Another giant leap for China: First-ever manned jetpacks for commercial use ready to ship in 2016 as Martin Jetpack launches in Shenzhen
Blast from the past: Like a scene from James Bond movie Thunderball
It was too noisy for some of the 2,000 bystanders at OCT Harbour on Saturday but even they admitted the Martin Jetpack was exciting to behold as they witnessed a demonstration of the world’s first personal jetpack in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The product got its commercial launch at this former boomtown in Guangdong province with a flight over a manmade lake surrounded by a country park, malls and hotels that had its operator towering several dozen metres above ground.
Local media hailed this as yet another high-profile example of Shenzhen’s - and by extension China’s - rapidly growing technological prowess.
“It’s amazing to see a made-in-China jetpack. I’m so proud,” said local resident Wendy Liu.
The manned jetpack is backed by Kuang-Chi Science, a Hong Kong-listed but Shenzhen-based firm that specialises in emerging technology. It is owned by Liu Ruopeng, a man who has been dubbed the “Elon Musk of China” in homage to the brains behind Tesla’s electric cars and SpaceX.
However, the jetpack was created by New Zealander Glenn Martin, who conceived and developed the project in 1981. Martin Aircraft Company was set up nearly two decades later in 1998, and in 2010 the world’s first practical jetpack was named among Time magazine’s Top 50 inventions for the year.