Sunday’s Big Idea
Today's Big Idea: Crazy Ideas
The day before something is a radical breakthrough it is usually seen as a crazy idea. By the virtue of being raw and unproven, not to mention against the status quo, true innovations are seen as crazy, so their proponents must be excellent communicators if they wish for their ideas to take hold.
NASA's engineer Adam Steltzner has devised an ambitious and incredibly daring landing system for the Mars Curiosity rover which is scheduled to land in the early morning hours on Monday. One of the key features is a landing device designed to lower the rover to the surface of the Red Planet. It was initially derided as a "rover on a rope."
While the margin for error on this mission is zero, Steltzner's system might just work. Two out of every three missions to Mars end in failure. If Steltzner succeeds, he will deserve a lot of credit for bringing over 2,000 people together to take a seemingly crazy idea and make it a reality.
