NASA Spinoff
Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Digital Images on the Dime
The Earth is ever-changing—above us, around us, and under our feet. Often there are explanations for the shifting behavior of our surroundings, though in some cases, conclusions have not been...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Giant Batteries Deliver Renewable Energy When It’s Needed
A large, nontoxic battery that can store energy from the wind or sun was developed by Wilsonville, Oregon-based ESS Inc., which drew from flow battery research and...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Suspended Solar Panels See the Light
To determine how well a suspended solar panel system would hold up to potentially destructive oscillations caused by wind, Skysun LLC in Cleveland, Ohio sought the help of NASA employees at Glenn...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Astronaut Life Support for Earth Families
Kennedy Space Center spent decades developing indoor farming techniques for crops and even fish to support a closed-loop life-support system for space travel. Eden Grow Systems Inc. of...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Forecasting Saharan Dust to Minimize Health Risks
Last summer, wind carried nearly 24 tons of dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa across the Atlantic Ocean, to North and South America, hitting islands in the Caribbean Sea...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Getting Water out of Snow with NASA Technology
How much water is in mountain snowpack? That’s a question science has been attempting to solve for decades. Finally, NASA-developed technology provides an accurate answer, using a...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
NASA Technology Helps in Fight Against Climate Change
NASA technology fights climate change in all kinds of ways. Many of these innovations were pioneered for space travel and planetary exploration before anyone repurposed them for...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
NASA Enlists Trees, Bacteria to Clean Up Earth
NASA explores outer space, but it’s also owner and steward of hundreds of square miles of planet Earth. Populated with scientists and engineers, the space agency’s field centers have...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Measuring Moon Dust to Fight Air Pollution
Moon dust isn’t like the stuff that collects on a bookshelf or on tables – it’s ubiquitous and abrasive, and it clings to everything. It’s so bad that it even broke the vacuum NASA...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Eagle Eyes in Treacherous Skies
Tornados can flip a car when the wind speed reaches 122 mph, making them unpredictability dangerous. Volcanic eruptions are as toxic as they are destructive. Researchers are working hard to improve...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Environmental Cleanup Courtesy of a NASA Cafeteria Brainstorm
Jackie Quinn had an idea. What if the system NASA developed for removing contaminants from building paint could also be used to clean up the environment? In her quest to...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Space Fuel Cell Provides Deep-Sea Power
“Almost everything you need in space, you also need under the ocean,” said Thomas Valdez, manager of chemical engineering at Teledyne Energy Systems.
Both extreme environments are...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Space-Age Water Conservation
The more difficult a problem is for NASA, the more solutions it eventually produces for the rest of us.
Few challenges are more pressing for the space agency than the need for clean water. Water...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Carbon Capture Process Makes Sustainable Oil
NASA Technology
NASA has many researchers focused on the carbon cycle on Earth—and how it contributes to climate change—but the Space Agency has also spent plenty of time delving...
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: 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...
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: 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....
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...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Pointing Platform Enables Earth Imaging from Space Station
NASA Technology
Most people think of the International Space Station (ISS) as a place to learn about space, but in recent years the modules of humanity’s only outpost...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Algorithms to Detect Clouds Forecast Global Crop Production
NASA Technology
It started as an algorithm to detect clouds in satellite imagery, but now the software is being used for everything from increasing food security in the...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Building-Monitoring System Provides Insights for Sustainability
NASA Technology
When we talk about “green buildings,” the conversation is generally about reducing consumption. That’s because buildings and their occupants...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Space Station Garden Shines Light on Earth-Based Horticulture
NASA Technology
Astronauts have been gardening on the International Space Station for years to learn how plants grow in microgravity, with the idea that space crops...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Emissive Coatings Cut Industrial Costs, Emissions, Fuel Consumption
NASA Technology
It’s no surprise that the experimental X-Plane Program has led to improvements in commercial flight, but the program also produces...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Electrified Bacteria Clean Wastewater, Generate Power
NASA Technology
NASA recently sent into space organisms that might sound like they came from space to begin with—microbes that can essentially breathe electricity.
...Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Recycling Technology Converts Plastic Waste to Energy
NASA Technology
Glenn Research Center has always been in the business of perfecting engines. During World War II, the center, then called the Aircraft Engine Research...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Mineral Analyzer Shakes Answers Out of Soil and Rocks
NASA Technology
How do you search for signs of life on a planet you’ve never been to? If you’re NASA, you send robots to do your dirty work, sifting through the soil and...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Organic Compound Turns Toxic Waste into Harmless Byproducts
NASA Technology
In 2004, a team of researchers at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) was trying to develop a substance that would glow to indicate the presence of...
Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
LED Lighting Improves Efficiency, Imaging, Cuts Maintenance
NASA Technology
When Stennis Space Center officials wanted to try more energy-efficient lighting in the center’s rocket engine test stands, they couldn’t simply go...