I Was SCARED To Say This To NASA... (But I said it anyway) - Smarter Every Day 293

Destin is a PhD student at University of Alabama in Huntsville studying under Dr. Jason Cassibry. He was invited by the American Astronautical Society to speak at the 2023 von Braun Space Exploration Symposium about advancing space from LEO to lunar and beyond.

• Initially hesitant about accepting the invitation because he prefers to prepare extensively for talks • Realized the audience would be aerospace industry movers and shakers planning the mission architecture to return to the moon • Decided to provide an external perspective on the Artemis program despite warnings from colleagues that it could damage his relationship with NASA

His grandfather, Pryor Wilson Sandlin, worked at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. His father, Darryl Sandlin, worked on the James Webb Space Telescope SunShields metrology.

• Worked on Joint Strike Fighter fuel pumps at Eaton aerospace • Tested active protection systems at Redstone Test Center • Completed Defense Acquisition University training on human-rating products • Worked on Javelin missile development and testing

While taking guidance and control classes, Destin uploaded a video of his father's gift - a chicken - demonstrating the vestibular ocular reflex. The chicken's head stays stationary while its body moves due to a closed-loop control system optically coupled to its head.

Birds have difficulty tracking objects like humans do. Instead, they lock their head as a reference frame and walk underneath objects, creating the appearance of the head staying still while the body moves. This is called the vestibular ocular reflex.

The internet interpreted the video as a redneck playing with a chicken, not as a demonstration of control systems engineering. This initial misunderstanding motivated Destin to better communicate complex scientific concepts to the public.

• Created Smarter Every Day with a deliberate communication strategy • Start videos with high personality and fun content (like chickens) • Gradually increase topical complexity while decreasing personality • Ramp down before audiences get bored and scared • Focus on quality over quantity in video production

Apollo era engineers achieved six lunar landings. Artemis has achieved zero. This comparison highlights the need to put points on the board with the current Artemis program.

• Apollo used low lunar orbit (LLO) - close to the moon's surface • Artemis uses Near Rectalinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) - a very high, complex orbit taking six and a half days to return to the moon • The actual reason: the Orion spacecraft does not have enough Delta-V to reach low lunar orbit • Communication with Earth is cited as the justification, but this is not the primary driver

If an emergency occurs during descent and an astronaut needs rescue, it takes a half day to get from NRHO to low lunar orbit only if in the right phase. During the other 14% of the six-and-a-half-day orbit period, communication with Earth is not possible unless a relay satellite is deployed.

• To fuel the human lander, NASA must launch multiple rockets to tank up in low-Earth orbit • Initial estimates said six rockets; later assessments suggested eight or twelve • NASA announced at least 15 rockets would be required, with potentially more needed • This is vastly more complex than Apollo, which used one rocket to land on the moon

Two years before the planned launch, NASA and stakeholders don't have agreement on the exact number of rockets needed to execute the mission. This indicates a fundamental communication problem, not just uncertainty.

During Apollo, quarterly reports tracked every component down to pressure transducers at small subcontractors. The more complex a system is, the more communication is required to make it work.

• Engineers must be willing to communicate truth even when it conflicts with schedules • Managers may accept the risk, but engineers must not compromise on standards • A critical issue is the tendency to delete tests from test plans to save schedule • Apollo engineers were clever about designing experiments to mitigate risk while saving time

Lay out and systematize communication so every organization involved knows far more information than needed. Develop actionable targets and dates that don't depend on miracles in technological innovation.

NASA SP 287, titled 'What Made Apollo a Success,' is a comprehensive playbook written by Apollo engineers and scientists. It should be required reading for anyone leading the Artemis program.

• Encourage everyone to speak out without fear of ridicule in meetings • Build systems simply, then double up on components so if one fails, another takes over • Use hypergolic propellants that ignite on contact - they always work • Don't take steps that are too small (no real progress) or too large (too much risk)

The Apollo ascent stage had redundancy after redundancy after redundancy, including manual fallback procedures like using bolt cutters to separate the ascent and descent stages if all automated systems failed.

• Five percent of tested components failed: 1.5% due to design and 3.5% due to workmanship • Testing was the key to finding issues before flight • Crew training is paramount - the Lunar Lander Test Vehicle was essential for training astronauts in 1/6-G landing conditions • Astronauts won't go to the moon without adequate free-flight trainer experience

A welding shop colleague built a bicycle with reversed steering - when you turn the handlebar left, the bike goes right. This simple one-variable change reveals how deeply ingrained our thinking patterns are.

• It took Destin eight months to learn to ride the backward bike with five minutes of daily practice • His son learned in two weeks, demonstrating that children have greater neuroplasticity than adults • The brain creates neural pathways, but without attention, easily reverts to familiar patterns • Any small distraction causes the brain to default to the old control algorithm

When traveling in Amsterdam, Destin couldn't ride a normal bicycle after learning the backward bike. This represents the difficulty of shifting from current Artemis architecture thinking back to simpler Apollo-style approaches.

The metaphor illustrates that people in aerospace may have become locked into one way of thinking about how to execute missions. Training for the unexpected and mental flexibility are essential, as Apollo engineers demonstrated by having procedures for over 80% of the things that happened on orbit.

• Look at the mission differently • Keep it simple - as simple as possible while accomplishing the mission • In a world of talkers, be a thinker and a doer • Be willing to ask hard questions and make hard decisions in meetings

Don't get fixated on technology demonstrations just because something is new and sexy. Focus on the actual mission. Don't compromise on standards, even when facing schedule pressure.

Destin hopes this video ages poorly and he ends up looking like he cried wolf. He emphasizes the importance of speaking truth even when it's uncomfortable, acknowledging he saw things others saw but weren't saying.

Thanks to the American Astronautical Society for the invitation. Appreciation for viewers who support Smarter Every Day on Patreon, which frees him from algorithm pressure and allows authentic content creation.