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At some point, everyone dreams of flying, to physically elevate themselves above their

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environment.

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The flight was a dream of mine when I was a kid, and this is what I do today.

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Hi, I'm John Harrington, NASA crew member of shuttle mission STS-113, and I'm also a

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member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.

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Every culture and every civilization throughout recorded history has a mythology involving

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human flight.

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One of the best-known legends of human flight is the Greek story of Icarus, who tried to

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escape from an island prison by using wings made of wax and feathers.

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Icarus flew too close to the sun, and the wax melted, and he fell into the sea.

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Ancient Chinese records speak of human attempts to sail through the air by attaching themselves

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to kites.

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In today's pop culture, flight is common among comic book superheroes, and numerous Native

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American cultures celebrate flight in their traditional dances.

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But it was only about 100 years ago that the problems of powered flight were overcome and

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human beings finally took to the sky.

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In this episode of NASA Connect, host Jennifer Pulley will take you on a journey to find

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out how mankind first learned to fly.

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You'll discover some secrets to the Wright Brothers' success 100 years ago.

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In your classroom, you'll build your own flying machines and evaluate their performance.

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You'll also learn how NASA engineers are developing new morphing technologies for the

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next century of flight.

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And you'll explore the web to follow in the footsteps of the Wrights with some cool interactive

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activities.

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All in this episode of NASA Connect.

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Hi, I'm Jennifer Pulley, and welcome to NASA Connect, the show that connects you to math,

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science, technology, and NASA.

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I'm here at the Wright Brothers' National Memorial on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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This is where Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first airplane 100 years ago.

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I've read that there are many inventors besides the Wright Brothers trying to invent the airplane.

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Oh, yeah, it's true.

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Many famous inventors, including Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, machine gun inventor

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Hiram Maxson, and Samuel Langley, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, had all attempted

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to build flying machines.

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My teacher said that the Wright Brothers didn't have high school diplomas and didn't have a

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lot of money to work with.

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Is that true?

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They were both good students in school, and Wilbur completed all the courses he needed

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to in order to graduate high school.

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He just never picked up his degree.

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Both Wilbur and Orville loved to read outside the classroom.

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And you're right, they really didn't have a lot of money to work with.

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But the Wright Brothers figured out how to conduct their experiments without spending

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a lot of money.

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They were able to support all their experiments through their day jobs, their small bicycle

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shop.

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So how come it was the Wright Brothers who invented the airplane?

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You know, that's a good question.

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Why was it that these two little-known bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, succeeded, where

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so many other famous and successful inventors had failed?

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Well, to help find the answer to that question, we spoke with Dr. Tom Crouch, senior curator

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of the Division of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum.

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Dr. Crouch, what was the Wright Brothers' secret to success?

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Jennifer, they were brilliant, intuitive engineers.

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In order to invent the airplane, they had to come up with a process of invention, a

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way to solve really difficult technical problems.

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Today we call it the engineering method.

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The first thing that the Wright Brothers did correctly was to define the problem.

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The Wright Brothers studied the experiments of other inventors and quickly realized that

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many of them were missing the true problem.

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The Wright Brothers saw that the true problem would be maintaining balance and control in

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their machine.

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Many other experimenters were convinced that an airplane could only be successful if it

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relied on some method of automatic stability.

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They thought it would be impossible for a pilot to react quickly enough to all of the

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changes that might happen to an airplane in flight.

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They thought that it would be like balancing on the head of a pin, which is impossible

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to do.

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The Wright Brothers saw things differently.

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They were bicycle builders and bicycle riders, and they drew on that experience when they

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thought about controlling an airplane.

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Imagine that you're trying to describe how you ride a bicycle to a Martian or to someone

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who's never seen one.

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You might talk about riding downhill on a tiny seat perched atop two very narrow spinning

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tires, in addition to which you have these pedals you're going to have to work and a

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handlebar to steer with, and you're going to have to coordinate all of that at the same

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time.

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You know, I can see how the person you were talking to would think they'd have to be the

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world's greatest acrobat to ride something like that.

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That's right, but the Wright Brothers knew that you internalized the business of riding

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a bicycle, and they also knew that the same thing would happen with an airplane.

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You would learn to fly an airplane and do it automatically.

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So the Wright Brothers then correctly defined the problem.

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Yes, they knew that control was the problem.

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So the Wright Brothers observed the movements of the soaring birds to see if they could

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figure out how they controlled themselves in the air.

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They thought they detected subtle ways that soaring birds altered their wings to maintain

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balance, but the Wrights were stumped as to how they could duplicate the organic movements

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of a bird's wing in a very mechanical flying machine.

