WEBVTT - NASA's Wild Aeronautics Ideas 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.080 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:14.319 Forward Thinking. Hey there we went, and welcome to Forward Thinking, 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.000 the podcast that looks at the future and says I said, doctor, 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.720 Mr m D. Can't you tell me what's ailing me? 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.240 I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm Lauren Bulkabon, and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.799 And for the second time this week, we're gonna be 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:31.479 touching on an aviation related theme. Yeah, we apparently have 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.959 airplanes on the brain. Yeah. So have you all been 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:39.200 on an airplane lately? Uh? Yeah, actually not long ago 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:42.920 in May? Yeah, for me, it was earlier this month. 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.800 Where did you fly Outer Banks? Well, technically I flew 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.360 into Norfolk, Virginia. Then we rented a car and went 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:54.640 to the Outer Banks. Nice. Yeah, sunny, sunny Fort Lauderdale. 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.000 I haven't been on a plane since last year. I'm 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.120 just wondering. Was there anything remarkable lead different in your 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.480 experience of flying as far as the actual like technology 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.640 of flight was concerned when you went on that flight 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.200 compared to the one before it. Uh nope, nope, not yeah, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.480 not for me either. I Mean the most remarkable thing 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.480 was that Delta had once again updated their safety video, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:20.959 which now includes Oh no, no, actually, I really like 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.559 I'm very fond of the kind of cheesy Delta safety videos. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.800 I'm I really like them. They started with the the 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:35.280 flight attendant who would would wag her finger, right, so 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.959 they so she kind of started it off, and then 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:40.920 they sort of took that ball and ran with it. 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.400 Sort of took an inspiration from some of the commercials 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.080 out there that have been very silly. The reason why 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:48.840 I even asked this, you know, I've gotten off in 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.360 this weird tangent, is that I wanted to talk about 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:58.720 a recent news item about the possibility that aviation could 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:04.400 see some rap bid changes in technology and and uh 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:10.080 engineering due to a project at NASA. Huh. Now, we've 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.600 talked about the possibilities in the future of aviation on 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.120 the podcast before, but yeah, today we wanted to talk 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.560 about a specific call for R and D. Yeah, yeah, Now, 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:25.640 we have talked also about NASA having some pretty you know, 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.200 far out there R and D branches already. There's of 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.040 course Eagle Works, right, which is associated with the M drive, 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.320 which we discussed in our episode. I think it was 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:39.400 probably called the M drive, or probably had the word 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:41.160 m drive in there. You can look it up. Yeah, 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.440 they're they're all about they're all about long shot propulsion 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.760 physics ideas that probably won't work, but if they do work, 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.639 it would be awesome. And and it's there specifically put 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.600 together to say, hey, you know, let's go on the 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.880 fringe for this stuff, because if it works, it's the 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.919 benefits are outstanding. And if it doesn't, well then maybe 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.120 we'll learn stuff in the process. It's kind only playing 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.320 the lottery. You're not likely to win, but if you 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:12.640 do awesome, right exactly, I assume that's the way you 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.919 were thinking of either and either way you might learn, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.480 and either way you might learn something about math in 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.600 the processes you and I hope learned something about math. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.919 So the one we're going to talk about now is 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:31.200 is a project called the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project or 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:33.920 c a S. All right, because Eagle Works is certainly 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:38.040 not the only branch of NASA that does research and development, 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.400 and it's not even the only one that does, you know, 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.400 pretty far out their ideas. NASA has several areas, several 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:50.560 several divisions or projects that are all about uh inspiring 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:57.200 and welcoming some revolutionary approaches to technology to really advance aeronautics. Yeah, 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.240 we often forget what that first A and NASA stands for. 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.280 We tend to think of NASA as the space organization, 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:07.320 and you know, space is probably cooler than airplanes, so 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.160 it's easier to remember. But yeah, they deal with aeronautics. Yeah, 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.360 so c A s that that Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.719 I just mentioned. Is itself a branch of the Transformative 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:25.120 Aeronautics Concepts Program or t A c P within NASA. Yes, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.120 so the t A c P is its purposes to 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:35.920 cultivate multidisciplinary revolutionary concepts to enable aviation transformation. That's straight 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.840 from their web page over at NASA. And in other words, 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.440 it's all about experimentation and rapid development of technologies that 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.880 could advance our aeronautics technology. Now, the t A c 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.719 P is itself a branch of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:59.080 Directorate or Armed but not Dangerous But not dangerous, I 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.240 guess you know aeronautics. I guess there's an element of 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.640 danger that comes with the territory. This director. It recognizes 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.240 the impacts that aviation has on the economy and infrastructure 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.960 of our nation and aims to develop ever more efficient 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.680 aviation technology. You know, like cheaper, better, stronger, faster, more green. 