[jet engine revving up]
[sonic boom]
[thunder/rain/jet flyover]
[music]
[coyote yipping]
[elephant door opening]
>> Robert Rivera: Engineering is something I've always wanted
to do.
I originally started off looking towards computer engineering
but then eventually transitioned to aerospace.
What drew me to aerospace is the fact that we're not limited
to just mechanical engineering or just electrical engineering.
We handle everything that has to do with airplanes.
[Global Hawk taking off]
[music]
>> I'm Robert Rivera and I'm the Lead Operations Engineer
on Global Hawk.
NASA's Global Hawks are set up primarily
for doing airborne research.
All the sensors that are normally on the airplane
for the military mission have been removed, so we
fly just the payloads that are required to do the mission.
>>...Support, NASA 872...I need to set up a left hand over here
for a few minutes just to collect some data.
>>Copy that, thanks.
>> Robert Rivera: One advantage of doing this air based research
that we do is we can get to parts of the world
where we can't put up ground base systems.
A lot of our research happens out over the Atlantic
or over the Pacific, looking at the atmosphere,
looking at the different types of chemicals
up in the tropopause, what kind of pollutants we're seeing...
we can spend 14 hours over storm and watch it transition
from a tropical storm to a hurricane.
It also allows us to go fly satellite tracks and be able
to calibrate the weather satellites
that are flying overhead so we can verify
that they're giving us correct amount of information.
So then we can better improve the models of how we forecast
the weather of the world.
[music]
>> There are conflicting requirements on this campaign.
And we're just going to have to let the forecasters duke it out
and workout with--
>> An operations engineer is essentially the aircraft manager
here.
We're responsible for the configuration of the airplane,
the air worthiness of the aircraft and making sure
that all the maintenance is accomplished
in a reasonable manner within the schedule that's given to us.
We're not specializing to a particular discipline.
We're allowed to basically cross disciplines and work
where we need to, to do the job.
>> We'll come down and out of the way with this.
>> Robert Rivera: What I've been doing
on the Global Hawk is integrating payloads
onto the airplane.
I'm basically given a payload.
Here's the mounting points,
here's where we're putting it on the airplane, and
then I have to figure out how to put it on the airplane.
Then cut the work orders to have the shops build the parts
and then get the technicians
to install the parts on the airplane.
[music]
We have two primary payloads that we put on this airplane.
The first type is an in-situ instrument.
The second type are called remote sensing instruments.
The CAST program we're currently involved in is two instruments.
One is a cloud particle measurement instrument
that actually takes in cloud particles
and through lasers looks at the shape
of the particles in the clouds.
The other one is a remote sensing instrument.
It actually looks at the sun glint off of the water and
breaks down what's in the air column that it's looking through
what kind of chemicals are there, the methane levels,
the carbon dioxide levels.
My part of the GHOST design was taking the Northrop engineering
installation and adding in the cooling
and ventilation system for the instrument.
You'll see here on my design is that, you know, the air comes
in to the airplane goes through their computer for cooling,
and then through a manifold, which, the NO2 vents out,
the liquid nitrogen vents out, which is what they use to cool
the instrument.
[music]
A lot of our science teams that we get
in here are not aircraft people.
They build to laboratory standards,
not aircraft standards.
One of the biggest challenges is solving that difference
between what they bring us and what we can put on the airplane,
and how to safely put something that's built to one standard
on the airplane and meet the standards we have.
>> It's in the hole there.
>> OK.
[background discussion]
>>This one isn't yet.
>> Yeah.
>> OK.
>> Mark where the foot's going to go.
[ Music ]
>> Robert Rivera: That's where your ATR is going to go.
I know you guys are anxious
to see this all up there and flying.
>> Yeah.
>> It's the end of a long design process for us.
>> Robert Rivera: We're basically using up every nook
and cranny in the airplane we can find,
getting these instruments, figuring out where to put them
and making them all fit.
Very much like Tetris.
[music/instruments being installed]
>> Larry you want to pull the pod your way?
...And a quarter turn on the back.
Let's tighten the outboard front again.
Essentially what we're doing is we're putting preload
into the AITTS instrument pod.
For flight what it does is improves stiffness of the pod
when we're flying so it doesn't move around too much.
[music/power drills]
[engine noise]
>> We got to roll call real quick...two pilots are here...
>> Robert Rivera: Typically on a flight day I act as one
of the mission directors for the flight.
>> Mission Director- I assume that's going to be you?
>> Myself and Crystal will be in training.
>> Our job as mission directors is working
with the scientists and with the pilots.
So when the scientists have changing requirements we're the
one who gets them first.
And then we'll work with them
to make sure they're what the pilots can do.
And then we pass them on to the pilots.
And we negotiate with the pilots
to get what we can for the scientists.
>> Sounds like we're good to go.
[music]
>> Door is up, power is up, vehicle is moving...
>> NASA 872, roger, hold short Runway 22 Right.
>> Runway 22 Right, we'd like to use 22 Left.
>> Okay mission we're on the runway and setting up for takeoff.
>> Roger, we're still go for takeoff.
>> Okay, here we go.
[music]
[Global Hawk engine revving up]
>> Sixty knots.
>> Copy.
[Global Hawk taking off]
>> Vehicle is airborne.
>> NASA 872 copies.
>> Have a good flight.
>> Robert Rivera: We're also basically responsible
for assisting the pilots in any emergencies that happen
on the airplane, any flight planning that needs to be done.
We do have a real time downlink,
so the scientists are always looking at the data,
if we ever change our mission plan based off the data they're
seeing come down real time.
>> We're 15,000.
>> 15,000.
>> And for the cards, we're on M2, step Mike 6.
>> And I'm showing DC 13 and IR 13 off.
>> Robert Rivera: We're also the ones that have controls
of the payload system for turning on instruments
and turning off instruments, up in the front room.
>> DC12 on please.
>> DC12 on.
[music]
[Global Hawk landing]
>> Robert Rivera: And once we finished one campaign,
we're prepping for the next campaign or cleaning
up doing maintenance on the airplane.
So we're pretty much constantly busy from one to the next.
Basically the favorite part of my job is the whole process,
seeing a project or an integration effort
from beginning to end.
Basically being able to take something
that may never have been designed to go on an airplane
and then seeing it flying in a reasonable amount of time.
What I like about NASA is that they're doing things
that you would not necessarily see done
in private industry because there's really no cost benefit
to them.
There's a scientific and a longevity benefit to them.
NASA can do the airborne research,
and improve our models to better predict the weather,
so we can get people out of the way when storms come through.
We can better predict how strong a hurricane is going to get
so you can make sure the proper personnel are in place
for response to that hurricane.
We gather so much data, it takes years to process all the data,
but all that will eventually end up in the public domain.
I would tell kids that are interested
in engineering is learn your math, learn your science,
be interested, take things apart,
put things together, work with your hands.
Just get the experience of building
and figuring how things work.