Yep.

To infinity and beyond - Fusion Man makes historic Channel flight.

Read the full story here:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE48P4A320080926?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&sp=true

I remember the movie because the art deco of the poster extended to the sets, Timothy Dalton (the current, at that time, James Bond) was the villain, and the hero was so gosh-darn good.  I really enjoyed the whole triumphant feel of the movie--the lack of cynicism.  This wasn't The Dark Knight.  It was just far enough removed from Superman movies with their movie-brand idealism and perky people but not deep in the reverse-cycle we're on now with the Watchman coming soon.

Lastly, we come to Iron Man, the jetpack story with political commentary.  I mean, we're in a political age.  So that's cool.  But there's less innocent joy and more revenge, more concentration on this as a weapon of mass destruction as hero.  The villain is not a Dalton-esque individual, but a war, a people, even greed.  Iron Man is fighting conceptions.  The Rocketeer had his Nazis, an ideological flashpoint for heroes forged in the thirties and forties.  They were also a people, in a war, bent on world domination.  Funny thing now is-- the people, the war, the greed -- it's US we're fighting -- both U.S. and us...

So, remember as you take up your Jet pack:

]]> http://jstueart.wordpress.com/?p=250 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:35:59 +0000 jstueart http://jstueart.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/jet-man-flies-over-english-channel/ Well, all those people whining about not having their jetpack yet, start writing those letters to Santa. Looks like a nifty pack--and I can see some nice competitions coming out of this if these are ever mass produced. Imagine a big city like Vancouver with folks flying across the city. Okay, that's in the future, but at least it's imaginable now...

Yves Rossy Crosses the English Channel

Yves Rossy the Swiss Rocket Man crosses the English Channel in 10 minutes with a homemade jetpack!

Swiss daredevil Master Chief Yves Rossy today became the first person to cross the English Channel using only a jet-propelled wing trapped to his back.

After two previous attempts were postponed because of bad weather everything went to plan for Rossy's 9 minutes and 32 second flight. He was helped on his way by a tailwind that cut his flight time by around two and a half minutes compared with his calculations before the attempt.

As he crossed the White Cliffs of Dover just after 1.05pm Rossy even had enough fuel left in the four kerosene-burning turbines powering his self-designed, homemade device for some celebratory aerobatics to entertain the crowds gathered below.

He then deployed his parachute and drifted gently downwards, waving his legs excitedly. Rossy's ungainly face-in-the-dirt landing contrasted with the elegance of his high-altitude flight through the crystal blue autumn sky.

Full Story

Awesome. (I may or may not have made a slight alteration to the quoted copy above.) And yes...I am looking for the video which I will post if I find it... In the mean time - here's video of him flying around the Swiss Alps:

And another sweet one (no english necessary to enhance the bodaciousness):

Video of the actual crossing here.

Ok - official assessment of the jet-pack:

WANT!!!!

Who is this smiling Swiss slaphead, you may be asking yourself, and why is he today's great thing?

42.  Jetpacks, that's why!  (Yves Rossy is his name)

Yves Rossy, a former Swiss Air Force pilot is what you'd call an aeronautics enthusiast.  He currently flies an Airbus but has flown fighter jets and is an avid hanglider, paraglider, and parachuter who practices aerobatics.

In the past, people have strapped all kinds of shit to themselves in feeble attempts at catching some air.  Some comical ones are available on youtube!  Not all of them are miserable failures.  Some of them even achieved liftoff and short flights There's Russian guy who's done well with rocket boots (also available on youtube).   Not bad if you can get it.

The pack-on-back design actually has been done and it'll take you places fairly quickly for a very short while.  But, it's hardly perfect.  It's upward thrust is fantastic but forward momentum and control aren't the best.  You're vertical, instead of being horizontal, y'see.

But, with wings that unfold like a transformer, this design puts you horizontal for flight.  Like Superman!  Yves' design is the first to put the wings on...though I think I can probably tell where he got his inspiration for the project...

