WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:04.100
Betsy Congdon Lead Engineer for Parker Solar Probe's heat shield. Curtis Wilkerson - Engineer

2
00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:08.110
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is exploring the Sun.

3
00:00:08.130 --> 00:00:12.220
Engineers show us the strength of the spacecraft's protective shield.

4
00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.260
Betsy: Here we have a

5
00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:20.290
piece of the heat shield for Parker Solar Probe

6
00:00:20.310 --> 00:00:24.320
which is a sandwich panel, made of carbon

7
00:00:24.340 --> 00:00:28.410
that is like the graphic epoxy you might find in your golf clubs or your tennis rackets

8
00:00:28.430 --> 00:00:32.450
some carbon foam, and then another piece of carbon-carbon on the back.

9
00:00:32.470 --> 00:00:36.450
It's very light weight, as you can see. And here I've got a blowtorch

10
00:00:36.470 --> 00:00:40.640
and I'm gonna use it to get the front surface of this glowing hot.

11
00:00:40.660 --> 00:00:44.700
And then we will have a nice demonstrator come in and touch the back with his hands.

12
00:00:44.720 --> 00:00:48.730
Let's get this started.

13
00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:52.760
30 seconds later

14
00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:56.800
Betsy: You can start seeing it glowing red. The real heat shield gets up

15
00:00:56.820 --> 00:01:00.850
to about 2500 degrees Fahrenheit which we're not going to do today.

16
00:01:00.870 --> 00:01:04.880
But we are going to get it to a couple of hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

17
00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:08.910
It's glowing pretty good now. Curtis, why don't you touch the back surface of that?

18
00:01:08.930 --> 00:01:12.960
What does it feel like?

19
00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:16.990
Curtis: Pretty cool

20
00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:21.020
Betsy: "Nice and cool," he says. Which is just how we like it. Keeping the spacecraft cool.

21
00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:25.020
music

22
00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:29.090
tone

23
00:01:29.110 --> 00:01:33.130
beeping

24
00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:35.475
beeping