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we're back out of the East test area for

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one of the newer facilities here at

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Marshall it's a new part of the impact

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testing facility this is the outdoor

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range we've got some very large guns

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we're joined by Andy Fincham with

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impacts testing I guess any first thing

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could you tell us a little bit about

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exactly what impact testing is well what

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we've been doing for years at impact

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testing is trying to understand how

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materials perform mainly hyper velocity

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micro meteoroids orbal to be that sort

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of thing what after return to flight and

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lost Colombian trying to get a better

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understanding of how the materials

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perform at lower velocities on the scent

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at the launch pad these allow us to go

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from a few hundred feet per second to a

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few thousand feet per second up to say

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rifle velocity and that's the first

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couple minutes of flight we got to

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characterize and better understand how

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our materials that were using on flight

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can resist impact and that's that's what

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we that's all that's all we're doing

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here supporting return to flight

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understanding launch debris use the

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larger gun same thing to understand

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characterize ice foam impacts blader

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impacts anything that can hit the

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vehicle we can shoot it and simulate an

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impact of it now the three different

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areas that involve impacts testing this

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is called the ballistic area and it's at

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an outdoor range I mean the guns

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themselves are housed indoors but

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obviously there's a target downrange

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great why is that well the idea here is

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that we are able to shoot a full-scale

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hardware if need be we can we can bring

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in a huge test panel cryogenics high

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pressure since we're out in the test

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area this whole areas consider hazards

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operations so we can set out the panel

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out there suit it if it blows up and

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nobody's hurt where we're in our own

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little area basalt protected and and

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that's ultimately the difference between

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these guns along with the velocity all

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the other guns are within a building so

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we're sort of limited with the other

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with the size of the target

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we can you know I mean you know up to up

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to full size hardware if we need to

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input an external tank out there and

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shoot it if we needed to we're not going

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to shoot at anything that large today

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but let's go ahead and fire one of these

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all right what is a fascinating they're

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not your traditional revolvers and

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rifles are there no now these instead of

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using gunpowder these use helium is the

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propellant an advantage there is is that

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we can actually dial in the pressure

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that we want to get the velocity that we

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need so let's do it all right what's

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what's is this Oregon parachute the

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small what we call the small ballistic

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gun we're currently doing return to

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flight work with this shooting a very

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small projectiles into place to

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characterize those materials on launch

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and and so we'll just do a quick shot in

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this to show you what it's all about

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what we're shooting into for this test

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is a half-inch thick steel plate that's

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instrumented with three accelerometers

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and a load cell at each of the four

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corners so that the guys that are doing

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all the computer modeling can take the

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impact data plug it into their models

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and make sure that it that the that

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their models agree with actual impact of

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okay Andy so the gun is loaded and ready

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to go it's pressurized what are we going

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to shoot what we're going to shoot is a

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sample of EA 934 it's an epoxy that's

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found all over the launch pad and we're

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doing this to simulate launch debris as

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if that might be hitting the shuttle on

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its way all right correct okay i'll let

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you go to it then i have to be out here

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right ok it's in there with these safety

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rationale standing here either I won't

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be out okay great come on up to five

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I saw Andy we just shot the gun and you

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just recover the pieces of the

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projectile right what happens is that

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we've learned all the modelers have told

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us and we've learned by test that the

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material will mount fracture below 400

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feet per second but if we see it right

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over 400 feet per second it will break

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into two big chunks and the faster we go

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the smaller the chunks are imagine

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sometimes it's hard to find those chunks

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it's very difficult I got a thousand

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square feet to look for these Chinese we

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moved indoors to building 46 12 here in

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Marshall and the original impact testing

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facility where we're joined by Mary

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whole matter is going to tell us about

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the largest and the oldest yet we have

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here in Marshall yes that's correct miss

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burns over 90 feet long and this is the

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hyper velocity to stage light gas gun

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this one was actually brought here in

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nearly 60 s and it was used for various

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testing including Space Station