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.440 Isn't that a daft punk thing? Cheaper, better, stronger, faster, 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.200 more green thing must speak think of a different song. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:33.040 It's just a joke. Better, faster, strong, never mind, I understand. Okay, 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:37.560 I'm waiting for you to proceed. I see you're allowed, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.240 but I can't do it. So there are three programs 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.040 encompassed by the T A c P. That's a C 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.240 A S which we're talking about today, along with Transformational 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.840 Tools and Technologies or T T T, which is a 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.440 software development program and Leading Edge Arrow research for NASA, 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.520 or LEARN, which is a program that awards grants to 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.400 external universities in law for aeronautics research. We will talk 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.040 more about those later, ye, just to give a kind 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.920 of wrap up to the whole Like what is this 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.520 whole section of NASA all about? Okay, but what's the 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.719 deal with C A S. Well, they're dedicated to conducting 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.800 short duration activities to establish early stage concepts and technology 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.240 feasibility for high potential solutions. Those are not my words, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.679 those are NASA's words, that sounds like a mission statement. 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:29.480 What does that actually mean? Well, it's it's all about 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:35.000 this idea of let's let's try and invest in projects 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:41.279 that have the potential to advance aeronautics dramatically, um even 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:46.040 if we aren't completely convinced that they will succeed. Right, 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.599 it's asking, it's taking projects from within NASA, carried out 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:56.520 by NASA employees that are these weird experimental, high risk, 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.320 high reward kind of things, right, and so they the 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.600 teams at c A S. Whenever they're working on a project, 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.920 they're specifically supposed to conduct experiments, they're supposed to learn 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.160 from their failures, and supposed to be an environment where 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.080 you can take these these risks, not knowing if it's 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.160 going to succeed or fail, and there's not repercussions. If 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.000 you do fail, you're just expected to learn from those failures, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.520 and hopefully you would you would be able to learn 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.240 ways of carrying out the experiment successfully. But if it 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.160 turns out there is no way of succeeding, you're still 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.760 going to learn in the process. You're also supposed to 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.240 continue conducting those experiments and you repeat this until you 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.600 reach the end of the research cycle, which maybe two 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.080 to two and a half years, and at that point, uh, 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.800 the team's performance and work is reviewed to determine if 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.800 the solutions that were developed by the team actually address 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.320 the issue and meet the pre established goals for that project. 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.600 Whatever they might be. Now they have to be. They don't. 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.680 It's not that they have to work, just that they 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:58.800 have to work. They do. But beyond having to work, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.640 they have to be feasible ideas, so in other words, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:06.560 like real world feasible, like not like theoretically right right 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:10.120 where you're like laboratory feasible Exactly. It can't be something 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.720 where in the lab if we pour in four cities 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.520 worth of electricity into this thing, then we can get 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.520 it to float an inch off the ground. That's not 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.640 a success. Even if you achieve we open a black 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:27.000 hole inside the engine and it goes really far, Yeah, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.119 we go to a totally different place. Uh No, that 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.160 that would not. That would also not because there's a 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.720 success that would be catastrophic. So the promising solutions, the 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.840 ones that NASA feels, you know, the various people who 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.800 are reviewing these projects, the ones that they feel are 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.280 feasible and beneficial, would then be pursued by moving that 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.679 project over to a different arm of NASA or a 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.839 direct transfer of knowledge to the aviation community to say, hey, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.360 we did this experiment where we designed an air craft 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.960 wing in this way and found that it generates much 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.960 more left in this manner, We're giving that information out 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.440 to everybody so that everyone can benefit from it. That's 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:14.079 the idea behind it. So um it's also very similar 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.040 to what we've set on Forward Thinking many many times, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.720 the idea that it's all right if you pursue a 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.839 line of research and you ultimately find that it's not 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.560 viable because you learn that, you learn that it's not viable, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.120 and you maybe even learn why and can apply that 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.880 to future projects which might become feasible. Yeah, it's it's 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.520 impossible to anticipate everything that you will learn. Whenever you 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.360 are pursuing any given line of research, right, you might 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.720 learn something that is not germane to the specific goal 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.960 that you have been assigned, but could be very interesting 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.080 for other applications. So there there's real value to research, 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.760 and that's something that NASA is really promoting within the 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.960 organization itself, and it's something that we on Forward Thinking 