Way ahead of us, Australia is...WAY ahead!
Last edited Tue Feb 24, 2015, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)
First ever public jetpack company zooms onto Australian Stock Exchange
A New Zealand man has made millions of childhood dreams come true, after taking a massive leap in the world of personalised jetpacks.
Glenn Martin started working on the Martin Jetpack, which he calls "the world’s first practical jetpack," 34 years ago in his back shed in Dunedin, New Zealand. On Tuesday, he listed his company Martin Aircrafts on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Martin has spent his life dedicated to the cause of creating a machine that replicated the one seen in science fiction as early as the 1920s — perhaps best remembered as the device that saved James Bond in Thunderball.
The first Martin Jetpack was launched in 2008 at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It wasn't a rousing success. Glenn's son Harrison hovered at only three feet above ground level before returning to Earth.
Although the crowd seemed impressed, American media slammed the device. In a 2011 interview with New Zealand current affairs show Sunday, Glenn spoke of how the negative reaction affected him.
"You spend 28 years of your life developing something and I made no claims about it ... I just wanted to go to Oshkosh and introduce it to the aviation world," Glenn told Sunday. "And then all these people came in and started getting negative about it and it is very hurtful. [But] it just makes you more determined."
On Tuesday at 11 a.m. AEDT, that determination paid off. With newly-appointed CEO Peter Coker and an investment agreement with Hong Kong company KuangChi Science, Martin Aircraft listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The Initial Public Offering (IPO raised A$27 million ahead of the listing at an offer price of A$0.40 per share, with KuangChi Science purchasing A$21 million of the shares. Martin Aircraft said this will allow the company to "focus 100% on the commercialisation of the jetpack."
http://mashable.com/2015/02/23/jetpack-company-asx/
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