WELLINGTON (Web Desk) – A ‘mad boffin’ who dreamed of flying to school has finally invented the world’s first jetpack after working tirelessly for over three decades.
As a schoolboy, Glenn Martin’s imagination was fuelled by characters from 1960s television shows such as Thunderbirds, Lost in Space and The Jetsons.
Over 50 years later, his childhood dream of seeing people flying through the sky could become a reality.
The inventor, from New Zealand, set up Martin Aircraft Company, which is now valued at more than $180m since it was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange last month.
Martin’s device, which comes with a $273,000 (£183,500) price tag, has made the front page of the New York Times and listed among Time magazine’s Top 50 Inventions.
The airborne technology, which will be available to buy within the next 18 months, will initially be targeted at the overseas emergency services sector but wealthy individuals, such as business tycoon Richard Branson, have also expressed an interest in owning one.
The self-confessed ‘mad boffin’ said: “Many people thought I was mad for dedicating so much time to coming up with a commercial jetpack.
“But I couldn’t care less. It’s the crazy people who change the world.”
The first serious attempt to build a jetpack was in the 1950s, with the Bell Rocket Belt, but it was dangerous and could fly for only 30 seconds.
So, in 1981, Martin embarked on the challenge.
He said: “”I grew up in the early days of the Apollo space programme and we thought we would soon be taking holidays on the moon and going to work in little flying cars. I was chatting with some mates and we got to talking about whatever happened to those flying cars and jetpacks. Something went off in my head and the next day I was down at the library researching jetpacks. The mission to build one was on.”
The ambitious biochemistry student started sneaking into mathematics lectures, realising he needed to understand and perform complex calculations.
To fund his ambitions, he became a pharmaceutical salesman after graduating and moved to Christchurch to be close to the mechanical engineering department at Canterbury University, where he recruited converts to his cause.
By 1998, the driven inventor, working long hours in his garage, had built the first of 12 jetpack prototypes and was confident it could lift a person off the ground.
Six years later, he attracted several million dollars in investment from a New Zealand venture capitalist firm – and his business dream of producing jetpacks was finally under way.
The news has sparked a surge of interest from rescue, military and security agencies worldwide.
The company has been speaking to the United States Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defence with a view to using and developing its airborne technology capabilities.
He added: “It will be vital for saving human lives by getting in and out of places quickly that a helicopter couldn’t do.
“Once we have launched to the first responder sector we will target areas like oil, gas and agriculture before servicing the discretionary spend and leisure market. Our first customers will be mostly government agencies looking to use them for fire, police, ambulance and disaster recovery rescues.”
Martin’s trailblazing jetpack idea has even received a big tick from his childhood hero, American astronaut Neil Armstrong.
The first man to set foot on the moon emailed him out the blue congratulating him on his invention.