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.400 have promoted quite a few times, so specifically we wanted 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.240 to talk about. There was an article, several articles actually, 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.400 it was reported all over the science news sphere that 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:14.880 the c A S Project was entertaining six wild aviation 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.680 ideas well. First of all, each team there were several 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:21.560 things that had a competition. It was a competition. It 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.920 was actually, uh, they were inviting people to pitch ideas 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.560 to the c A S Project. So they were like, 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.520 bring us your weirdest ideas for how to make airplanes 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.000 much better. Kind of They had a little bit more 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:36.160 of a guideline than that, but though not by a 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:39.240 whole lot. They they told each team they would have 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.800 to explain their idea and approach and uh, what they 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:44.680 were going to do. They would have to justify it 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.400 to a panel made up of NASA managers. So it 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.600 almost comes across like one of those shows like Shark 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.200 Tank where the team, you know, an entrepreneur has to 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.880 has to present their business model and try and defend 0:10:55.920 --> 0:11:00.280 it from experts who are either enchanted by it or 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.160 just you know, they're perplexed, they don't know what or 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.959 or they just aren't impressed at all. Yeah, we should 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.720 make airplanes. They doublest food drugs. Yeah, that would that 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.640 would probably uh not make it through to the next round. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:21.000 Um So the play for themselves, Yeah, I think they've 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.040 already learned that lesson from the way that airlines are 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.520 handling food. Now. Every team had to have a membership 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.160 made up of experts from multiple disciplines and have members 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.360 from more than one NASA Aeronautics Center. There are three 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.760 or four of those, as I recall, uh, And the 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.959 teams had to come up with an answer, a potential 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:39.560 answer to one of two big questions. Their their study 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.840 that they want to conduct is supposed to address one 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.320 of two big ones, the first big question, and it's 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.800 an or and either or not a they have to 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.280 answer both questions. Um So. The first one was can 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.360 we demonstrate an aviation system with maximum efficiency and minimal 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.640 environmental impact? Which can be interpreted in many different ways, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.959 and in fact, we'll see from some of the selected 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.760 projects how those interpretations were made. The second one was 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.760 demonstrate the feasibility for urgent medical transportation from the wilderness 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:16.040 of Alaska to the Mayo clinic without human interaction. That's 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.439 a very different kind of requirement, right, And and they 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.440 specifically said, like, yes, the way we framed this was 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.280 so that you would have specific parameters to work within 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:30.400 to design your approach, but the solution would be applicable 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.320 across the world and all sorts of different scenarios. They 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.840 just specifically framed it in this way, just just to 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.320 give you something to work towards. Was the idea, Not 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.480 that we're planning on having a lot of medical disasters 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.160 to Alaska that need to go to Mayo Clinic. No, sure, 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.280 it seems kind of like the Darker Robotics challenge, right. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.559 It's a it's a specific scenario, but it's designed so 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.000 that you can test what can be done and applied 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.839 to many scenarios. It's very apt. Yes, that's exactly right. So, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:02.400 out of the seventeen teams that pitched ideas, six were 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.760 selected for study. They would be the wild and or 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.560 crazy ideas we have mentioned before, and the study cycle 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:10.320 will last between two and two and a half years, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:15.240 depending upon the individual studies. And here are the six. Okay, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:20.160 the first one, Yeah, there's a problem with electric vehicles. 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:26.640 They got batteries. Batteries terrible, They're gigantic, they're big, they 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:31.280 take up a lot of space, and they they contribute weight. Yeah, aircraft, 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.960 by the way, weight not something you want to add 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.720 to an aircraft if you can help it, because then 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.400 you need more energy to keep the aircraft aloft. And 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.120 if you're using more energy, then it's not so green now, 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.640 is it. Or maybe you have decreased the amount of 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:45.920 time it can spend in the air and perhaps it's 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.200 not a practical solution. Need a bigger battery, which makes 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.560 you need to use more energy, which makes you need 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.760 a bigger battery. Which. Yeah, So we when we talked 0:13:55.760 --> 0:14:00.280 about the solar powered aircraft and how it's it's designed. Um, 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.840 the one that's slowly making its way around the world. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.120 It uh you know, that was the solar Impulse to 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.880 solar impulse to it. Their design was such that they 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.600 were trying to maximize the effectiveness of batteries while minimizing 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.840 their weight because obviously, if you're using electricity to propel 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.600 your your aircraft, um, you want to cut back on 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.560 that weight as much as you can. So how can 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.160 you do that? Well, the first one we're talking about 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.680 is the Multi Functional Structures with Energy Storage project, which 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:37.720 is pretty catchy. They're actually looking at making batteries, so 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:43.000 that the batteries themselves form the shape of the vehicle. Yeah, 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.040 they're they're they're the that's the casing. It's the actual 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:52.720 material that thee Yeah. So basically the plane is the battery. 