NASA Technology

Self-piloted drone traffic may be just over the horizon, metaphorically speaking, but for now, vehicles cannot legally fly beyond the operator’s line of...

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NASA Technology

A New Zealand-based company’s work to help astronauts fight fires in case of an anomaly on the Orion spacecraft is already informing its line...

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NASA Technology

Astronaut Scott Parazynski has flown airplanes, climbed Mount Everest, and scuba-dived deep in a volcanic lake—but he says floating in space...

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Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Freeze-Dried Foods Nourish Adventurers and the Imagination

NASA Technology

Freeze-dried food, today, is commonplace. It’s in the baby food aisle and next to the dried apricots. Hikers carry it on backwoods treks and doomsday...

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NASA Technology

Batteries have come a long way in recent years. Lithium-ion batteries in particular are more powerful, longer-lasting, and...

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Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Spacesuit Insulation Protects Personal Devices

NASA Technology

Protecting astronauts from the extreme temperatures of space while they explore the Moon or repair the exterior of the International Space Station requires a suit...

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Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Nanotechnology Repairs Engine Damage in Cars

NASA Technology

That spot of oil on the garage floor dripping from your engine indicates a problem. It’s so small that you put off going to the mechanic, until you hear a new noise...

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NASA Technology

Most people don’t think about how easy it is to sit behind a desk or go through a door—for them, it’s automatic. But sitting horizontally at a...

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Laser Enables Precise Measurements for Weather Forecasting, Industry

NASA Technology

News of Hurricane Irma dominated forecasts for days before it made landfall in the Caribbean and then the southeastern United States in...

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Field-Scanning Drone Gives Farmers Better Data

NASA Technology

There’s a reason people talk about a “bird’s-eye view” and “as the crow flies”: flying allows access and a perspective you just can’t get with feet...

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Satellite Imagery Helps Farmers Cut Water Use in Half

NASA Technology

Irrigation—supplying water to growing crops—is one of the most important ways humans use water. Across the United States, for example, a full 80 percent...

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Gas Processors Turn Oil Drilling Emissions into Fuel for Sale

NASA Technology

Pioneer Energy brings an unusual perspective to the oil and gas industry: many of its employees, including founder Robert Zubrin, have a background...

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Versatile Fuel Cells Stop Natural Gas Emissions at Oil Wells

NASA Technology

In 1999, a NASA engineer and a professor from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ran into each other at a conference and hatched an idea....

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Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Rocket Expertise Assists Transition to Green Energy

NASA Technology

Around the world, economic growth and prosperity is tied to the availability of cheap energy. Coal is abundant and cheap, but in developed countries the...

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NASA Technology

Even before much-anticipated autonomous drones finally take to the sky, the U.S. airspace is saturated, says now-retired Langley Research Center scientist Kennie...

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NASA Technology

NASA famously uses simulation software to design spacecraft, predict satellite orbits, and train astronauts. But modeling and simulation are...

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NASA Technology

Today conference calling is so easy and common it is essentially unremarkable. Share a toll-free phone number and instantly dozens, hundreds, or even...

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NASA Technology

When it comes to monitoring and managing the health of any system, sensors are the front-line technology. They gauge a system’s vital signs, such as...

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NASA Technology

The software started as a way to evaluate the reliability of systems that look for anomalies in aircraft components and respond to them in flight. Today it is...

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NASA Technology

Only 12 people have walked on the Moon. That may soon change—within the next few decades, when it simply becomes a matter of buying a ticket. It will...

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NASA Technology

In the Old English epic Beowulf, the warrior Unferth, jealous of the eponymous hero’s bravery, openly doubts Beowulf’s odds of slaying the monster Grendel that...

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NASA Technology

There are so many pieces to a successful mission in space, and keeping track of it all is no easy task. Software designed to simplify the interface between mission...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Tiny Pulsed Lasers Have Medical, Industrial, Military, Environmental Applications

NASA Technology

On the outside, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will look nearly identical to the 2011-launched Curiosity rover. But inside, engineers...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Metallic Glass Coatings Improve Power Plant, Oil Rig Productivity

NASA Technology

A rover can be equipped with the most state-of-the-art scientific instruments NASA engineers can devise, but if the wheel breaks, that’s going...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Electrostatic Discharge Training Improves Manufacturing Practices

NASA Technology

Everybody has felt it from time to time: that sharp jolt of electric shock you get when you walk across a rug and touch a doorknob.

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Pulsed Laser Innovations Power Nobel-Winners’ Research

NASA Technology

When Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon, the video and his first words—transmitted across nearly 240,000 miles and broadcasted around the...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
New Imaging Technique Measures Unseen Flows

NASA Technology

Gravity draws water from a faucet into a cup. Air bubbles rise because they’re lighter than the water around them—gas and liquid effortlessly self-separating. In...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Aerogel Insulations Save Millions in Industrial Applications

NASA Technology

It’s no surprise that some of NASA’s biggest breakthroughs and most popular spinoffs have been in the field of temperature management. The Space...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Revolutionary Battery Replacement Leads to a New Humidity Sensor

NASA Technology

A lot can and does go wrong with technology, as Dr. Terry Rolin, an electronic systems failure analyst at Marshall Space Flight Center, knows well....

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Separation Device Launches New Science Payloads

NASA Technology

Rockets typically come in stages, each optimized for different parts of the launch. When each stage has finished its part, it drops away, allowing the smaller...

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