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Posts Tagged ‘NASA’

Danes In Space?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen


The Danish “Tycho Brahe” Spacecraft

You’ve probably already heard or read about the Danish space project as several offline and online media worldwide has given the project massive coverage (e.g. Wired, Gizmodo, Discovery and Space.com).

But we think the project deserves a bit of our attention as well. Why? In short: it’s a fantastic project. Kristian Von Bengtson and Peter Madsen have created something truly spectacular by executing an idea that would normally include NASA and billions of dollars. Instead, they have built their very own Spacecraft and floating platform, and they are now about to launch their HEAT 1X it for the very first time. If the test launch, including a dummy, is successful, they will improve the rocket before sending Peter Madsen into space – making Denmark just the fourth country in the world to complete a manned journey into space… And in sharp contrast to the United States, the Soviet Union and China, the Danes will do it without government funding.

A few other interesting facts:

  • The rocket’s heat shield is made of cork.
  • The valves are being heated by a 15€ hairdryer.
  • Every bit of technology in the project is open source – thus free for any company or person to use.
  • Around 20 different sponsors are helping out with e.g. radar technology.
  • Peter Madsen has helped design and construct three submarines, including Nautilus – the largest homemade submarine in the world.
  • The floating launch platform will be towed into the Baltic Sea by the Nautilus submarine.
  • Von Bengtson and Madsen have been updating their progress on The Something Awful Forum
  • Cost of the project? Around 50.000 euros. Or the same price as a well-equipped mid-size car here in Denmark.
  • The Copenhagen Suborbital HQ is situated on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, only a few hundred meters in beeline from our office.

At this very moment, the Nautilus submarine, the launch platform and the HEAT 1X rocket are well on their way to the launch spot near the island of Bornholm. Follow this (Danish) blog for updates.

At Fourmation, we celebrate proactive people doing unexpected things and executing impossible projects. That’s why we pay our outmost respect to The Copenhagen Suborbital and the two Danish daredevils.

Sources: Wikipedia, Wired and Copenhagen Suborbitals

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Amateur enthusiast beats NASA with a helium balloon

Friday, June 4th, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen

What is true, radical innovation? It is hard to provide a single, unified answer to such question, but this blog post will present an example of what we believe is an excellent example of integrated thinking and innovation.

For years, NASA has been the primary force in exploring what’s above the sky. They have led countless spaceships into, well yes, space, been a leading force in the ISS Space Station, landed on the moon in 1969 and given us unseen footage and knowledge via the Hubble Telescope and satellites.

So, you would think that their near limitless budget would ensure their leading role in everything they do? Well, think again. British amateur enthusiast Robert Harrison wanted to take his own photos of space. Browsing through the Internet, Harrison found the recipe for what ended as an enormous success. With a $747 setup consisting of a helium balloon, a GPS tracking device, a small parachute and a camera programmed to sleep and reactivate every five minutes to take eight photos and record video. Dubbed “Icarus”, he launched the balloon and the camera rig – and the result is absolutely spectacular.

After posting the results on the Internet, the footage buzzed around the web, and caught the attention of mighty NASA. They phoned him up, curious to know how he had done it. Certain that he must have used an expensive (home made) rocket, they were amazed and bedazzled when they realised that it was a home made $747-camera rig that had outperformed their million dollar setups.

And the learning? NASA is a huge organisation with 17,900 highly skilled employees and a $17.7 billion budget. Still, one single amateur came up with a solution far superior to those of NASA. And why? Harrison didn’t have any managers to refer to, bureaucracy to fight or meetings to attend. He just had an idea and the curiosity to pursue it. So he did. That is a truly fascinating story about a single persons “Skunk Worked” project. And perhaps NASA should give that same “Skunk Works” model a go?

(Source: Gnews.com, Wikipedia, Robertharrison.org and Flickr)

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Posted in Innovation, Integrated Thinking, Transformation | 1 Comment »