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Which brings us to the next step in the engineering method, proposed solutions.

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Tom, what solutions did the Wright Brothers propose?

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They really struggled with how they could control the geometry of their wing to control

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the motion of the flying machine, until one day, Wilbur was in the bicycle shop and a

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customer came in and asked for a bicycle tube for his tire, and Wilbur took it out in a

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box just like this one, and he was fiddling with the box, standing there talking, and

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it suddenly occurred to him that the answer to their problem was right in his hand.

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Wilbur noticed that if he put the thumb and forefinger of one hand on these two diagonal

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corners and the thumb and forefinger of the other hand on the opposite diagonal corners,

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that he could squeeze the box back and forth.

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He noticed that the box twisted.

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In his mind, Wilbur pictured the top and bottom of the box as the wings of a biplane.

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With a simple system of cables, he could draw the corners together, turning one set of wingtips

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up in the wind and the other set of wingtips down.

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He realized in this way he could control the shape of his wings and would be able to roll

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his aircraft in the sky.

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Okay, so now the Wright brothers have a proposed solution, warp their biplane wings.

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Using the engineering method, the next step would be to evaluate their solution using

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tests and prototypes.

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In other words, the Wright brothers needed to put their wing warping theory to the test.

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That's right, Jennifer.

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They didn't begin by building a powered flying machine.

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They had to start by building and testing prototypes.

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And they started with this small biplane kite.

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Watch how this prototype flies.

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Notice when you pull on the opposite strings, the kite rolls to the left and right.

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The wing twisting concept Wilbur proposed from the inner tube box actually worked in

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his prototype kite.

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So from the success of their kite, the Wright brothers built the first powered airplane.

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Now first, they built a series of three gliders over three years.

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And what they learned helped them to build the world's first powered airplane.

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Okay, that leads us to the final step in the engineering method, select and refine

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the best solution.

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And in order to learn how the Wright brothers refined and improved their flying machines,

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we're here at the Wright Experience Laboratory in Virginia.

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We're talking with Ken High.

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He's the founder of the Wright Experience.

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Now Ken, tell me, how did the Wright brothers improve upon their flying machine designs?

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Well, with each new design and each new flight test, they did small refinements and small

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changes to their design.

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There may have been many problems at any given stage of the flying machine's development,

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but the Wrights only changed one thing at a time.

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They were never confused about which change was causing which result.

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Can that make sense?

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I mean, that way they could select the changes that worked and then continue to refine their

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design.

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That's right.

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And Jennifer, this is the result of all their hard work.

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This is a flying reproduction of the Wright brothers' 1902 glider.

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Ken, this is quite different from their original kite, isn't it?

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Not really.

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It uses the same principle of wing warping and wing twisting that they used in the original

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kite.

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But what was so important and so radically different about this glider from their early

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designs was that the 1902 glider was the first aircraft ever that solved the problem of controlling

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an airplane in all three axes, pitch, roll, and roll.

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Okay, Jennifer, this is a control for the elevator, which controls the pitch, which

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is the up and down movement of the aircraft.

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Control roll, I can shift the hip cradle back and forth.

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Watch how the wings twist.

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That would change the roll position of the aircraft during flight.

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But also wired into the hip cradle is a control for yaw.

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Watch how the tail moves at the same time as the wings are warping.

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Ken, this is so cool, but can you really fly this?

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Absolutely.

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We have a 1902 simulator that you can fly.

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Come on.

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All right.

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I'll show you.

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Jennifer, this is our 1902 glider simulator, and it was developed from the wind tunnel

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test that we did on this machine.

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Bill Haddon is our expert on this, and he is a good instructor.

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He's going to check you out in this and tell you about the machine.

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Great.

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Nice to meet you, Bill.

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Hi, Jennifer.

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Tell me about the simulator.

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This was based on the wind tunnel numbers generated by taking our full-scale glider

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and putting it in the Langley Full-Scale Tunnel in Hampton, Virginia, operated by Old

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Dominion University.

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And the results of the wind tunnel test were incorporated in a flight simulator by Burrell

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Applied Research.

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That's their business, making flight simulators.

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So when you fly the simulator, you're flying actual wind tunnel data results.

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So that's a lot of fun.

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Would you like to try it?

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I thought you'd never ask.

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I'd love to try it.

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Okay.

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Okay, Jennifer, on the left, you see your airspeed in knots.

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That's 21 knots, 22.

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That's perfect right there.

