,000 foot limit is simply a mathematical calculation stating that beyond that altitude, at full throttle, the reduction in both oxygen and air density limits the horsepower of the engine and the amount of thrust it can produce to the point where it cannot overcome the weight of the device and the pilot. Highly unlikely it was derived by actual test flights..
For all you naysayers - here's some video that more clearly demonstrates that it does actually fly. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25907397#25907397
Please remember that this is an Experimental aircraft with a capital E. It is still under serious testing and nobody who has half a brain is likley to try anything drastic in it until it has been throughly tested and any bugs that are likely to make it plummet from the sky at a couple thousand feet have been found and dealt with. Common sense people, use some.
that thing looks like a b!tch to pilot. it looks like if you're too heavy on the controls, a hard turn could make you crash right into the ground.
no thanks, i'll use that $100k to buy the two guys and have them carry me around.
Does the two guys include in the $100,000 dollars package?
Dupe, fail.
Oh yeah, major mod hack coming on. Soon as this baby's outta the box it's pod racer time!!!!
Yoka to Bantha poodoo!