Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

The Space Laser Business Model

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Creating long-duration, high-powered lasers, for satellites, that can withstand the type of optical misalignment and damage dished out by the unforgiving...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Low-Pressure Generator Makes Cleanrooms Cleaner

Originating Technology/ NASA Contribution

Scientists at NASA's Kennedy Space Center work in cleanrooms: laboratories with high degrees of cleanliness provided by strict control of...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Big Results From a Smaller Gearbox

Originating Technology/ NASA Contribution

Many people will be sad to see the Hubble Space Telescope go, as it was the first instrument of its kind to provide us with such a wealth of imagery...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Advanced Joining Technology: Simple, Strong, and Secure

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The space-age materials that NASA employs in its spacecraft and satellites have different attributes than the building materials...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Going End to End to Deliver High-Speed Data

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

By the end of the 1990s, the optical fiber backbone of the telecommunication and data-communication networks had evolved from...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA's Radio Frequency Bolt Monitor: A Lifetime of Spinoffs

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

This story begins in the 1970s, when Dr. Joseph Heyman, a young scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center, was asked to...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Cost-Cutting Powdered Lubricant

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Scientists at NASA's Glenn Research Center developed a high-temperature, solid lubricant coating material that is saving the manufacturing industry...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Making a Reliable Actuator Faster and More Affordable

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Before any rocket is allowed to fly and be used for a manned mission, it is first test-fired on a static test stand to verify its...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Miniature Wireless Sensors Size Up to Big Applications

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Like the environment of space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. But far beneath the waves near Key...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Spatial Phase Imaging

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In 1928, Alexander Fleming, a young Scottish scientist with a side practice of discretely treating the syphilis infections of prominent Londoners, was researching...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Electrical Conductivity in Textiles

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Copper is the most widely used electrical conductor. Like most metals, though, it has several drawbacks: it is heavy, expensive, and can break. Fibers...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Laser Mapping for Visual Inspection and Measurement

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Each space shuttle orbiter has 38 Primary Reaction Control System (PRCS) thrusters to help power and position the vehicle for maneuvers...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Nano Goes Magnetic to Attract Big Business

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Glenn Research Center has combined state-of-the-art electrical designs with complex, computer-aided analyses to develop some of today’s most...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

The Cutting Edge of High-Temperature Composites

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA’s Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program was formed in 1999 at Glenn Research Center to manage an important national...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Robust, Thin Optical Films for Extreme Environments

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The environment of space presents scientists and engineers with the challenges of a harsh, unforgiving laboratory in which to conduct...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Temperature Sensing for Oil, Gas, and Structural Analysis

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

With retirement of the space shuttle imminent, and the commercial space industry burgeoning, NASA is searching for safe and...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Cryogenic Cooling for Myriad Applications—A STAR Is Born!

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Cryogenics, the science of generating extremely low temperatures, has wide applicability throughout NASA. The Agency employs...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

New Sensor Gaining Interest on Industry Radar Screen

While radar is typically used to track large objects that are relatively far away, an Atlanta, Georgia-based start-up company is using the technology in a counter-intuitive way to...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Processing at the Speed of Light

Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) are critical elements in optical processing systems used for imaging, displaying, data storage, communications, and other applications. By taking advantage of the...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Going Places No Infrared Temperature Devices Have Gone Before

A leading manufacturer of noninvasive, infrared temperature sensors, Exergen Corporation  prides itself on delivering a highly accurate and reliable product to...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Designing It Smart With SIV

When research staff at NASA's Glenn Research Center developed and patented Stereo Imaging Velocimetry (SIV), the world's first three-dimensional (3-D), full-field quantitative and qualitative analysis...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Lending a Helping Hand

Barrett Technology,® Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, received the 2003 Robotic Industries Association's Joseph Engelberger Award for Technology Leadership based on successful commercialization of its...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Conducting the Heat

Heat conduction plays an important role in the efficiency and life span of electronic components. To keep electronic components running efficiently and at a proper temperature, thermal management systems transfer...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Sensing the Tension

Spanning over 4 decades, NASA's bolt tension monitoring technology has benefited automakers, airplane builders, and other major manufacturers that rely on the devices to evaluate the performance of computerized...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Keeping Communication Continuous

General Dynamics Decision Systems employees have played a role in supplying telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C) and other communications systems to NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense for...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Precise Measurement for Manufacturing

A metrology instrument known as PhaseCam™ supports a wide range of applications, from testing large optics to controlling factory production processes. This dynamic interferometer system...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

A Closer Look at Quality Control

Spectrometers, which are durable, lightweight, and compact instruments, are a requirement for NASA deep space science missions, especially as NASA strives to conduct these missions with smaller...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Nanoscale Liquid Jets Shape New Line of Business

Just as a pistol shrimp stuns its prey by quickly closing its oversized claw to shoot out a shock-inducing, high-velocity jet of water, NanoMatrix, Inc., is sending shockwaves...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Solutions for Hot Situations

From the company that brought the world an integral heating and cooling food service system after originally developing it for NASA's Apollo Program, comes yet another orbital offshoot: a product that can be...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Remote Transmission at High Speed

NASA's need for a more accurate way to collect data from propulsion tests provided Omni Technologies, of New Orleans, Louisiana, an opportunity to codevelop and market the solution. The FOTR-125, a...