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Jetpack on the Horizon!
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Thunderbolt Aerosystems Inc. today announced the release of its Thunderpack, a personal propulsion system capable of sustaining flight for longer than ever before achieved. They also unveiled plans to develop a jet-powered Thunderjet with exponentially greater capability.
Bench tests of the Thunderpack have provided up to 75 seconds of flight time, a 300 percent increase over what other systems offer. Initial conceptual plans for the Thunderjet system promise ten-fold increases over state of the art rocket belt capabilities.
Born of Thunderbolt Aerosystems founder Carmelo “Nino” Amarena’s desire to shorten the grueling commute to his Bay Area office, the Thunderpack represents more than a decade’s worth of effort to apply modern rocket fuels and propulsion technologies to create a practical and economical personal air vehicle, a 21st Century update of the iconic hydrogen peroxide-powered prototypes of the early 1960s.
Amarena began his design work by consulting with the engineers and test pilots who had developed and flown the first rocket belts, including the system’s original test pilot, Thunderbolt Aerosystems’ current director of training, William “Bill” Suitor. Amarena learned that while more than three decades had elapsed since Bell Aerosystems had developed the first systems for the Army, there had been virtually no improvement in the 22 seconds of time aloft provided by rocket belts.
Amarena reviewed company and government technical data and designs in the public domain to quickly develop and peer-review a promising new rocket belt design. The architecture is based on an innovative dual-fuel system, a new catalyst design, specially-formulated fuel promoters and the use of novel, lightweight materials.
With a recent test flight of 37 seconds and a potential dual-fuel feature capable of flying well more than one minute, Thunderbolt Aerosystems is closer than ever to fielding a rocket belt “for the masses.”
According to Amarena, such a vehicle could be used for a host of defense, commercial and personal purposes, including support of military missions, disaster relief efforts, border patrol assignments, and even overcoming those snail-paced commutes. The company’s Thunderpack can be ordered now and delivered at a price under $100,000.