Anyway, this is all awesome news.  Apparently, the contraption costs only $285,000.  Aren't there cars that are that much money?  Putting it like that makes it sound like it's almost affordable.  The only hitch is that you have to be dropped from an airplane to use it.  But, they're working on it.  Sounds to me like you need a combo backpack/jetboots/wings, Yves.  Yeah...definitely try that.  According to my calculations, it should work.

Until then, this contraption is pretty genius.  After he drops out of a plane, the wings unfold, like a fricking Transformer, and the rocket boosters on his wings propel him forward.  He steers by using his body and hand throttles and lands with the aid of a parachute.  It sounds just like driving an automatic car!

Yves wears a heat resistant suit to keep from burning up, though he says the cold air at that altitude cools him down significantly.  So, basically, he wears the suit for a bit of flash...

Apparently, the military has tried to purchase the design plans from him, but Yves, ever the neutral Swiss, has refused.  He only wants his completely bitchin' rocket pack to be used for good.  So, rest easy.  He's an Autobot and not a Decepticon.   Yes, only for good...like crossing the English Channel, which, after he flew over the Swiss Alps in 2006, is his next endurance test.  It's going to be streamed live on the National Geographic Channel.  If it doesn't happen on Friday, it's due over the weekend.  Basically, he's waiting for some fog to lift.  Here's his website for updates.  Blazingly Awesome Jet Pack Guy

Rossy, who calls himself Fusionman, needs to start work on making other super-powers a reality.  Sure, he's almost got flight perfected but how is he going to thwart evil with that?  He can get to the scene of the crime fast, with the aid of an airplane and a parachute, but what's he do when he gets there?  He needs something else now, like super strength or laser vision.  Otherwise, the only way that this benefits humanity is by putting Ryanair out of business.  Being Swiss, he might not be thinking strategically.  I mean, those guys never fight anybody, right?  But, he really should look into putting some web-shooters or something onto that thing...maybe batarangs...don't know if he's a Marvel guy or a DC guy.

Anyway, I bet you're wondering what this thing looks like in action.  This has, I believe, clips from a couple of different flights.

Flipping sweet!  I was saving up all of my pound coins for a Playstation 3 but now...I'm thinking jetpack.  Only 284,900 more dollars to go!

The homies at [fresherthan] (MaePants & Mes) have released their brand new spankin' [fresherthan] sticker that is out NOW! Make sure you go over to www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a pack of 10 stickers for 5 bucks, and trust me, they are well worth it! Tell 'em Grafwurks sent ya, they may throw in a few more stickers!

Our homie Mes the JiveTurkey & Dj Fishr Pryce have teamed up to make a new mixtape with some new & old Mes the JiveTurkey material, that is out now as well. So make sure you hit up www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a copy for 5 bucks as well, so go spend your money at [fresherthan].

The homies at [fresherthan] (MaePants & Mes) have released their brand new spankin' [fresherthan] sticker that is out NOW! Make sure you go over to www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a pack of 10 stickers for 5 bucks, and trust me, they are well worth it! Tell 'em Grafwurks sent ya, they may throw in a few more stickers!

Our homie Mes the JiveTurkey & Dj Fishr Pryce have teamed up to make a new mixtape with some new & old Mes the JiveTurkey material, that is out now as well. So make sure you hit up www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a copy for 5 bucks as well, so go spend your money at [fresherthan].

The main appeal of Warhawk has always been its flight combat, but Sony is almost ready to release an expansion that will add all new flight mechanics. It's time for you to meet the Icarus Mk. 1 Rocket Pack, otherwise know as a jetpack. Warhawk's Game Director, Dylan Jobe, has been teasing fans with a jetpack announcement, but it was not revealed until this week at the Leipzig Games Convention.

Controlling the Icarus Mk. 1 Rocket Pack will be similar to controlling the games past vehicles. First, you press SQUARE to grab a jetpack off of the Daedalus Rapid Assembly Device (D-RAD), a new machine that builds jetpacks one at a time. Once you have acquired your prize, hold R2 to thrust, double-tap R2 and use the directional stick to boost-dodge, and hold L2 to stay at your current height. Once you have the controls down you'll be traversing maps and racking up kills much faster.

