1
00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:21,189
hi I'm bill hubscher and I'm Lori Meggs

2
00:00:24,609 --> 00:00:23,090
today I'm focus on Marshall will find

3
00:00:26,050 --> 00:00:24,619
out how floating on one of these little

4
00:00:27,970 --> 00:00:26,060
things can help us learn more about

5
00:00:29,259 --> 00:00:27,980
rendezvous and docking in space but

6
00:00:30,999 --> 00:00:29,269
first we're going to visit a lab where

7
00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:31,009
they're predicting the weather on other

8
00:00:36,070 --> 00:00:34,489
planets we're here in the terrestrial

9
00:00:38,049 --> 00:00:36,080
and planetary environments team lab

10
00:00:39,910 --> 00:00:38,059
actually we're in Barry Robert's office

11
00:00:42,069 --> 00:00:39,920
but this is your lab right yeah that's

12
00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:42,079
correct and what we do here in my team

13
00:00:45,910 --> 00:00:43,610
is we provide atmospheric data to the

14
00:00:47,979 --> 00:00:45,920
engineering community that's important

15
00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:47,989
because for aerospace vehicles to get

16
00:00:50,650 --> 00:00:49,250
space you have to fly through the

17
00:00:52,540 --> 00:00:50,660
atmosphere for instance when you're

18
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:52,550
launching from a surface of planet Earth

19
00:00:55,660 --> 00:00:53,570
you have to go through the atmosphere

20
00:00:56,799 --> 00:00:55,670
same thing when you come back from orbit

21
00:00:58,479 --> 00:00:56,809
you have to fly through the atmosphere

22
00:00:59,709 --> 00:00:58,489
if you want to land on the surface of a

23
00:01:01,630 --> 00:00:59,719
planet would come back to earth and

24
00:01:03,790 --> 00:01:01,640
that's important what we provide the

25
00:01:05,469 --> 00:01:03,800
engineers is data that simulates the

26
00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:05,479
atmosphere variations they could see

27
00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:07,160
within the atmosphere you've designed

28
00:01:10,510 --> 00:01:09,050
actually a model for this right he

29
00:01:12,340 --> 00:01:10,520
actually we have a whole family models

30
00:01:14,499 --> 00:01:12,350
we call the global reference atmospheric

31
00:01:16,510 --> 00:01:14,509
models or Graham for short and what

32
00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:16,520
those dirts provide variations or

33
00:01:20,020 --> 00:01:18,470
simulate variations you could see the

34
00:01:22,749 --> 00:01:20,030
factors such as wind speed direction

35
00:01:24,190 --> 00:01:22,759
temperature humidity and pressure as a

36
00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:24,200
matter of fact well here we have a plot

37
00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:26,330
of a density perturbations you could see

38
00:01:29,740 --> 00:01:28,250
and Earth's atmosphere well I see your

39
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:29,750
squiggly lines all right but I know it

40
00:01:33,010 --> 00:01:30,890
means something to you yeah it does look

41
00:01:34,870 --> 00:01:33,020
like a mess on there but that's very

42
00:01:36,550 --> 00:01:34,880
important to the shell engineers because

43
00:01:38,139 --> 00:01:36,560
when you're designing the vehicle or

44
00:01:40,029 --> 00:01:38,149
planning a mission to go from again

45
00:01:41,949 --> 00:01:40,039
launch or also for landing you want to

46
00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:41,959
consider variations you could see in the

47
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:43,310
density of Earth's atmosphere that's

48
00:01:46,839 --> 00:01:45,050
very important again to get from point A

49
00:01:48,219 --> 00:01:46,849
which might be your launch place to

50
00:01:49,570 --> 00:01:48,229
point B a place you want to be in orbit

51
00:01:51,010 --> 00:01:49,580
so you have to account for the

52
00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:51,020
variations you can see in the density of

