How NASA Reinvented The Wheel - Shape Memory Alloys

This video was a paid collaboration with Royal Air Force Engineering

Credits:
Narrator/Director: Brian McManus

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Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, darth patron, Henning Basma, Karl Andersson, Mark Govea, Hank Green, Tony Kuchta, Jason A. Diegmueller, Chris Plays Games, William Leu, Frejden Jarrett, Vincent Mooney, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Kedar Deshpande

[Freakeasy_chicago]

Considering curiosity has gone more than 7 years past it’s predicted lifespan, I’d say they did a pretty good job on the wheels

[namenamename]

Royal Air Force? That's an interesting way to spell squarespace...

[akg_table]

3:45 jesus can you imagine having the memory of riding a dune buggy on the moon? nobody can top that

[MaxBrix]

How NASA reinvents the wheel - Goodyear invents a new tire.

[johnnybadboy]

I can’t believe you got sponsored by such a prestigious organization. Great job!

[GrayFlare]

I can't believe you just assigned homework to all your viewers xD

[nilsgensert]

2:35 "It employs a nuclear reactor for power."
Don't you mean nuclear GENERATOR? Because it's a big difference. A reactor runs on controlled fission, whereas a generator just uses the heat of natural radioactive decay.

[randomperson]

So you just got sponsored by the RAF and BAC!!
That's that's insane

[Chris.Davies]

It does NOT use a nuclear reactor to power itself. It uses an RTG - a Radio Thermal Generator, which converts the heat from a decaying 5-kilo slug of plutonium into electricity using peltier devices. It is not very fancy, has no moving parts, and is very reliable, but low power, at less than 110 watts total output.

[thedesk]

Me: How good is it?
NASA: It is wheely good.

[SirSmithThest]

My Aero class presented our senior design project at JPL last march and we got to speak with one of the mobility engineers for the Mars 2020 Rover. They told us that there were two main flaws with the old wheels: the grousers (treads), and the placement of where the hub attached to the wheel.

For the grousers, their design was to give better traction by increasing the length of the grouser, which is why it’s zig-zagged. Consequently, having those ‘zig-zags’ meant that all the stress from the rover’s mass was concentrated at the vertices of the grousers, and if the force was high enough the stress concentration would puncture the wheel frame.

For the placement of the wheel on the hub, it was mounted offset from the center (laterally, not axially), so that the wheels extended out a bit further from the rover chassis and suspension system. This was an issue, because it basically meant the exterior rim (the part of the wheel that’s furthest from the rover) wasn’t being properly supported, and the forces on it were like the forces on a cantilever beam. This causes it to bend slightly, and over time this constant bending fatigued the wheels, adding more to the damage caused by the grousers.

For the 2020 rover, they plan on using similar wheels to Curiosity but with the hub mounted in the center of the wheel, and using a sinusoidal grouser pattern rather than a zig-zag.

[johnnybadboy]

I met Dr. John Grant at the National Air and Space museum, and witnessed a teleconference where they decided where to move the Curiosity. It was an amazing experience, and this just adds to it.

[zwiuhxd]

"This material remembers it's original shape. Here's how it works: ... When it cools down, it remembers it's original shape and returns to it"

[DomyTheMad]

Honestly, out of all innovations; new Materials being developed have always amazed me the most.
It's like... Unlocked a whole new type of block for your Lego set.
So awesome!

[xanderlowe]

It's crazy how just simple everyday things on Earth are so different in space and it really just makes everything harder

[DiaUp]

I've had Nitinol glasses for years (they were FAR too expensive), I've closed them in binders, I hit them with a chair, and sat I them a million times they still look like new. These wheels are amazing. I'm actually surprised it wasn't thought if sooner. But then again I never put 2 and 2 together either. Awesome

[wiwbiz]

Man, if you ask this guy to promote a jar of jam, he'll make it so serious that you'll think you're not eating jam, but something like accomplishment of humans' imagination on reinventing the taste structure of fruits. Damn it feels so serious..

[aaron]

Awesome video! As a material scientist who works with this stuff every day, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have explained it any better.

[mikem.]

SpaceX: Joins the chat
SpaceX: Wheels?! Where we’re going, We don’t need wheels.

[dakotaraptor]

Technology is amazing, my dad always says “we are living in the future” and to that I can agree after seeing a metal that can re-mould it’s self so easily