Along with the Icarus and D-RAD, a new level has been included in this catastrophic expansion. Tau Crater is "a smoky, forested island that features lots of vertical elements to give players tons of cools places to use the jetpack." What could be better than a new map specifically designed to make use of your new equipment? There are ten layouts for Tau Crater including Mission Critical, West Coast, Tug of War, and more. In addition, thirty bonus layouts have been added to the game's original maps, implementing this new mechanic into old levels.

They say the best things in life are always free, but sometimes they are wrong. If you want to experience this package you'll have to shell out $7.99, or $15.99 for the Booster Combo Pack which contains all three Warhawk expansions. Operation: Fallen Star will be available for download on August 28. Finally, be sure not to miss the free v1.5 update that releases tomorrow, August 27. 

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Via Official Playstation Blog

A New Expansion for WarHawk coming 3 days from now? Wow and I thought this game was just going to have regular small updates with some map packs here and there. Well to my surprise there have been two amazing booster packs already released for this game. But at this years Game Convention Sony and Incognito announce a new booster pack, Operation: Fallen Star. Click the read more link for full details on this amazing booster pack for WarHawk.

You will notice that this new booster pack includes a new device to use in-game, the new Icarus Mk. 1 Rocket pack. This rocket pack will allow you to sore through the air and shoot at your enemies from the air, which is most definitely a new addition to WarHawk. It will even let you use it as an ejector seat if you have the Rocket pack equipped already while in an aircraft. You will even be able to carry the flag while on your jetpack. You would think you were a sitting duck if you happen to get a missile lock-on but the developers have included a Boost-dodge feature that is similar to the afterburner feature for the aircrafts that allows you to try and dodge missiles. There will only be one missile that you can be used to lock onto jetpacks, the troop missile launcher.

To pick up a Icarus Mk. 1 Rocket pack you will have to go to a Daedalus Rapid Assembly Device (D-RAD), which serves as a rocket pack vending machine. The developers have strategically placed D-RADs around the map that cannot be moved and are not destructible to protect from teams being dominated. Also to protect from abuse of the jetpack there is an assembly delay to keep people from producing a jetpack every second. 

Operation: Fallen Star will even include a new level too, called Tau Crater. Tau Crater is a smoky forest that has been destroyed due to a crash landing from a huge space ship. Oh and on this new map you can fly up to any possible landing spots you find on the ship wreckage. Want to hang out and snipe in a tree? Well yea the new booster pack now allows gamers to land on the branches of any tree (the ones big enough for you to land on that is) in this new map. They have also created 10 new layouts for Tau Crater and even made new layouts for the original game too! They note that there will be 30 new layouts that add the jetpack to WarHawk's Original content.

This amazing booster pack will be available on August 26th worldwide for $7.99 in the Playstation Store. Incognito worked with Sony to even get a bundle pack that includes all three of the expansions for only $15.99.

Also there will be a new free update released that will include trophies, and also two new game modes: Hero and Collection. This free update will be released on August 27th!

This ignites a burning desire inside to download the new booster pack and play WarHawk once again. How about you? Does this make you want to play WarHawk? Or if you used to play WarHawk is this making you want to come back?

The homies at [fresherthan] (MaePants & Mes) have released their brand new spankin' [fresherthan] sticker that is out NOW! Make sure you go over to www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a pack of 10 stickers for 5 bucks, and trust me, they are well worth it! Tell 'em Grafwurks sent ya, they may throw in a few more stickers!

Our homie Mes the JiveTurkey & Dj Fishr Pryce have teamed up to make a new mixtape with some new & old Mes the JiveTurkey material, that is out now as well. So make sure you hit up www.fresherthan.com and get yourself a copy for 5 bucks as well, so go spend your money at [fresherthan].

Some of the trophies that Warhawk will get in version 1.5 (will be released August 27) are apparently jetpack related.

The full list of trophies was revealed this week and some of them require you to do some actions with a jetpack.

