Any science fiction fan (and probably any gadget addict, too) will tell you that “the future” (the real future, that is) has been a serious let down. No world peace, world hunger has yet to be wiped out, still no flying cars and, until recently, no personal jet packs. One of the classic cliches about the future was that it promised us each our own backpack-sized device that would allow us to get to school, work or just away, with just a quick press of the thumb.
Well, it’s the twenty-first century, 2008 to be exact, and the future has arrived–sort of. Here comes the Martin Jetpack–a kind of massive gadget that allows anyone the ability to fly without wings (well, again, sort of). At least one report says that the Martin Jetpack can keep you in the air for 40 minutes on “a single tank of gas.” Of course, that means, in many places around the world, a forty minute jetpack flight would run you more than a dollar per minute!
The future is expensive!
But no technology is perfect when it is first unveiled to the public.
Of course, the so-called Martin Jetpack is drawing a bit of criticism thanks to it’s name being a bit misleading. If you look at the thing closely, you’ll see there are no actual “jets” on it. The Martin Jetpack actually uses propellers to lift the pilot off the ground.
It’s also HUGE. This is not something you’d strap to your back and go fight Nazis with. Nor is this something that you’d use to in a fight against an invasion of Radar Men from the Moon. That said, it’s still a fascinating breakthrough.
The real surprise is that you can actually purchase one of these bad boys by heading over to MartinJetPackUSA.com. The asking price is a low, low $100,000US. That doesn’t include sales taxes or “adjustment for inflation as measured by the consumer price index.”
That $100k price also doesn’t include the cost of flight training. That’s right, you have to take 5-15 days of your life and dedicate it to learning how to fly this thing before they’ll let you buy it. This is probably a good idea.
Either way, it’s amazing that, in at least one way (kinda), the future is here. Now we just need to get that world peace thing going.
