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Bringing Revolutionary Thinking to the Marketplace, then the Stars

Joe Hadzima '73, chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum Board, introduced the Atlanta global broadcast Sept. 22, then took a quick flight back to MIT to lead Enterprise Forum discussions during ALC. Photo: Justin Knight

Forget today's 300-pound bubble space suit. Think about a sleek biosuit that will protect space travelers, enable them to exercise during the six-month journey to Mars, then power walk across the planet's surface. That's the 30-year goal offered by Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate Professor Dava Newman AA '89 at the Sept. 22 MIT Enterprise Forum global broadcast that linked bold research ideas to practical applications.

Newman said the core technologies, which include a compression skin suit and electromechanical devices, can be realized in the next few years in active orthopedic devices that enable stroke victims to regain mobility. "We have designed an active orthotic device that propels a person walking," Newman said.

This connection between big ideas and entrepreneurial actions was the bottom line of the panel on "The Power of Revolutionary Thinking: What Today's Scientists Can Teach You about Driving Innovation in Your Organization," broadcast to 42 sites worldwide and via NASA-TV from the Georgia Public Broadcasting studios in Atlanta. An audience of about 1,500 included viewers at the Stata Center, hosted by the Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, plus thousands more viewing the panel either live or via rebroadcasts on NASA-TV.

Each panelist described a research idea funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), headed by Dr. Robert Cassanova. NIAC projects, he said, develop revolutionary ideas, which could be realized within 10-40 years, that are elegant, imaginative, and can lead to an expansion of knowledge.

Penelope Boston, professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, described her work on microbial life in extreme environments, astrobiology, and human life support in space.

"The microorganisms underground make their living essentially chewing their way through rock. They are master chemists, transforming materials," Boston noted. She also said the biodiversity on Earth is greater below the planet's surface than above and this biodiversity has applications in developing novel compounds that could be used in pharmaceuticals. Another potential application lies in using microorganisms that chew through, then transform, metals in bioreclamation efforts.

The space elevator project was presented by Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards, president and founder of Carbon Designs, a developer of high strength materials. "The space elevator idea first came up in 1894 as a Russian idea about how to climb up into space, but there were no appropriate materials," he said. Edwards' company has developed carbon nanotubes, a material 70 times stronger than steel, that could enable the space elevator to be built in 15 years at the cost of $10 billion.

Edwards vision of the space elevator is a ribbon three feet wide and 62,000 miles long that could haul materials from an ocean-based platform into space. This laser-power device could ultimately allow colonization of the moon and harvesting solar power, he said. Today, carbon nanotubes can be used for golf clubs and cars.

The next MIT Enterprise Forum, Inc, broadcast, which can be viewed at sites worldwide, is scheduled Oct. 19: "Lab Fab: MIT Technologies for Tomorrow's Ventures," from 6-8 p.m. EDT.