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excellent well why don't walk us through

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some of different parts of it here sure

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can do that at the end down here you

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have your breach area this is your

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action end so where your powder goes you

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have a piston the white thing you see

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there and once you fire this gun and

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blows the powder which moves your piston

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and compresses your gas hits the light

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gas guns hydrogen that's in this gun

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it's compressed in this area until it

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reaches a certain PSI level and it blows

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a disc which gives us a certain velocity

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and lose your projectile much like a

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bullet has a jacket around it moves that

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down this barrel and your jacket is

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stripped away and you have just a

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project Holland free flight from here on

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out it moves down a flight to here and

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it goes all the way down till it gets to

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this area where your target will be

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sitting this is where the impact happens

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if you have very large targets we can

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put them in our very large chamber

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that's a big tank right right and all

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this is evacuated just like space all

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kind of targets to use while we have

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several if you'd like to look at them so

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this is one of the targets that you got

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shot in

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looks a little bit like styrofoam but

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it's obviously not what is this right

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this is an aluminum foam it was a

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concept that we used several years ago

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we look for things that are a good

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energy absorber and this happened to be

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a very good example of that you see

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where the projectile actually hit here

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and if you turn it over you can see

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where it did not penetrate the back

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surface never made it through it helped

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vessels are traveling seven kilometres a

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second unbelievable what about this one

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better this is also a good example and

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we use a whipple shield which means we

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have several different layers in here we

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have a first layer that's a sacrificial

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layer and then we have different layers

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or even materials depending on what what

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the customer wants and this would be an

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example of your interior wall of your

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spacecraft so if a projectile comes in

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at seven kilometers a second it breaks

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up and all these different layers or

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materials that happen to be in the

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middle absorb all that energy and didn't

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all out kind of trait the back law if

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you look in between you can see that and

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what about the big one right here the

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big one here was actually the firt one

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of the first ones that was shot many

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many years ago when Space Station

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freedom first started and you can see

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the very large hole that was made with a

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projectile even smaller than what i have

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here and how fast was traveling to make

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that size of a whole that's a usual

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right that's a very large hole that was

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going just almost seven kilometers a

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second you have to understand to this

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one had fabric and materials in front of

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it but they obviously were not a very

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good energy absorber well do we have

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these guys here to test it there exactly

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now you have another gun here that

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that's a lot shorter yes we have a small

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gun it does exactly the same thing but

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she's very small projectiles let's go

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take a look at it ok so this gun is

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essentially a smaller version of the big

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one you have here yes that's correct

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this is a very small to station light

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gas gun it simulates micrometeor debris

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and we shoot one millimeter projectiles

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and smaller

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really small one but like the size of a

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grain of salt maybe yes this one has a

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real trigger too yes it's a fun gun to

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shoot thanks for letting us into the

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indoor test ranges over here no problem

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we have one more we have a water gun if

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you want to go look at that water gun

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yes that's right okay so Mary brought us

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back out to the east test area to visit

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the third lab of the impact testing

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facility and talked to Whitney hubs when

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you're going to show us this water gun

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and that's what you call me the water

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cannon actually this is a rain impact

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testing facility I will shoot your

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sample which is infrared window into a

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single raindrop at a nun velocity and we

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determined the damage on the materials

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also your Nazi shooting water then no

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just a single raindrop ok so the

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raindrop Falls and the sample hits it

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great then you find out the effect it

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has right ok the rain post is a serious

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threat to missiles to aircraft

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components spacecraft components like

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you know we're going to create a new

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vehicle and we're going to need to test

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for that in adverse weather conditions

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so really that section is right here but

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but why the long barrel which itself

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that way that actually is just a slow

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the sample down after it's been impacted

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by the raindrop where we don't do damage

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to the sample alright do is you sure

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those are the typical kinds of guns were

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used to saying but some pretty cool

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stuff that's right and that x-ray

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facility in the electron microscope both

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a couple of great capabilities that we