[dramatic percussion music]
- HEY, AND WELCOME TO "NASA LAUNCHPAD."
I'M YOUR HOST, CALEB KINCHLOW.
BIGGER, BETTER, AND SLOWER:
THIS IS WHAT NASA'S AIMING FOR WITH ITS NEW
HYPERSONIC INFLATABLE AERODYNAMIC DECELERATOR PROJECT,
KNOWN AS HIAD.
BASICALLY, A HIAD IS AN INFLATABLE HEAT SHIELD
WHICH COULD ALLOW SPACECRAFT TO SAFELY ENTER INTO
AND DESCEND THROUGH AN ATMOSPHERE.
IT'S BIGGER BECAUSE IT'S INFLATABLE,
SO IT CAN GET PACKED INTO A SMALLER SPACE
AND ULTIMATELY INFLATE TO A MUCH LARGER SIZE,
AND THAT MEANS A HIAD CAN CARRY A MUCH LARGER PAYLOAD.
AND IT'S SLOWER BECAUSE THE LARGER THE HEAT SHIELD,
THE MORE FRICTION IT CREATES TO SLOW THE VEHICLE DOWN
AT A FASTER RATE, EVEN IN A THINNER ATMOSPHERE.
BUT BETTER?
IT'S BETTER BECAUSE THIS TECHNOLOGY
COULD TAKE US TO PLACES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
THAT WE'VE ONLY EVER DREAMED OF.
HIAD MAY ACTUALLY CHANGE THE WAY THAT WE EXPLORE OTHER WORLDS.
WOULDN'T IT BE COOL
TO GET AN UP-CLOSE AND PERSONAL LOOK
AT THE METHANE LAKES ON TITAN'S SURFACE?
HOW AWESOME WOULD IT BE TO STUDY BRAND-NEW PARTS OF MARS,
PARTS WHERE WATER MAY HAVE ACTUALLY FLOWED,
OR ONE DAY SEND HUMANS TO THE RED PLANET?
SO WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET US THERE?
WELL, NASA ENGINEERS ARE DEVELOPING
THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS
TO PROTECT THE INFLATABLE AND ITS PAYLOAD
FROM THE INTENSE HEAT CREATED BY ENTRY.
AND THOSE ENGINEERS HAVE BEEN WORKING ON INFLATABLE STRUCTURES
THAT USE THEIR UNIQUE SHAPE AND SIZE
TO CREATE A LARGER SURFACE AREA,
ALLOWING THE HEAT TO DISTRIBUTE OVER THE ENTIRE SURFACE,
LOWERING THE TEMPERATURE WHILE SLOWING IT DOWN.
SOUNDS LIKE THEY'VE GOT IT ALL UNDER CONTROL.
WELL, NOT QUITE.
THE HIAD VEHICLE ISN'T READY TO FLY A MISSION TO MARS
OR ANYWHERE ELSE JUST YET.
IT'S STILL IN THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PHASE.
RESEARCHERS AND ENGINEERS HAVE BEEN BUSY
PERFORMING TESTS AND ANALYSIS ON MULTIPLE FRONTS FOR HIAD.
ONCE ALL THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS AND SUBSYSTEMS
PASS THEIR TESTS,
THE TECHNOLOGY IS READY FOR THE NEXT STEP:
SUB-ORBITAL FLIGHT TESTS.
SO WHAT GOOD IS ALL THIS TESTING?
WHAT'S THE END GOAL?
- SO ONE OF THE END GOALS OF A HIAD
WOULD BE TO BE USED ON A FUTURE RECOVERY
OR SCIENCE OR EXPLORATION MISSION
THAT MAY BE ROBOTIC, THAT MAY BE CREWED.
THAT'S A POSSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE.
BUT BEFORE WE CAN GET THERE, WE HAVE TO DO A LOT OF TESTING
BEFORE THIS TECHNOLOGY IS READY TO BE USED
ON ANY ONE OF THOSE MISSIONS.
GROUND TESTING AND FLIGHT TESTING
ARE IMPORTANT FOR US AS ENGINEERS
TO UNDERSTAND THE INS AND OUTS OF EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SYSTEM,
ALL THE MATERIALS, ALL THE COMPONENTS.
WELL, RIGHT NOW, SOME OF THE SOUNDING ROCKET TESTS
ARE AT THE THREE-METER DIAMETER,
AND WE HAVE SOME WIND TUNNEL TESTS
THAT ARE AT SIX-METER AND EIGHT-METER DIAMETER
FOR THE HIADs.
SO WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT DESIGN SOLUTIONS,
WE'RE ALSO THINKING ABOUT LONG-TERM,
AND LONG-TERM, WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE EVEN LARGER-SCALE HIADs.
