Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

From Magnetic Rocket Fuel to Semiconductors

A liquid with magnetic properties developed by NASA in the 1960s was the basis for ferrofluids now sold by MAGRON, a company in Ansan, South Korea, whose customers use them in...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Pumping Out State-of-the-Art Design

Decades of collaboration on multiple SBIR contracts gave Concepts NREC LLC extensive access to NASA rocket engine expertise. The White River Junction, Vermont-based company incorporates Marshall...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Making the Most of Meticulous Measurements

When NASA needed to make sure telescope mirrors were perfectly flat, 4D Technology of Tucson, Arizona, was contracted to develop measuring instruments that could ensure the James Webb Space...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA Ingredients for Industrial Expedience

When Johnson Space Center wanted to explore ways of cooking food for long term habitation in deep space, Induction Food Systems Inc. of Durham, North Carolina received Small Business...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Ion Thrusters Keep Satellites Going and Going

When Orbion Space Technology Inc. of Houghton, Michigan, wanted to bring high-efficiency ion thrusters to the commercial satellite industry, the company entered into agreements with...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Webb Telescope Made Simulation Software Better

Developers of the James Webb Space Telescope relied heavily on simulation software, work that helped advance the whole field of integrated modeling. In particular, the Goddard Space...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA’s Moon Shot Launched Commercial Fuel Cell Industry

The first practical fuel cells were developed for Johnson Space Center in preparation for NASA’s Apollo missions because batteries would have weighed too much. The group...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Rocket Manufacturing Meets Science Friction

SBIR funding from Langley Research Center let a team from Aeroprobe Corporation try out additive friction stir deposition, a new method for 3D printing with metal. The work demonstrated...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Ultrasonic Inspections Protect Astronauts, Boat Owners

Aerospace Corporation spent two years working under funding from Langley Research Center to develop an ultrasonic scanner capable of detecting subsurface defects in the Orion...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Creating With Carbon

By combining the first variety of X-ray tubes ever available with a carbon-based nanotube innovation born just over a decade ago, Applied Nanotech, Inc., is helping to put the nanotechnology field on the map with...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Cloning Metal Parts for Space and Earth

Physics-based computer modeling software makes it possible to build, examine, and test virtual 3D-printed metal parts that meet the exacting standards of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory....

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Space Robotics Take a Deep Dive

The founder and many of the engineers at Houston-based Nauticus Robotics built robots at Johnson Space Center that had to operate autonomously in harsh, remote environments. Now they’ve applied that...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Earth’s Twin Helps with Extreme Electronics

An all-in-one, single-board computer module can withstand 900ºF conditions without a cooling system thanks to Glenn Research Center expertise in extreme-temperature technology. SBIR...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Cryofuels Come Under Pressure

NASA needs reliable cryofuel tanks for use in space, and the airline industry wants them to replace fossil fuels. SBIR funding from Marshall Space Flight Center for Tullahoma, Tennessee-based...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Some Engineering Is Only Skin Deep

Ability to finish surfaces of 3D-printed superalloys improves performance for engines, industry

Recent advances in 3D printing with metals are making it an increasingly...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Metallic Glass Gears Up for ‘Cobots,’ Coatings, and More

Where are the robot assistants we were promised?

For all the space that robots have occupied in the popular imagination for the last hundred years – and...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Neurological Devices, Racecars, Antennas Benefit from NASA Heat Shield Material

A smartphone can have up to 13 internal antennas to send and receive signals for everything from the basic cellular connection to Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS,...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

High-Performance Lasers Make Waves in Self-Driving Cars, Quantum Devices

Navigating the solar system’s vast distances has, paradoxically, required NASA to master the physics of the universe’s tiniest particles.

“If...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA’s Robotic Glove Finds Commercial Handhold

It’s no coincidence that our most complex, versatile, and useful body part, the human hand, is also among the most prone to injury. With its fine motor and sensory coordination,...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Plasma Improves 3D Electronics Printing

A new approach to printing electronic components simplifies on-site manufacturing of electronics in space and on Earth.

With help from NASA funding and licensed technologies, San...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Ultrasonic Welding Makes Parts for NASA Missions, Commercial Industry

Combine metals and embed sensors with this novel additive manufacturing technique

A burst water main is always expensive and messy, but a pipe...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Now Anyone Can Make Electronics on Demand—Thanks to NASA Research

Chance Glenn traces the inspiration for his 3D electronics printer back to Star Trek, which he began watching in reruns in the late 1970s as a middle schooler.

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Industry Opens a New Door to Space

Anyone who has gotten a sofa stuck in a doorway on moving day knows how frustrating it is when there’s no other way in or out. The doorways on the International Space Station, or airlocks, have...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

New Industrial Robotic Gripper Copies Geckos’ Toes

No sooner had the gecko’s secret been cracked than humans got to work trying to copy it.

“It was one of those mysteries that had been around for a long time,” says...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Hybrid Tank Technology

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Researchers have accomplished great advances in pressure vessel technology by applying high-performance composite materials as an over-wrap to metal-lined pressure...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Helping Aircraft Engines Lighten Up

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

High-temperature polyimide/carbon fiber matrix composites are developed by the Polymers Branch  at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. These...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

A Coating That Cools And Cuts Costs

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

To enable low-cost space access for advanced exploration vehicles, researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center invented and patented a protective...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Smart Camera Technology Increases Quality

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

When it comes to real-time image processing, everyone is an expert. People begin processing images at birth and rapidly learn to control their...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

New Glass Serves As Window To Cutting-edge Lasers

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Since 1997, Marshall Space Flight Center’s Electrostatic Levitator  (ESL) facility has been used to study the characteristics of...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Phase-Change Coating Absorbs Heat from Rockets, Pipes, Beer

NASA Technology

Most people enjoy an icy drink on a hot summer day without thinking about the physics happening inside the glass. But the phase-change...