“Keep the window of the mind open to let the fresh thoughts come in like fresh air.”— Debasish Mridha
I am not the only one inspired by dragonflies. Five years ago I attended a talk by Elizabeth Turtle. The idea she was presenting was to build a dragonfly-like drone and have it fly about on Titan, one of the fascinating moons of Saturn. This idea was competing against others for the opportunity to go to Titan.
Titan is interesting! It is the second-largest moon in our solar system – it is bigger than the planet Mercury. It has a subsurface ocean of water. It even has rain, although it is a methane rain. We expect to find that Titan has the building blocks of life similar to earth.
I see why Elizabeth Turtle wants to go there.
Seeing the dragonfly on our walk, I remembered that I needed to check on the mission to Titan. And I found that the dragonfly idea won. The dragonfly will fly with the launch scheduled for 2026. Also, Elizabeth Turtle is still on the mission. There is a lot to do to prepare for a billion-mile journey to be able to sightsee around a place no one has ever been before.
We can learn so much from others, perhaps especially from those with specialties outside our sphere.
Look at the pictures of the Dragonfly Mission, and you will see some of what we can learn from dragonflies.
Consider the people expanding our knowledge of the solar system, and see the benefits of patience, persistence, and planning.
Who will you learn from today?
Yours in the calm pursuit of excellence,
Alan Willett