53
00:01:54,219 --> 00:01:52,670
Earth's atmospheres and that's just one

54
00:01:55,540 --> 00:01:54,229
of the applications of the grand model

55
00:01:57,100 --> 00:01:55,550
yeah you're also working with a very

56
00:01:58,540 --> 00:01:57,110
important Mars mission right now yeah

57
00:01:59,740 --> 00:01:58,550
that's true as a matter of fact we just

58
00:02:02,680 --> 00:01:59,750
recently began supporting the mars

59
00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:02,690
reconnaissance orbiter mission and that

60
00:02:06,969 --> 00:02:05,300
use or Mars Graham 2005 model as a

61
00:02:08,650 --> 00:02:06,979
matter of fact here we just in the team

62
00:02:11,020 --> 00:02:08,660
is supporting them all right let's go

63
00:02:13,300 --> 00:02:11,030
see what she has going on Hillary just

64
00:02:15,130 --> 00:02:13,310
has actually been very busy lately in

65
00:02:16,150 --> 00:02:15,140
support of the exploration of Mars with

66
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:16,160
those atmospheric models who were

67
00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:17,690
talking about tell us a little bit about

68
00:02:20,619 --> 00:02:19,700
how that's working yes we're currently

69
00:02:23,050 --> 00:02:20,629
supporting the Mars Reconnaissance

70
00:02:24,940 --> 00:02:23,060
Orbiter and also known as mr oh and

71
00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:24,950
we're supporting that through the

72
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:26,930
use of the Mars Graham 2005 model

73
00:02:31,089 --> 00:02:28,730
currently mro is in a process called

74
00:02:33,910 --> 00:02:31,099
aerobraking in which the orbiter starts

75
00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:33,920
in a highly elliptical orbit and through

76
00:02:38,949 --> 00:02:35,930
a process of dipping lower in the

77
00:02:43,509 --> 00:02:38,959
atmosphere of Mars in height above the

78
00:02:46,059 --> 00:02:43,519
surface we can cause it to slow down and

79
00:02:47,979 --> 00:02:46,069
also the orbit becomes more circular in

80
00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:47,989
nature the reason why aerobraking is so

81
00:02:52,570 --> 00:02:50,090
important is it conserves propulsion

82
00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:52,580
that's on the spacecraft we want to use

83
00:02:57,640 --> 00:02:55,250
is low amount of propulsion on the

84
00:02:59,770 --> 00:02:57,650
spacecraft during this whole process as

85
00:03:02,470 --> 00:02:59,780
we can so how does your atmospheric

86
00:03:05,319 --> 00:03:02,480
model help in that process right now we

87
00:03:09,150 --> 00:03:05,329
get data every periapsis of the orbiter

88
00:03:12,339 --> 00:03:09,160
we get data and we take that data and

89
00:03:14,380 --> 00:03:12,349
run Mars gram for that position in the

90
00:03:16,350 --> 00:03:14,390
atmosphere and we take them MRO data

91
00:03:19,569 --> 00:03:16,360
compare it to the Mars gram data and

92
00:03:21,759 --> 00:03:19,579
determine if we're on track where the

93
00:03:23,259 --> 00:03:21,769
navigational team wants to be or if

94
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:23,269
we're too high or too low and then

95
00:03:26,559 --> 00:03:25,010
provide that information to them so that

96
00:03:27,789 --> 00:03:26,569
they can make a decision on whether or

97
00:03:29,740 --> 00:03:27,799
not they want to change where we're at

98
00:03:31,479 --> 00:03:29,750
in the atmosphere and this is a daily

99
00:03:33,550 --> 00:03:31,489
process weekends to your meeting with

100
00:03:35,199 --> 00:03:33,560
them every day yes seven days a week

101
00:03:38,020 --> 00:03:35,209
every day at one o'clock we're on the

102
00:03:39,879 --> 00:03:38,030
telephone now you've also done some

103
00:03:41,710 --> 00:03:39,889
atmospheric models of other bodies in

104
00:03:43,870 --> 00:03:41,720
the solar system right yes we've we've

105
00:03:46,509 --> 00:03:43,880
done models for Venus Titan and Neptune

106
00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:46,519
looking for 22 maybe exploring those