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>> About 8 or 9 years ago, our
team here was developing tires

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for future, big lunar rovers.

3
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Thinking like a lunar
Winnebago type -- type vehicle.

4
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So something that would
support a lot of load.

5
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And we realized that NASA needed
better tires to do that work,

6
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and so that's how we come

7
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up with what we now
call the spring tire.

8
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At the time, we had no
material scientist on our team,

9
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we were just using spring steel
because that's what was used

10
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in the past, and so we had
made several prototypes,

11
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they performed great in
sand, they got good traction,

12
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can carry a lot of
load, but we always came

13
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across this one problem of
where the tires would undergo

14
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plastic deformation.

15
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They would get dense when you
load them up too -- too much.

16
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We were struggling to find a
solution to fix that problem,

17
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and then probably about 4
or 5 years ago, I just...

18
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>> I just happened to be
over in the building here,

19
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where the Slope lab
is, and I was over here

20
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for a different meeting
for the work that I do

21
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in shape memory alloys, and
I ran into Colin in the hall,

22
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and I was like, what are you
doing back and why aren't you

23
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over in the impact lab?

24
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Because I knew him
as a -- as a student.

25
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He said, well, I've
graduated, and I've been working

26
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out here full-time for a while.

27
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I'm like, really,
where do you work?

28
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And he said, I work in Slope.

29
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And I said, you know, I've
been here for over 10 years,

30
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and I hear about this Slope
place, but I've never been it.

31
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And he said, well, if you
have a minute, you know,

32
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I'll take you in there.

33
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And so we came into the
lab, and as soon as I --

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we walked in, I saw the tires,
and I looked at them and I said

35
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to him, I said, aren't
you having a problem

36
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with plastic deformation
in this?

37
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And he smiled like he is
right now, and he said, yeah,

38
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and I said, I have
your solution.

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>> Yeah. I had never
even heard the term,

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shape memory alloys before,

41
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but I knew he was a
materials science engineer,

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but I had no idea he was
working on that, and so,

43
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since then we've
been collaborating

44
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on these tires using
his material expertise,

45
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especially in shape
memory alloys,

46
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to come up with this new tire
that we think is really going

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to revolutionize
planetary rover tires