Martin states that he has spent 27 years designing and perfecting his jetpack. It stands about five feet tall and its rotors are encased in two large ducts; a three-legged tripod holds it at rest when on the ground. A 200 horsepower gasoline engine provides power to the rotors.
“If someone says, ‘I’m not going to buy a jetpack until it’s the size of my high school backpack and has a turbine engine in it,’ that’s fine,” Martin said. “ But they’re not going to be flying a jetpack in their lifetime.”
Okay, well, I guess I'm still waiting for my Gen-u-ine Heinlein jump harness, like the one in Stranger in a Strange Land (1961).
Boone ordered "Fly up to the Sanctum office and tell the Warden on duty that I want another pilgrim's badge at the Sanctuary gate right away. The word is 'Mars.'"
"'Mars,'" the kid repeated, threw Boone a Scout salute and made a sixty-foot leap over the crowd. Jill realized why the robe looked bulky; it concealed a jump harness.
(Read more about Heinlein's jump harness)
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Gaia - Why Stop With Just The Earth?
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
Microsoft VASA-1 Creates Personal Video From A Photo
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'