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Airspeed control is critical.

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If you get too slow, it'll stall, and too fast, it can dive into the ground.

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It's just elevator control and hip cradle.

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When you move the hip cradle, you're warping the wings to control roll, and you're also

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getting rudder movement with it.

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Well, it took some practice, and it wasn't real comfortable, but I think I got the hip

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thing and the elevator thing going.

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I was finally able to make a glide that lasted about 63 seconds.

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Thank you so much, Bill.

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You're welcome.

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Well, how was it, Jennifer?

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Oh, Ken, it was incredible.

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It was incredible.

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I'll tell you, it was a little uncomfortable, and it was kind of difficult to maneuver,

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but I can really relate to how the Wright brothers must have felt.

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They had a lot of stamina in order to be able to do this.

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They sure did.

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And this 1902 glider, all of their innovations are in this machine, is what they were striving

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for.

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In 1903, the Wrights were ready to add an engine and propellers.

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The Wright brothers' breakthrough in propeller design came when they realized that a propeller

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was merely a wing in rotation in a helical pattern, creating lift in the forward direction.

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Once they saw the propeller in this way, they were able to use their wind tunnel data about

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lift and drag to design an efficient propeller.

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Jennifer, we also have a simulator of the 1903 Kitty Hawk flyer.

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Would you like to fly this machine?

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Of course I would, Ken.

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Now, while I take flight on the 1903 flight simulator, why don't you check out how to

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build your own flying machine and test its performance?

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Hi, we're sitting at the Duncey Indian Day School here at the Turtle Mountain Reservation

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in North Dakota.

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Yay!

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In ancient America, our ancestors dreamt of flight, and we celebrate this dream through

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our dancers and stories, because American Indians have always been fascinated by the

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flight of the powerful eagle and the graceful butterfly.

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NASA Connect asked Duncey Indian Day School to show you this program's hands-on activity.

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You can download a lesson guide and a list of materials from the NASA Connect website.

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Here are the main objectives.

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Students will predict the effect of kite sail area on kite flight, measure the base and

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height of a kite, use reflections to create kites, calculate area of a trapezoid, calculate

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aspect ratio, understand how early flight was influenced by kites.

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The span of a kite is the widest distance from side to side.

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Aspect ratio is the ratio of the square of the span to the area of the kite.

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Drag is a force that pushes against an object and slows it down.

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Angle is the aerodynamic force that holds an airplane in the air.

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Good morning class.

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Today NASA has asked us to investigate the size of kite sails to determine how area and

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aspect ratio influence flight efficiency.

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Three kites will be built using different measurements as outlined in the lesson guide.

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First, hold the long end of a piece of 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper and fold it in half.

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Starting at the fold, measure 3.5 centimeters along the top of the paper and mark point A.

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Now measure 9 centimeters along the bottom of the paper, measuring from the fold.

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Mark point B. Draw a line segment AB.

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Reflect line segment AB across the whole line.

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Call the reflection of point A, A prime, and the reflection of point B, B prime.

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Draw line segment A prime B prime.

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Fold back along line segments AB and line A prime B prime, forming the kite shape.

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Place a piece of tape firmly where line segment AB and A prime B prime meet.

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Place a skewer stick along the span of the kite and tape down firmly along the entire

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length of the skewer stick.

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Cut off any excess.

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Tape a kite tail to the bottom of the kite sail where point B meets point B prime.

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Starting at the top of the flap, which is labeled point F, measure 7 centimeters down

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along the flap and 1 centimeter in from the fold.

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Mark and label point E, then punch a hole at point E.

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All measurements will be recorded onto the worksheet.

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You will calculate and record the kite sail area using the given formula.

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Area equals one-half the height times the sum of B sub 1 and B sub 2, where H is the

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height and B sub 1 and B sub 2 are the bases.

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Remember to multiply the value by 2 to calculate the sail area.

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You will also calculate and record the aspect ratio using the formula AR equals S squared

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divided by A, where S is the kite span and A is the kite sail area.

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Tie one end of the string to the hole and wind the other end onto a cardboard string

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winder.

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For the other two kites, repeat the same steps, adjusting the given values for point A and

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point B found in the educator's guide.

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Remember your reflection.

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Once you have completed your calculations, it is time to proceed to the outdoor test

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flight.

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Teams, are you ready?

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Let's let them fly!

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Yay!

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Perform two trials for each kite, rotating student roles until all three kites have completed

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their two trials.

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There are two questions that we need to answer.

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How did the surface of the kite affect its flight and was this effect significant?

