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