Sounds very interesting... Let's just hope it will keep the balance in the game...

É fato que muitos filmes de Sci-Fi (ou ainda hits de ação) tenham uma certa tara por um Jet Pack, aquele propulsor que você "amarra" nas costas e em 1 minuto já te leva pelos ares com velocidade de 300km/h.

Podemos encontrar esse tipo de transporte do futuro em vários filmes de ação (como o clássico filme do 007 de 1965: Thunderball, aqui com o nome de no Brasil como 007 contra a Chantagem Atômica), e em exaustão em filmes futuristas como Fahreinheit 451, Minority Report e diversos outros.

Mas e na realidade?

Bem, atualmente o Jetpack (apesar de parecer muito simples na teoria) está longe de levantar vôos cinemátográficos.

O Jetpack mais avançado atualmente, pelo menos comercialmente, é do empresário neozelandês Glenn Martin.

Como tudo tem seu preço, se você quiser voar por 30 minutos no Jetpack mais seguro até então, você só precisará pagar a bagatela de 100 mil dolares. O seu Jetpack nada mais é do que ventiladores de 200 cavalos de potência movidos a gasolina. Segundo ele ainda até o ano que vem ele já estará a venda para o consumidor "médio" americano. Para mim, isso sim é ficção da boa.

Jetskis never really appealed to me, but this does.

And he's a Kiwi.

A reported 40 minutes of flying time before you run out of gas.  Is this the new way to get to work?  I think the edge has been hit. 

For $100,000.00 it's not a bad deal, either.

After a long wait and few trial runs last year, the Jetpack has finally arrived on the scene. It was tested for the US army yesterday and successful it was!

Check the video here YouTube - Jet-Pack man!!!

The jetpack is actually a machine that can allow you (yes you as an individual) to fly in the air. It takes off vertically and is said to let you fly horizontally at approximately 50miles per hour (good 80kmph! whoa) The first glimpse of Jetpack was shown in the movie Spiderman II.

With the initial excitement dying down, I don't know if this is really safe. It is designed to carry about 3 gallons of fuel and will run for approximately an hour in that. If they are planning to use it as the army infantry, I'm not sure thats a good idea. The question is, do we really need such gadgets? I mean of course I would love to fly, but not until its absolutely safe.

Your take!

The Martin JetPak: A $100,000 Nerdy Flying Machine

On Tuesday, New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin displayed at a Wisconsin air show what he describes as the ultimate personal flying machine, the world's first practical jetpack. Modern-day attempts to build jetpacks have evolved from the 1940's and 50s comic book marvels and early television-series heroes, such as Buck Rogers, Rocketman, Commander Cody, Captain Video, and Tom Corbett (Space Cadet). Since the 1960s, science geeks have built a number of real jetpack designs from metal, plastic and propellant, but none has been able to fly for more than a minute.

But Mr. Martin's jetpak is said to be able to run for 30 minutes. The contraption doesn't look much like the classic jetpacks of science fiction. It stands five feet tall, rests on three legs and its rotors look a bit like cupcakes. Mr. Martin has somehow been able to make the future look pretty nerdy. It is also not, to put it bluntly, a jet. Mr. Martin acknowledges that a gasoline-powered engine runs the Martin JetPack, not really jets as we know them today. He explains that the gas-powered engine creates a jet of air. According to Martin, most important thing is that it flies.

And just how well does this very, very noisy dream machine fly? Well so far, the ultimate personal flying machine that is priced at $100,000 hasn't flown any higher than six feet. That's about $17,000 a foot.

[wpvideo nh2NwCvz w=460]

A Preview: The Ultimate Personal Flying Machine

[wpvideo 87Yx8daN w=460]

Wisconsin Air Show: The Premier of The Martin JetPak

Technorati: art, culture, cultural, humor, funny, comedy, entertainment, Glenn Martin, JetPak, Martin JetPak, multimedia, New Zealand, news, photographs, photography, science, society, technology, video, world, world news, jet, flying, flight, science fiction, Wisconsin

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