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Roger?

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The smaller kite didn't have enough space here, surface area.

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This flew just right, had enough surface area.

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This did too much acrobatic.

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What other factors could be changed to investigate the effect on kite flight?

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Josh?

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Weather, wind, tail, surface area and weight.

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When you complete this activity, discuss what improvements you would make to your design.

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A helpful tool is the interactive kite modeler from NASA Glenn Research Center.

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On this website, you can study the physics and math which describe the flight of a kite.

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You can choose from several types of kites and change the shape, size and materials to

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produce your own design.

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By selecting the field button, the kite flies with the control line running from you to

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the kite.

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Depending upon your choice, different variables are shown.

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The values of these variables are shown on the output panel.

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The kite modeler tells you if your design is stable or not and also computes a prediction

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of how high your kite will fly.

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Teachers, if you would like help to perform the preceding kite building lesson, simply

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enlist the help of an AIAA mentor who will be glad to assist your class in these activities.

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AIAA stands for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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Wow Ken, this simulator for the 1903 flyer is so different from the simulator for the

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1902 flyer.

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It really is.

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Oh, thank you so much.

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Thank you.

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Okay, let's review.

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So far we've learned how civilizations throughout history have dreamt of flight.

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We've seen how the engineering method can be used for solving complex problems and making

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dreams a reality.

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And you've applied a bit of the engineering method yourself by building kites and evaluating

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their performance.

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So what does all this have to do with NASA today?

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Well, Anna McGowan at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia has a scoop.

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How can biology be helpful in designing aircraft?

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What is the relationship between pressure and force?

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Why are the computer simulations important to the aircraft design process?

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Wright Brothers discovered ways to sustain controlled flight.

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Today at NASA, the challenge is to research ways to make flight safer and more efficient.

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One piece of research NASA is doing is called the Morphing Project.

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The Morphing Project is part of the next generation of breakthrough vehicle technologies.

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It's about designing the airplane of tomorrow and changing the world again in the process.

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Just like the Wright Brothers' invention changed the world they lived in.

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We got the word morphing from the word metamorphosis.

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The word morph means to change, and we're using a lot of advanced materials and technologies

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to research how to make airplanes change from one configuration to the other.

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That's what engineers and scientists in NASA's Morphing Project are trying to do, transform

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the future of flight.

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How are you transforming the future of flight?

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That's a great question.

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The Wright Brothers were inspired by watching birds soar, and they designed their airplanes

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with wings that could manipulate the wind.

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The Wrights didn't use flaps on their machines like airplanes have today.

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In the Morphing Project, we were working on making airplanes as versatile as a bird is.

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So we're taking some lessons learned from nature, just like the Wright Brothers did.

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We're researching and testing many advanced technologies.

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One area is called smart materials.

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We call these materials smart materials because unlike traditional materials, these materials

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actually move when you apply a stimulus like voltage or heat.

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They're similar to muscle tissue in this way, so instead of using complicated mechanical

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gears to move or control parts of future airplanes, NASA is looking at using these smart materials

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as future control devices on airplanes.

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Another advanced technology that we're studying is called adaptive structures.

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In studying the structures for future flight, we're actually looking at technologies that

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can change the shape of parts of the wing during flight.

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Why do you want to change the shape of the wings during flight?

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Well, all wings must be able to adapt to different flight conditions.

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Birds do this by gently bending and twisting their wings while they fly.

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In today's airplanes, we're using flaps and slats to adjust the wings to different flight

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conditions.

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In the future, we're hoping to enable wings to gently change shape in many different ways,

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similar to birds.

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This is one example of an adaptive structure that we're working on.

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This wing changes shape for different flight conditions.

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It's designed very different than today's airplane wings.

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Today's airplane wings are typically hollow to hold fuel, and they're also very stiff.

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This adaptive wing instead has a center spine to carry most of the aerodynamic load and

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movable ribs to change shape during flight.

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We designed airplane wings using the principle of pressure.

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The following algebraic equation should help you understand this principle.

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Pressure is defined as the force divided by the area over which the force acts.

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The force in this case is the aerodynamic load.

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Have you ever popped a balloon with a nail?

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It's pretty easy to pop a balloon with one nail because the force applied to the balloon

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is acting over a very small area, only the head of the nail.

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This means very large pressure.

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Now, if you try to pop the same balloon with a bed of nails applying the same amount of

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force, you notice the balloon is very difficult to pop.

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Why is that?

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Because the area of the bed of nails is much larger than the area of the single nail.

