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So the experiments are working really well.
The experiments that we did for BCAT allow us
to look macroscopically at changes in samples.
So if we pull way back, in a sense, we're looking
at the bulk changes in things, we look at how they begin
to evolve and separate, but we'd see things
from a distance in a sense.
The ACE experiments, instead, allow us to focus
in on the microscopic changes.
We have a functional magnifying glass,
we are able to see all the colloids in the system,
all the small particulates and how they move,
and we can correlate all those motions and those times back
to the macroscopic samples and changes that we saw previously.
And that's great!
It allows us to connect theory, it allows us
to connect all the things that we might think
on the microscopic level to the bulk changes that we see.
The reason we want to fly
on the KC-135 is just really fundamental
to the science that we're doing.
Before we start all the experiments,
the astronauts have to stir our samples.
And there's a lot of, a couple, three-, four-, five-hour delay
between when the samples are stirred and when we take data.
So two things could happen there,
one we don't really understand,
whether our samples our stirred properly,
and so this will give us insight as to whether that's done,
we give them an operating procedure to do that correctly,
and it also gives us an opportunity
to watch the samples evolve within that time window,
between then and when we could actually take data on ACE.
In all the research that I have seen to date, it just deals
with systems of a particular size of materials.
We developed a lot of good theories,
we developed some knowledge
about how they behave thermodynamically,
how they behave kinetically.
When we start making these mixtures, then the materials
that we see behave very, very differently,
somewhat unanticipated, I think very unanticipated,
and I think that's going to change not only science,
but it's also going to change the way
that we develop our industry, as well.
Understanding the science behind our products is
absolutely critical.
It leads us to new discoveries and new innovations.
We use our, this fundamental understanding,
to improve product stability, make the benefits
that we have more consumer noticeable.
We use it to compact our products,
you generate less waste, smaller bottles, less water,
less things to ship around the world.
It's that fundamental understanding
that really guides us to the critical choices on ingredients
in our products that drive those benefits.
It's a little early yet, but I would say that the products
that we're working against, the ones that we're thinking
about applying the science to, each of them are worth
about a billion dollars,
so that's a significant amount of money.
If making new products that help people or savings on products
that we have, I think that dollars are going
to be really significant.
Product design is really about designing the juice
that goes in the bottle.
It's all about designing a product that's going
to be stable on the shelf for weeks, months, or even years.
But then a product that'll spring into action
when the consumer uses it
and delivers a benefit that'll make them come back
and buy our products again.
From a company's perspective, there are a lot of competitors.
There are a lot of people trying to make better products.
I think you look at science and say that science is fundamental
to our ability to innovate new products, and to stay ahead
in the marketplace is to make better products
with innovation with that science.
It's as simple as that.