without thought

Who threw that!?

I found this story on the BBC site this morning and have tracked it on quite a few other media sites. Whilst the rest of the world are thinking of grand gestures such as planting flags in planets or at the bottom of the ocean, the Japanese are considering the future of space travel and its relation to paper airplanes. Professor Shinichi Suzuki is hoping that astronaut Koichi Wakata will launch a series of specially designed paper airplanes from the international space station later on this year. It is thought that the airplanes will be resistant to heat. Further clues as to the rational behind this experiment can be found on the Time’s site which quotes Suzuki as saying

“The technology from paper planes could be applied in the development of new transport craft.”

So whilst everybody else is thinking how to hurdle obstacles, the Japanese silently limbo underneath them; causing the rest of us to raise an eyebrow along the way. Needless to say that this is very much ‘Without Thought’ and I’m hoping I’m one of the lucky few who chances across one of these galactic voyagers after they have re-alighted on tera firma.

Further footage of the experiment can be found here at the BBC site. As Chris Hogg reports from inside the lab.