WEBVTT

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Dragonfly is a rotorcraft mission
to to one of Saturn's moons Titan

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We're really curious in
understanding how life

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evolved on Earth. 
how we came to be

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and we see Titan as sort of a precursor

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to what it takes for life to form

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Titan has an atmosphere

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that's why the rotorcraft is a good
option for the Dragonfly program

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by doing these hops and flying
to these different regions

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we can get a broader sense
of the make up of Titan

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It's an octocopter

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So it's got eight propellers. rotors

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that power it

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The rotors are one of the most
important parts of the craft

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Without the rotors. it doesn't fly

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Then we can't get the
information that we need

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Dragonfly is going to be slamming
into the upper atmosphere of Titan

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And immediately the rotors are going
to have to work the first time

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There's no room for error here

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so any concerns with structural dynamics
or aero rotor performance

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would need to be known now

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We are machining eight rotors
for the wind tunnel test

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All the fixturing had to be custom made

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we're removing so much
material. we're going from

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350 pounds down to 
six and a half pounds

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We didn't have extra material
or the time to make an extra

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so everything had to be
perfect. every time

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Why the blade looks the way it does.

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that was actually an overlap of where
we're very efficient on Titan.

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and where we can find
venues on Earth to test it

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As a rotor engineer.
the wind tunnel testing

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is one of the most important venues
for us to prove out the design

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The Transonic Dynamics Tunnel
is the nation's flutter tunnel

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We do structural. dynamic. 
and flutter testing of aircraft

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At transonic. supersonic conditions

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We can pump the tunnel
down to low pressures.

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but then also fill it with a heavy gas

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we could control the density
of the test medium

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and therefore simulate
precisely the conditions on Titan

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On this particular test. the focus 
is primarily aero mechanics

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All of that the data will be combined
to create very high fidelity

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representations of loads.
forces. dynamics

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we can use that to predict the performance
on Titan with a high degree of confidence

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We're going to be acquiring. gigabytes
of data. that will help determine

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the structural capabilities of the rotor
blades. of the arms and of the vehicle

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You have to understand
all of these boundaries 

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in order to ensure a safe
flight for that project

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that's going to take humanity
all the way to Titan

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This was a very successful test campaign

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without the ability to
get to NASA Langley

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we couldn't accomplish this
incredibly ambitious mission

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using some of those resources is
what's going to get us to the finish line

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and to Kennedy. ready for launch

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It is so. kind of. out there
 in terms of a concept

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You know. we're going to launch a 2.000 pound
vehicle to go fly around another moon

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It’s just kind of beyond the realm
of what most people think about

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It’s science fiction

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We got a huge crew of very
brilliant and intelligent people

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there isn't too much
that we can't overcome

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With us all working together

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the sky's the limit