| Burt Rutan is known as the aviation god | | | | design parameter for SpaceShipOne. The birdie |
| responsible for creating all kinds of freaky planes. | | | | enabled Rutan to not only come up with a |
| He created the Voyager, the first plane to fly | | | | lightweight reentry system, but also to design the |
| around the world on a single tank of fuel, among | | | | craft as such that it dramatically simplifies the |
| many other revolutionary and record-breaking | | | | pilot's role upon reentry. The craft could basically |
| experimental aircrafts. | | | | navigate itself because of the aerodynamically |
| In the fall of 2004, Rutan and his team won the | | | | stable design. |
| Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award to the first | | | | The SpaceShipOne technology is now licensed for |
| civilian company that could launch the equivalent | | | | use in a fleet of commercial spacecraft. The |
| of three people into space twice within 14 days. | | | | technology will be utilized by Virgin Galactic, a |
| Many people believe that the propulsion or rocket | | | | company that aims to be the first space tourism |
| forces would be the biggest technological issue to | | | | company to provide sub-orbital flights to the |
| overcome, but much of that technology was | | | | public. |
| borrowed from other sources. One of the biggest | | | | The Ansari X Prize competition was designed to |
| obstacles for Rutan's SpaceShipOne flight was | | | | spur civilian spaceflight innovation, but ten million is |
| re-entry. | | | | a measly prize when you consider that NASA |
| When an object is going 20,000 to 25,000 miles | | | | does not have the capabilities to complete this |
| per hour in orbit, it will literally slam into the | | | | feat - and a NASA shuttle launch costs something |
| atmosphere upon re-entry. The vehicle hits the | | | | like a $ billion each! |
| atmosphere extremely hard and fast and slows | | | | Think about that for a moment. One of the |
| down very quickly over a short amount of time, | | | | biggest technological accomplishments of our |
| which creates a great deal of heat. Although | | | | lifetime was solved by a fifty cent badminton |
| there were proven re-entry systems that Rutan's | | | | birdie. |
| team could have utilized, the current systems | | | | Whether Burt was consciously doing it or not, he |
| were too heavy for his aircraft. | | | | was using a creative thinking tool called "Random |
| To solve this problem, Burt asked himself, "Rather | | | | Entry." This is where you take a seemingly |
| than slamming on the brakes, what would happen | | | | unrelated word or concept and study it in detail to |
| if I tapped them instead? What if I reenter over | | | | find the connections. To find the similarities. |
| a much longer period of time and make re-entry | | | | Random Entry stimulus is every where. You are |
| a slower process to give time for the heat to | | | | surrounded by it. You just have to open your |
| bleed off?" He figured that if he could accomplish | | | | eyes. |
| that goal, he could apply a much lighter thermal | | | | Some of the simplest ways to get this random |
| protection system that would not weigh down | | | | stimulus is to pick a word, picture, or object. |
| the craft. However, no such re-entry process | | | | Randomly point to a word in a book or |
| existed. | | | | newspaper. Type in a word in Google and click on |
| To solve his problem, Burt looked to the sports | | | | the images tab. Pick any picture. What does that |
| world. He thought about basketball, baseball, and | | | | image make you think of relative to new solutions |
| football, but he really hit the gold mine when he | | | | to your problem? As far as objects; Pick anything |
| considered a badminton birdie. | | | | around you. |
| When you play badminton, you hit the birdie as | | | | What can you create using existing technologies |
| hard as you can. The birdie flies up to the top of | | | | and ideas? Do you think that your creativity might |
| the net and then falls at a slow, controlled speed. | | | | one day change the world? |
| The flight pattern of the birdie gave Rutan a | | | | |