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We refer back to the equation for pressure to keep the same force applied but increase

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the area, pressure actually becomes much lower.

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With this adaptive wing, we want to make sure the force or the aerodynamic load is distributed

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evenly across the wing, preventing the wing from breaking.

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We actually call this adaptive wing here the fishbone wing because it resembles the spine

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and ribs of a fish.

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To understand and design the fishbone wing, the engineers here at NASA use advanced computer

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simulations.

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These computer simulations help us understand the mechanics of the fishbone wing and tell

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us how the wing will perform in real life.

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We're even looking at new ways to control the airflow over the wings of future airplanes.

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The study of airflow is called aerodynamics and today's airplanes use large flaps to control

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aerodynamics.

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For future airplanes, we're developing technologies that use very small devices to control the

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airflow on airplanes.

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We call this micro flow control.

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For example, tiny fluctuating jets that create a small plume of air on the surface of the

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wing can be used to make the flow smoother and less turbulent and this reduces drag.

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By reducing drag, we can save on fuel costs and also reduce the amount of pollution coming

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from the airplane engines.

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Here's an example of one of these jets.

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This device would suck in air and blow out air very rapidly to control the airflow over

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the wing.

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Now, several of these devices would be placed in a wing to control the airflow over an entire

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wing.

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Even this example is similar to how a bird flies.

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In addition to twisting and bending their wings in flight, birds also rely on their

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feathers to adjust the airflow over their wings.

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Finally, we're applying the principle of biomimetics in the morphing project.

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Biomimetics is the abstraction of good design from nature.

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In other words, you look at how nature works for maximum achievement at minimal effort.

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Today, we're even examining the shape of fish fins because, in a way, fish are flying through

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the water.

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Here are several examples of different fish fins that we're studying.

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We actually work with marine biologists to understand how the fish swim and how they're

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really efficient flyers.

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We also study seagulls.

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Seagulls can swim really well, and their unique wing shape is one of the many reasons they

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fly so efficiently.

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Here is an example of a wing that we would actually design for wind tunnel testing.

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We call this the hyper-elliptical cambered span because of the really unique shape and

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because we use ellipses to design this wing.

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In the morphing project, we take lessons learned not only from biology, but we also use a lot

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of advanced technologies, new math, new approaches, and new science to really make future airplanes

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even safer than they are today.

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We also want to make them more capable and able to fly in new and different ways.

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We also want to make them more efficient to help with pollution and also reduce the cost

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of flying.

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NASA's morphing project is looking to the future and trying to transform the future

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of flight.

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Thanks, Anna.

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Now it's time for a cue card review.

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How can biology be helpful in designing aircraft?

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What is the relationship between pressure and force?

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Why are computer simulations important in the aircraft design process?

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If you're watching this on videotape, you'll want to pause the tape to discuss these questions.

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Okay, did you get all that?

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So far, we've seen how the Wright Brothers began powered flight for humans, and we've

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seen how NASA is working to apply some of the early principles of flight that the Wright

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Brothers perfected.

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You know, aeronautics sure has seen a lot of changes in the last 100 years.

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Let's visit Dan Giroux at his web domain.

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Hi, and welcome to my domain.

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The U.S. Centennial Flight Commission was created by the U.S. Congress to serve as a

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national and international source of information about activities to commemorate the centennial

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of the first powered flight.

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On this site, you can learn about America's plans for celebrating the 100th anniversary

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of the first Wright Brother flight.

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Check out the Sites and Sounds section, where you'll see pictures and download movies.

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There are hot links to cool websites about aeronautics and astronautics.

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This site is a repository for many things related to the Wrights.

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For educators, there are several links to activities that encourage educators and students

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to explore the Wright Brothers flight experiments and to research, plan, and participate in

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your own centennial of flight activities and events.

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There are also cool downloads for posters featuring famous firsts and spectacular images

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from aviation history to present day.

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And now, back to you, Jennifer.

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Well, that wraps up another episode of NASA Connect.

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We'd like to thank everyone who helped make this program possible.

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Got a comment, question, or suggestion?

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00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:20,120
Email them to connect at lark dot nasa dot gov.

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00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:26,120
Or pick up a pen and mail them to NASA Connect, NASA's Center for Distance Learning,

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00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:31,120
NASA Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 400, Hampton, Virginia, 23681.

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Teachers, if you would like a videotape of this program and the accompanying lesson guide,

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check out the NASA Connect website.

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So until next time, stay connected to math, science, technology, and NASA.

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See you then.

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Music

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Captioning funded by the NAC Foundation of America.