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.640 To have all this like structural material there and then 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:01.160 put a battery in it, you just have the structure 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.960 of the plane and be a battery. Right. The walls 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.840 of the structure are our batteries. They're not. The batteries 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.920 aren't added to an already existing infrastructure. They are the infrastructure. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.160 Which is really a cool idea. It's not unique to 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.960 the aeronautics industry. In fact, the automotive industry has been 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.480 looking at this where Yeah, I've read about battery designs 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:24.800 for electric vehicles that would work this way. Yeah, they 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.400 would be incorporated in the roof of the car or 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.200 the walls of the car, so that you know, you 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.840 don't have this large space. It also adds the carrying capacity, 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.040 you know, to the vehicle where you can you can 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.960 use the space that would have been you know, filled 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.720 up with batteries to hold other stuff. Now, I remember 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.080 one problem that went along with this when I was 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.880 reading about it in cars was that it sort of 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.120 made it a problem if you have a collision, right, right, 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.440 I would I would imagine that would be a difficult 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.720 point of of when the body of the thing can 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.000 catch directly on fire. Usually the body of vehicles is 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.360 made specifically to not catch on fire, but batteries are 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.960 pretty notoriously flammable. Yeah, it's it seems like it would 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.720 also be a problem just that you would hurt the 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.280 reusability of the car and its recoverability from even the 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.400 small accident if just like damaging you know, one of 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.760 the sides of the car or something, actually damage the 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.520 power source. Yeah, you would probably have to have it replaced. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.560 It would make it. It would make the maintenance or 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:32.120 at least the repairs much more expensive potentially anyway. Uh, 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:33.800 And I'm sure those will be some of the things 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.680 that the study will have to look at too to 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.280 measure that risk versus payoff. Like, yes, it makes sense, 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.920 does it. That's part of the real world challenge, right, Yeah, 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.600 and it's an interesting question. Other teams are also looking 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:52.760 at how the batteries and motors of of these systems 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.200 can be improved. Yeah. The high voltage hybrid electric propulsion 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:59.000 system is one of number two. This is number two, 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.200 and they are looking at two different things. One is 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.840 they were looking at a way of cutting back on 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:10.400 that expense of if your power transmission system is damaged, 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:14.280 how can you how can you address that? So they're 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:18.359 looking at self healing materials their high voltage system. This 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.480 is so delightful to me. It's the kind of stuff 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.399 that that the insulation of their electrical systems would be 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.520 made of stuff if they can find such stuff that that, 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.840 upon receiving damage, would be prompted to like like like 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.840 the the damage that it receives in the form of 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:43.840 physical or electric uh punch would cause it to heal 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:48.199 over that damage. Essentially, the electricity passing through this the 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.359 chemicals that are bonded to that insulation would prompt it 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:56.359 to to expand and close those wounds. Uh. And the 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.200 cool thing about this is that it would really cut 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.600 back on maintenance costs. It would also allow the aircraft 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:07.320 to automatically address any sort of emergency situation that involved 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.280 the damage to the power system without requiring an emergency landing. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.000 It would do it all automatically and there's no like, 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.600 there's no switch to throw or anything. It's because of 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.720 the chemical It's material science, right, it's chemistry, material science 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.280 that uh that allowed this to happen. At least that's 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.640 what they're hoping to to study and and develop. Keep 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.080 in mind, these are all proposals. This is not stuff 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:35.920 that necessarily exists right now. Concept. Yeah. So the second 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.679 part of their approach is that, uh, they want to 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.280 explore ways to make the electric system practical for aircraft. 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:47.760 So they want to make electrical systems that will have 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.879 a reasonable size and weight, very similar to the battery issue, 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.120 not just batteries, but the electric motors, all the all 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.280 the infrastructure that would come with an electrical power system 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.640 in order to make it feasible, and they to explore 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.119 options in high voltage. Variable frequency drives and v f 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.400 d s are sort of control systems for engines. They 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.720 can really save energy by changing an engine speed and 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.119 torque as needed, kind of on the fly, literally on 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:18.240 the fly in this case, because airplanes. Uh sorry, anyway, 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.879 I ever apologize for a pun Embrace them? Oh No, 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.040 I don't know. I don't like embracing them. They're all sticky. 