In 2004, legendary spacecraft designer Burt Rutan won the $10M Ansari X-Prize for SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded craft to enter space twice in a two-week period. He's now collaborating with Virgin Galactic to build the first rocketship for space tourism.
Why you should listen to him:
Burt Rutan is widely regarded as one of the world's most important industrial designers, and his prolific contributions to air- and spacecraft design have driven the industry forward for decades. His two companies, Rutan Aircraft Factory and Scaled Composites, have developed and flight-tested more new types of aircraft than the rest of the US industry combined. He has himself designed hundreds of aircraft, including the famous Voyager, which his brother piloted on a record-breaking nine-day nonstop flight around the world.
Rutan might also be the person to make low-cost space tourism a reality: He's one of the major players promoting entrepreneurial approaches to space exploration, and his collaboration with Virgin Galactic is the most promising of these efforts. Ever the maverick, Rutan is known for both his bold proclamations and his criticism of the aerospace industry. Witness the opening line of his presentation at TED2006: "Houston, we have a problem. We’re entering a second generation of no progress in terms of human flight in space."
"He is considered by some experts to be a national treasure, one of the few creative pioneers who has made a real difference to aerospace advancement."BBC News
Blog Posts on TED
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NASA: Back in orbit? – February 20, 2007
Worth a read: Fascinating Op/Ed piece in today's Times by Carolyn Porco on the brightening future for human space travel, which has been faltering since the Nixon era. TED2006 speaker, Burt Rutan, had a lot to say about this in his TED talk, which provocatively began: "Houston, we have a problem. We're entering a second generation of no progress in terms of human flight in space." Porco, who will speak at the opening session of TED2007, is a planetary scientist who leads the imaging team for the Cassini mission to Saturn; she'll share a selection of stunning images from the edge of our solar system.
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Burt Rutan, space cowboy, to speak at TED2006 – September 15, 2005
TEDsters: Prepare to be transported. Burt Rutan, the legendary aircraft designer, will thrill us this February in Monterey, with his plans to make space travel a reality. Rutan, who won the $10M X-Prize for SpaceShipOne -- the first private craft to reach space -- has now partnered with Virgin Galactic (an offshoot of Virgin Atlantic) and committed to taking tourists to space in 2008, with his new SpaceShipTwo.
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Psychology's final frontier: Staying sane in space – August 24, 2008
Astrobiology Magazine posts an intriguing report today: The American Psychological Association is looking seriously at the question of astronauts' mental health. It's an issue that has sometimes been swept under the rug, says the APA's press release:Historically, astronauts have been reluctant to admit to mental or behavioral health problems for fear of being grounded.
But as missions get longer and astronauts are asked to do more, psychologists are looking at ways to help them cope with loneliness and interpersonal conflicts. At Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston, psychologist James Carter (who also studies teamwork in space) and his group are building a tool to help astronauts deal with depression:
... a suite of interactive computer programs, dubbed the Virtual Space Station, using input from 13 veteran long-duration NASA astronauts who have flown on the International Space Station, Mir and Skylab. ... This interactive program will help astronauts prevent, detect, assess and manage their own psychosocial problems. They will learn how to cope with depression and how to resolve conflicts with other astronauts.
Read more about Carter's project >> Having trouble leaving a comment? (We're working on it ...) Email it to us: blog at ted dot com
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A hard week for space exploration – July 27, 2007
This has been a hard week for lovers and dreamers of space travel -- a frequent topic at TED. An explosion at Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites spaceport caused three victims. It was followed by a report on issues of personal safety at NASA, part of the unfolding story there. Space exploration is an inherent high-risk endeavor. We invite you to view several talks on TED.com that can help recapture the excitement and pure imagination that has inspired generations of people to reach for the stars: Burt Rutan's own vision, Bill Stone's audacity, and cosmologist David Deutsch, who tells us that humanity's true purpose -- the reason we exist -- is to explore and learn, to gain knowledge.
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National Design Awards – October 31, 2005
The 2005 U.S. National Design Awards were announced last week, with several of our TED friends among them. Congratulations to Burt Rutan (Product design), Stefan Sagmeister (Communication design), and Eva Zeisel (lifetime achievement). Well done!
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First look at Branson/Rutan's space terminal – September 6, 2007
Making private space travel possible and accessible to everyone has been a recurring topic at recent TED conferences, discussed by speakers such as Burt Rutan at TED 2006 (watch his speech), Peter Diamandis at TEDGLOBAL 2005, Richard Branson at TED 2007 and others. This week the first images of the central terminal and hangar facility at New Mexico's future private spaceport have been released:
Designed by engineering firm URS Corp and by architect Norman Foster, the structure, called Spaceport America, will serve as the operating basis for Branson's Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceliners, which are being built at Scaled Composites in California, founded by Rutan. Construction of the spaceport should begin in 2008.
Details in this story by Space.com.
