Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Wide Area Thermal Imaging System Brings the Landscape into Focus

NASA Technology

Finding a forest fire can be more difficult than some would expect. Seeing smoke in the distance indicates a problem, but determining the exact...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Buildings for Manipulating Magnetism Revolutionize Magnetometers

NASA Technology

In a corner of Ames Research Center in California stand a pair of rather unusual buildings, where mere mortals can control magnetic fields.

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Photocatalytic Water Splitter Stores Energy as Hydrogen

NASA Technology

At a glance, the surface of Mars appears to offer little in the way of natural resources. Scenes captured by the various rovers exploring the planet depict a...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Multispectral Satellite Imagery Shows Farmers’ Fields in New Light

NASA Technology

L anny Faleide founded his Agri ImaGIS company, now called Satshot Inc., in 1994 on an idea that may have given offense to the day’s tillers...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Cost-Saving Method Yields Solar Cells for Exploration, Gadgets

NASA Technology

It’s expensive to fly to low-Earth orbit, let alone Mars and beyond. Engines are still propelled primarily by burning liquid fuel, but future...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Tiny Capsules Enable a World of Possibilities

NASA Technology

Big opportunities sometimes come in the smallest packages.

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Flock of Nanosatellites Provides a Daily Picture of Earth

NASA Technology

Because of their expense, building and operating satellites has long been the purview of large companies and Government agencies. Having to manufacture...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Probes Measure Gases for Environmental Research

NASA Technology

To understand climate change, we need to understand the movement of carbon, one of the planet’s most abundant resources and a building block of life that is...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Remote Sensing Technologies Mitigate Drought

NASA Technology

California is an agricultural powerhouse. In 2012, its 81,500 farms and ranches produced $42.6 billion in cash receipts, the most by any state. But that abundance is...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Ruggedized Spectrometers Are Built for Tough Jobs

NASA Technology

Curiosity is the undisputed hot rod of planetary rovers. Nine-and-a-half feet long, nearly 2,000 pounds, and powered by a thermo-nuclear power generator under its...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Gas Conversion Systems Reclaim Fuel for Industry

NASA Technology

To understand the connection between the development of Martian power systems and technology that can pull oil from old wells or capture gases released during...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Satellite Data Inform Forecasts of Crop Growth

NASA Technology

Farming has never been more productive, but increasing demands from a growing economy and world population mean age-old risks such as insects and plant disease remain...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Landsat Data Enriches Google Earth

NASA Technology

When NASA launched the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, later known as Landsat, in July 1972, the first spacecraft dedicated to monitoring Earth’s surface carried two...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Mars Technologies Spawn Durable Wind Turbines

NASA Technology

“It all started with ecological life support systems for exploration,” says David Bubenheim, a senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center....

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Programs Visualize Earth and Space for Interactive Education

NASA Technology

Incredible sights are being seen, thanks to the development of technology both inside and outside of NASA. With just a few clicks, NASA’s Eyes on the...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Satellite Data Aid Monitoring of Nation’s Forests

NASA Technology

Joe Spruce’s last name is a fitting one: Spruce is a research scientist at NASA’s Stennis Space Center working with the US Department of Agriculture Forest...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Shuttle Engine Designs Revolutionize Solar Power

NASA Technology

One of the hottest solar energy plants in the world was developed with engineering expertise derived from one of the hottest space technologies ever engineered: the...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Procedure-Authoring Tool Improves Safety on Oil Rigs

NASA Technology

On May 11, 2013, two astronauts emerged from the interior of the International Space Station (ISS) and worked their way toward the far end of spacecraft. Over...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Open Source Initiative Powers Real-Time Data Streams

NASA Technology

Let’s say you are an academic researcher who needs to collect data over a long period of time, on a site hundreds of miles from your base of operation. You...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Microradiometers Reveal Ocean Health, Climate Change

NASA Technology

When NASA researcher Stanford Hooker is in the field, he pays close attention to color. For Hooker, being in the field means being at sea. On one such research...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Sensors Enable Plants to Text Message Farmers

NASA Technology

Long-term human spaceflight means long-term menu planning. Since every pound of cargo comes with a steep price tag, NASA has long researched technologies and...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Efficient Cells Cut the Cost of Solar Power

NASA Technology

If you visit Glenn Research Center, you might encounter a photovoltaic (PV) array that looks unlike anything you’ve ever seen. In fact, what one would normally...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Shuttle Topography Data Inform Solar Power Analysis

NASA Technology

The next time you flip on a light switch, there’s a chance that you could be benefitting from data originally acquired during the Space Shuttle Program. An...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Photocatalytic Solutions Create Self-Cleaning Surfaces

NASA Technology

Hazy smog over cities and smoke pouring from the stacks of factories and power plants are visible reminders of the threat posed by air pollution to the...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Concentrators Enhance Solar Power Systems

NASA Technology

“Right now, solar electric propulsion is being looked at very seriously,” says Michael Piszczor, chief of the photovoltaic and power technologies branch at Glen...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Innovative Coatings Potentially Lower Facility Maintenance Costs

NASA Technology

NASA’s Stennis Space Center is located on 13,500 acres in Hancock County, Mississippi, surrounded by another 125,000 acres that act as a buffer...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Reflective Coatings Protect People and Animals

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In the course of time, circumstance, and coincidence, life sometimes completes some ironic and unlikely circles. During NASA’s early space...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Bacteria Provide Cleanup of Oil Spills, Wastewater

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Given the size of our planet and its wealth of resources, it is easy to forget that those resources are finite. As Earth’s human...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Solutions Remediate Contaminated Groundwater

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Kennedy Space Center’s launch complexes have seen a lot. They have been the starting point for every manned NASA mission, from Mercury to...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Energy Servers Deliver Clean, Affordable Power

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Imagine you are about to be dropped in the middle of a remote, inhospitable region—say the Kalahari Desert. What would you want to have...