1 00:00:08,250 --> 00:00:04,170 Music 2 00:00:08,270 --> 00:00:12,290 Silence 3 00:00:12,310 --> 00:00:16,320 Music 4 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:20,360 All objects emit infrared radiation, 5 00:00:20,380 --> 00:00:24,460 and the characteristics of the infrared radiation 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,480 are primarily dependent on the temperature of the object. 7 00:00:28,500 --> 00:00:32,510 One of the unique features of QWIP technology is the ability 8 00:00:32,530 --> 00:00:36,540 to what we call "band gap engineer." 9 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,630 And that is we can spectrally tune to the QWIP 10 00:00:40,650 --> 00:00:44,660 detector to respond to certain wavelengths. One of the steps in 11 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,670 developing a flight instrument, there's really a sequence of steps you 12 00:00:48,690 --> 00:00:52,700 have to go through. Obviously, you are going to develop it and test in the lab. 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,760 But then, the next step is to really take it to the field and test it. 14 00:00:56,780 --> 00:01:00,820 And the step after that is to try and get it 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,850 into an airplane and test it there. I mean, these are all small 16 00:01:04,870 --> 00:01:08,880 steps that are necessary to qualify it 17 00:01:08,900 --> 00:01:12,920 to be launch worthy. This process can really take many years! 18 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:16,960 We look for applications, and many of them are science 19 00:01:16,980 --> 00:01:20,980 applications where our cameras can be tested on the ground. 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,020 One such application is we've collaborated with the U.S. Geological 21 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,070 Survey. They have great interest in trying to find caves on 22 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:33,090 Mars and one of the features we think that a cave 23 00:01:33,110 --> 00:01:37,120 might exhibit is the cave entrance, the opening. 24 00:01:37,140 --> 00:01:41,160 We expect, since it is sort of tied to very deep in the ground, 25 00:01:41,180 --> 00:01:45,210 to have sort of a stable temperature and by 26 00:01:45,230 --> 00:01:49,310 doing that, we can watch the thermal contrast 27 00:01:49,330 --> 00:01:53,330 of the cave change relative to the environment from day time 28 00:01:53,350 --> 00:01:57,340 to night times. So, we've sort of verified that this would be a 29 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,380 good technique perhaps, to find life. So, we have to 30 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,410 figure out how to locate caves, before we send probes 31 00:02:05,430 --> 00:02:09,510 to look for life and this is an application. 32 00:02:09,530 --> 00:02:13,550 In order to convince people that that technology 33 00:02:13,570 --> 00:02:17,620 was mature enough for a space flight mission. 34 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:21,700 We convinced them by showing them our ONE MILLION-pixel array 35 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,790 and then they felt confident that the three hundred thousand- 36 00:02:25,810 --> 00:02:29,890 pixel array, you know, was a pretty low risk endeavor. 37 00:02:29,910 --> 00:02:33,950 So this latest development for the 38 00:02:33,970 --> 00:02:38,030 Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the instrument 39 00:02:38,050 --> 00:02:42,110 is called TIRS - the Thermal Infrared Sensor. We are interested 40 00:02:42,130 --> 00:02:46,140 in wavelengths that are between ten and thirteen microns. 41 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,180 So, you know, my hope is that someday 42 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,220 this will find it's way into an environment where 43 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,250 it will be useful medically, 44 00:02:58,270 --> 00:03:02,270 to look for thermal pollution in rivers, 45 00:03:02,290 --> 00:03:06,290 monitoring food spoilage, residual hot spots 46 00:03:06,310 --> 00:03:10,330 after forest fires, pollution, 47 00:03:10,350 --> 00:03:14,360 um, obviously looking at volcanoes. 48 00:03:14,380 --> 00:03:18,400 Development over the years that we have been doing, ultimately led 49 00:03:18,420 --> 00:03:22,440 to the validation of this technology for a 50 00:03:22,460 --> 00:03:26,480 NASA space flight mission. That's a very hard thing to do!