NASA Spinoff
Topics:
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 are...
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 to...
Spinoff: Computer Technology
Swarming Technology Lets Drones Work as a Team
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...
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.
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...
Spinoff: Health and Medicine
Low-Outgassing, Space-Grade Coatings Cover Electronics, Sensors, Pacemakers
NASA Technology
You might open a window after painting a room, or let a foam mattress air out before sleeping on it so the materials can off-gas and...
Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Astronaut Experience Inspires Single-Handed Drone Flight Controller
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...
Spinoff: Transportation
Water-Powered Engines Offer Satellite Mobility
NASA Technology
NASA has been planning for a water-powered rocket engine since the Agency’s early years. After all, water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, which have been powering...
Spinoff: Public Safety
AirMap Guides Drones toward Widespread Use
NASA Technology
The drones are coming for us all—and that’s a good thing. While unmanned, remote-controlled, or programmed flight is not new, it is becoming increasingly...
Spinoff: Transportation
Unique Sensors Will Improve Aerodynamic Design, Aircraft Performance
NASA Technology
Even after almost 150 years of wind tunnel testing, no commercial product had ever been able to directly measure the localized force that...
Spinoff: Health and Medicine
Variable-Gravity Device Enables Medical, Pharmaceutical Research
NASA Technology
Through decades of sending astronauts into space, scientists have learned much about the biological effects of weightlessness. In the absence of...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Rockets, Rovers Spur New Offshore Drilling Safety Technology
NASA Technology
On the night of April 20, 2010, a flow of oil, gas, and mud erupted onto the floor of the Deepwater Horizon drilling vessel from the oil well below. As...
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...
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...
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...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Autonomous Drone Navigation System Ends Reliance on GPS
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...
Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Carbon-Fiber Heat Sink Makes Batteries Safer for Electric Cars, Bikes, and More
NASA Technology
Batteries have come a long way in recent years. Lithium-ion batteries in particular are more powerful, longer-lasting, and...
Spinoff: Computer Technology
Simulation Software Optimizes High-Speed, Efficient Data Networks
NASA Technology
NASA famously uses simulation software to design spacecraft, predict satellite orbits, and train astronauts. But modeling and simulation are...
Spinoff: Transportation
Flash Lidar Enables Driverless Navigation
NASA Technology
A spacecraft hovers over the gray, cratered moonscape, scanning for its landing spot, and then, in a blaze of rocket fire that kicks up a massive cloud of dust, the...
Spinoff: Health and Medicine
Fiber-Optic “Nerves” Enable Sensitive Surgery Tools
NASA Technology
Can you make a robot feel? That was the question posed to Johnson Space Center engineer Toby Martin.
Spinoff: Computer Technology
Mission Control Conference System Enables Global Collaboration
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...
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...
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...
Spinoff: Computer Technology
Smart Sensor Networks Monitor System Health—and Themselves
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...
Spinoff: Computer Technology
AURA Software Tackles Uncertainty in Complex Systems
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...
Spinoff: Transportation
Plane-Launched Rocket Opens Up Space for Small Satellites
NASA Technology
More than ever, day-to-day life on Earth depends on the growing number of satellites in orbit used for communications, navigation, tracking, science,...
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 of...
Spinoff: Computer Technology
Turbopump Modeling Software Propels Fluid-Flow Simulations
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...
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...
Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Zero-Gravity Body Posture Influences Acupressure Massage Chair
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...