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  • 16
    Dec
    2011
    1:08pm, EST

    'Jetpack' turns you into aquatic Iron Man

    YouTube / Zapata Racing

    Franky Zapata demonstrates the Flyboard, a jetpack-like contraption that hooks up to a personal water craft and lets you play in and above the water akin to a dolphin.

    By John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

    For some of us, jetpacks represent a dreamy way to fly over traffic en route to work. For those just looking for fun, look no further than the Flyboard, a contraption that lets you zip in and out of water — and soar above it — akin to Flipper after way too much caffeine.

    The device was created by French water sports racer Franky Zapata. It's essentially a board hooked up to a personal watercraft such as a Jetski via a water-sucking hose. Water shoots out through jets below the feet and hand grips to provide propulsion. 


    Promotional video of the Flyboard by Zapata Racing.

    Watch on YouTube

    In the video above, Zapata shows off the Flyboard's ability to turn humans into flipping, twisting, jumping and diving dolphins. It looks like a blast, though some skill must be required not to get tangled up in the hose. 

    It hooks up to any personal watercraft with more than 100 horsepower and costs about $6,400 (PWC not included). While there are certainly other jetpacks on the market, this one might fit a few more budgets and spike higher on the fun-o-meter.

    [Via PopSci and The Australian]

    More on jetpacks:

    • Jetpack soars a mile high
    • This jetpack can be yours for $100,000
    • Dude, where’s my flying car and jetpack
    • 7 flights of fancy that fizzled

    John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

    Where nations used to compete to get into space, now the competition focuses on private businesses, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into next-generation spaceships. Msnbc.com science editor Alan Boyle reports from inside the rocket factories on the future of spaceflight.

     

    5 comments

    A lawsuit waiting to happen.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: flight, science, video, innovation, featured, jet-ski, jetpack

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John Roach, Contributing Writer, NBC News

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. From climate change and mass extinctions to human evolution and deep space, his writing explores life on Earth and its place in the universe. He was a staff writer at the Environmental News Network for several years and has contributed to National Geographic News for more than a decade.

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