- SO THE ENGINEERS WORKED THEIR DESIGNS ON PAPER,
THEN BUILT SMALL VERSIONS THAT COULD BE TESTED.
SUBSEQUENT TESTS INVOLVED LARGER HIAD,
UNTIL THE ENGINEERS HAD THE DATA THEY NEED
TO BUILD A HIAD PERFECT FOR A SPECIFIC TASK.
BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN NO ONE'S THOUGHT
ABOUT A FULLY DEVELOPED HIAD AND HOW IT MIGHT PERFORM
OR JUST WHAT A FULL-SIZED HIAD MIGHT ALLOW US TO DO.
- IN THE FUTURE, WE'D LIKE TO HAVE HIADs
THAT GO LARGER SCALE, IN THE 25-METER-DIAMETER RANGE.
SO RIGHT NOW, WE'RE WORKING ON A CONCEPT CALLED H.E.A.R.T.,
THE HIGH ENERGY ATMOSPHERIC REENTRY TEST.
SO IN ORDER TO MEET THAT GOAL, THERE'S A NUMBER OF THINGS
THAT THE HIAD TEAM IS WORKING ON.
ONE OF THEM IS THE FLEXIBLE THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM
AND THE MATERIALS THAT ARE USED FOR IT.
ANOTHER ONE IS THE MATERIALS USED ON THE INFLATABLE STRUCTURE
AND HOW THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS CAN BE IMPROVED.
AND ALONG WITH THE BOTH OF THOSE
IS THE INSTRUMENTATION THAT GOES ON THEM
SO THAT WE CAN COLLECT
PERFORMANCE AND SURVIVABILITY DATA IN FLIGHT.
AND THEN ALSO,
WITH A LOT OF OTHER ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES,
THERE'S ALREADY STANDARDS AND CODES IN PLACE
TO HELP US ANALYZE AND PREDICT WHAT WE'RE GONNA SEE IN FLIGHT,
AND SINCE THIS IS A NEW TECHNOLOGY,
WE'RE HAVING TO LOOK AT DIFFERENT WAYS AND METHODS
FOR HOW TO BE MORE EFFICIENT ABOUT THAT
AND HOW TO ACCURATELY PREDICT.
SO ALL THE GROUND TESTING AND THE FLIGHT TESTING
COMBINED TOGETHER
IS WHAT HELPS US ULTIMATELY HOPEFULLY GET TO THAT GOAL
OF A LARGER-SCALE HIAD IN THE FUTURE.
- THE RESEARCH THAT ENGINEERS ARE DOING TODAY
LEADS US TO THE TECHNOLOGY OF TOMORROW.
AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF TOMORROW CAN HELP US ANSWER QUESTIONS
SCIENTISTS HAVE ABOUT OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
SO WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES THIS NEW HIAD TECHNOLOGY
COULD EVENTUALLY TAKE US?
- HIADs OPEN THE POSSIBILITIES TO GO EXPLORE
ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT PLACES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
SO THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS MOVING VERY FAST,
AND A LOT OF LOCATIONS OR DESTINATIONS HAVE ATMOSPHERES
THAT HIADs WOULD ALLOW US TO SLOW DOWN AND ACTUALLY STOP
AND TAKE A LOOK AND EXPLORE THOSE PLACES
AND LEARN FROM THE SCIENCE THAT'S THERE
TO HELP US BETTER UNDERSTAND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
AND ULTIMATELY HELP US UNDERSTAND OUR EARTH HERE TOO.
BUT DON'T FORGET THE COMPONENT
ABOUT BEING ABLE TO RETURN TO EARTH.
THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS THERE.
WE COULD EITHER BRING BACK RESOURCES
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
OR MAYBE RESOURCES FROM OBJECTS ORBITING NEAR THE EARTH,
SUCH AS ASTEROIDS,
OR POSSIBLY EVEN RECOVERY OF SYSTEMS
THAT ARE USED ON LAUNCHES,
SO BOOSTER RECOVERY, FOR EXAMPLE.
THERE'S PROBABLY OTHER CAPABILITIES
THAT WE HAVEN'T EVEN THOUGHT OF YET,
SO, YOU KNOW, KEEP AN OPEN MIND
ABOUT THE DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES
OF WHERE A HIAD COULD BE USED.
- SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY DRIVES ENGINEERING,
AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED BY ENGINEERS
RESULT IN NEW SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS
JUST WAITING TO BE ANSWERED.
AND WITH NASA ENGINEERS WORKING ON HIAD,
WE MAY GET THE ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS
AT HYPERSONIC SPEED.
THAT'S IT FOR NOW.
I'M CALEB.
CATCH YOU NEXT TIME ON "NASA LAUNCHPAD."