NASA Spinoff
Public Safety
Spinoff: Public Safety
Where the Wildfires Are
Technosylva Inc.’s wildfire monitoring service combines Landsat Earth-observation data with other fire resources, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to predict, monitor, and support post-fire...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Spherical Robots to the Rescue
Dr. Alice Agogino realized the spherical robots she was designing to comb planetary and lunar surfaces could also help first responders assess disaster scenes on Earth. She cofounded Berkeley,...
Spinoff: Public Safety
FINDER Finds Its Way into Rescuers’ Toolkits
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked with the Department of Homeland Security to construct a prototype of a device that can detect people buried under several feet of material. JPL...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Stay Safe with Battery Testing for Space
NASA battery safety exams influence commercial product testing
Battery safety is incredibly important in space due to the risk of thermal runaway, a reaction where...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Answering the Call of Distress
As companies and other entities continue making use of NASA know-how, spinoffs from the space agency are bound to bump into each other now and then. That’s what happened as the lifesaving Search and...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Methane Detector Sniffs Out Leaks
NASA Technology
Methane is everywhere on Earth, for better and for worse. Among other things, it’s the main ingredient in the natural gas that powers heating, cooking, and electricity. It’s...
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: 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....
Spinoff: Public Safety
Polyimide Foam Offers Safer, Lighter Insulation
NASA Technology
Oxygen, which comprises just over a fifth of Earth’s atmosphere, is highly reactive and able to form compounds with nearly all other elements. Heat facilitates...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Smaller, Cheaper Lasers Can Detect Gas, Monitor Structures, Take Tissue Images
NASA Technology
Since the invention of lasers in 1960, engineers have found countless ways to create these coherent, monochromatic beams of light and...
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: Public Safety
Wool Mask to Fight Fires in Space Inspires Fire Equipment on Earth
NASA Technology
A New Zealand-based company’s work to help astronauts fight fires in case of an anomaly on the Orion spacecraft is already informing its line...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Gas Regulators Keep Pilots Breathing
NASA Technology
In 1962, John Glenn hurtled around Earth at speeds that exceeded 17,000 mph, managing three orbits before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. In all, his historic...
Spinoff: Public Safety
RoboMantis Offers to Take Over Dangerous Missions
NASA Technology
Moving slowly and deliberately, the robot picked its way over a pile of cinder blocks, testing and often reconsidering every step of its four black, tubular...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Membranes Mimic Kidneys to Filter Water
NASA Technology
When trying to solve a tough problem, it’s not unusual for engineers to turn to nature for a solution.
“Nature is our biggest R&D lab. Whatever...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Biofeedback Loops Aim to Enhance Combat, Sports Training
NASA Technology
Steadying an undulating putting green or a wandering computer cursor with your mind alone might sound far-fetched, but NASA has had this technology for...
Spinoff: Public Safety
NASA Brings Accuracy to World’s Global Positioning Systems
NASA Technology
In the 1960s, NASA used a network of radio telescopes and a technique called very large baseline interferometry (VLBI) to capture images of quasars in...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Detailed Spectrometry Makes Dangerous-Materials Testing Safer
NASA Technology
In Chris McKay’s search for signs of life on other worlds, some of the strongest clues can be found by identifying isotopes.
The Ames...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Wrapped Tanks Cut Weight on Everything from Buses to Paintball Guns
NASA Technology
What do naval anti-missile guns, infant incubators, the Phoenix Mars lander, and high-end paintball guns have in common? All these...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Temperature Sensors Cement Integrity of Bridges
NASA Technology
When the White House calls, NASA answers.
The Obama administration wanted to foster partnerships between the Government and small- to medium-sized...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Radar Device Detects Heartbeats Trapped under Wreckage
NASA Technology
Late on a sweltering morning in July 2016, David Lewis Jr. crawls into a concrete tube in a heap of rubble amid what used to be a Northern Virginia prison...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Surveillance System Captures, Maps Lightning Strikes
NASA Technology
On July 7, 2011, as Space Shuttle Atlantis sat on the launch pad just one day before it was due to make the final voyage of NASA’s 30-year Shuttle program,...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Virtual Reality Platform Helps Pilots Land in the Sky
NASA Technology
When a plane overshoots the final approach for a landing, often the pilot’s natural—and dangerous—instinct is to pitch up the aircraft to slow down and...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Autonomous Robots Take On Dangerous Warehouse Jobs
NASA Technology
“Where does a 600-pound spider go? Anywhere she wants to.”
The spider in question, dubbed “Spidernaut,” was part of a prototype robot team built...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Drone Traffic Forecasts Show Commercial Skies of the Future
NASA Technology
It’s a safe bet that the skies of the future will be hosting a lot more drones than they do today. If you can see beyond the low-flying pizza and...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Offshore Oil Workers Learn Survival Skills in Astronaut Training Pool
NASA Technology
To simulate weightlessness while rehearsing for NASA’s 1966 Gemini 12 mission, astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan practiced spacewalks...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Rocket Technology Stops Shaking in Its Tracks
NASA Technology
Rocket launches—or earthquakes—are already punishing experiences. But it turns out there are some things that can make them worse: like if the vibrations hit the...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Micromachined Sensors Monitor Train Rails, Predict Failures
NASA Technology
Sensors originally designed to predict failures in a helicopter transmission have found an unexpected use detecting problems in train tracks. When...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Fast-Flow Nanofiber Filters Purify Water at Home and in the Field
NASA Technology
More than a billion people around the world lack easy access to clean water—some trek for miles just to fill jugs for themselves and their...
Spinoff: Public Safety
Orion Video Requirement Advances High-Speed, Compact Cameras
NASA Technology
Parachute deployment is usually a fairly simple—if crucial—operation. A small pilot parachute tossed into the wind might pull free a pin securing...