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.760 The dark side. Um vfd s are currently used in 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.880 industrial manufacturing and ships. But but there are these big, old, 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.360 clunky mechanical things controlled by big old clunky computers, and 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.639 so they're they're not as of yet practical for airplanes. 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.239 So I'm excited to see what this project winds up 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:46.040 looking at. Yeah, that that should also be interesting. And 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.840 remember all of these have the potential to revolutionize aeronautics 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.240 in some way or another, right, that's the whole reason 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:57.200 why they were selected. Number three is Mission Adaptive Digital 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.240 Composite Aerostructure Technologies, And this is one of the ones 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.000 that I'm really excited about. It's a material science one 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.040 and super cool stuff so one. This is another kind 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.520 of two parter um. They want to combine two different 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:15.200 lines of research into a new approach, and in aeronautics, 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.280 one of those is a material science in the form 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:22.160 of composite materials. And now composite materials can be incredibly 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.320 light and incredibly strong. We have talked about compositive composite 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.720 materials on this show before. Yeah. For example, if you 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:32.159 wanted to create an actually feasible flying car, one of 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:33.919 the things we've talked about is that you might be 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:39.040 able to redesign the cars structure with lightweight composite materials. 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:43.240 So that it might be edging closer to reasonability that 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.600 this could take off and land with some kind of 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.479 electric motor, right, because you're lowering the weight, but you're 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.520 not compromising the strength of the structure. Now, the second 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:54.520 line of research that they want to combine with that 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:59.280 first one is looking at materials that would be capable 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:04.480 of changing their shape to adapt to flight conditions. So 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.240 this would be like and there have been aircraft that 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:10.199 can do this where they can they have wings that 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.680 can change shape during flight in order to give um 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.000 different effects, like to increase or reduce drag. This is 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:22.280 in large part to reduce the need for things like 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.800 flaps on an aircraft, so it actually can reduce weight, 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.960 it can reduce complexity of the aircraft a fewere little 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.720 mechanical bits to get broken. Yeah, So if you could 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.359 do both, if you could create a composite material that 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:40.879 also had this shape changing adaptation technology built into it, 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:43.919 then you could have an aircraft that is able to 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.480 be very effective and much greener because it's it's lighter, 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.920 so it doesn't need um as much power to remain aloft, 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:56.639 whether that's electric or fuel or whatever. Um and it 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:59.280 has fewer parts so it doesn't have to it doesn't 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.480 need as much main's it's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, So 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:05.639 those are all of the kind of hardware studies that 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.520 are going on. The last three are more on the 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.760 software end, right. So the first one is the autonomy 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.720 operating system for u A v s. And we've seen 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.720 autonomous u a v s. They're pretty nifty, you know, 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:20.399 the ones that can follow simple instructions. A lot of 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:22.680 u a v s are under direct human control, it's 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:27.520 a remote control, but some are autonomously operated. But in 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.840 general U a v s are not great at reacting 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.720 to changing dynamic situations. I know I'm being redundant there, 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.479 but still they're not being They're not able to react 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:40.840 the way a human pilot can. Sure. Well, I mean 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:44.520 this is the reason we don't just have autonomous airplanes 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.680 pretty much, right, I Mean, we have autopilot that works 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.800 just fine, but you want a human pilot there who 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.399 can react if something goes wrong, right, right, So you know, 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.639 if you command a a U a V to travel 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:00.439 from point A to point B and has a pre 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:05.440 programmed flight path and everything is fine, then as long 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:07.800 as everything's working properly on the U A V you 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:11.600 have a reasonable expectation that's going to arrive at point B. Again, 0:23:11.720 --> 0:23:13.960 also assuming that has enough energy to get there. You know, 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:17.240 all those assumptions aside. It should get to its destination. 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.600 But if conditions change, the U A V may not 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:22.920 be able to detect it, or if it can detect 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:24.399 it, it it may not be able to react to it. 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:26.800 So something like whether yeah, sure, sure if there's a 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:30.280 thunderstorm that was unexpected in the area and the U 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:33.439 A V needs to change course, yeah, exactly, or that 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:35.840 there is what if a monkey jumps out of the 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:38.200 top of a tree right after it takes off, grabs 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:40.280 hold of the U A V and then is holding on. 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:46.080 That's could happen. What if? What if what if the 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:48.439 U A V? What if a flock of birds flies 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:50.200 in the U A V's path? I mean, there are 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:52.840