An idea that boldly goes where no one has gone before.
At Brainstore, we have a special liking for ideas that incite controversy. Whenever we see an idea that half the groups hates, we know it’s a good one. Even if that idea isn’t adapted, by simply including it in the discussion, we can often open up the group’s thinking to totally new horizons.
A recent article from the New York Times is one of those ideas. In it, the author proposes that if we want humans to travel to Mars in the near future, we should send them on a one-way trip!
While it sounds like an awful idea at first, the article points out that there are benefits to sending astronauts only one-way. It would be significantly cheaper and would move up human-travel to Mars by decades (at least). It could even be staffed by aging scientists who dreamed of going to space their entire lives, thought their chances were over and who would be thrilled to “boldly go where no one has gone before”. It would let astronauts build-up a sustainable colony on Mars where other humans could eventually live – and the technology to make the return journey could be built there for future two-way travel.
See how considering a “ludicrous” idea can actually lead to new paths of thinking? The first idea might never pan out… but by simply considering it, we end up looking at the challenge from a new angle.
