Spinoff: Transportation

Artificial Eyes Give Pilots a New Worldview

Combining ultra-high-definition video streams from multiple cameras on the NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology X-plane required new video cards to process the data. A contract with...

Spinoff: Transportation

From Shark Searches to Space Tours

Aurora Flight Sciences incorporates NASA expertise gained through multiple Armstrong Flight Research Center SBIR contracts to develop technology that enables remote piloting of conventional small...

Spinoff: Transportation

New Energy Source Powers Subsea Robots Indefinitely

A former NASA engineer licensed technology he had developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to power sensors on the marine floats that calibrated NASA’s Aquarius satellite...

Spinoff: Transportation

NASA Gives the World a Brake

Thanks to exclusive patent licenses for a radical new disc brake design, Orbis Brakes Inc. of Santa Rosa, California, incorporates Marshall Space Flight Center structural materials expertise into a more...

Spinoff: Transportation

‘Digital Winglets’ for Real-Time Flight Paths

To improve aircraft efficiency and reduce emissions, Langley Research Center developed software that finds optimal routes for airplanes in flight. Through a NASA licensing agreement,...

Spinoff: Transportation

Additive Manufacturing Subtracts from Rocket Build Time

Through a series of Space Act Agreements, engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center have helped Relativity Space Inc. of Long Beach, California, 3D print its Aeon rocket...

Spinoff: Transportation

Redefining the 'Rugged' Video Camera

A video camera rugged enough to survive the first Space Launch System rocket launch and function in the extreme conditions of space is tough enough for harsh Earth environments. A license and...

Spinoff: Transportation

A Huge Development for Tiny Satellites

To fit tiny satellites into tinier spaces on launch vehicles, Goddard Space Flight Center developed a new equipment-deployment system that’s more reliable than previous solutions. Thermal...

Spinoff: Transportation

With NASA’s Help, the Moon Becomes a Commercial Destination

Several engineers who worked on the experimental Morpheus lander at Johnson Space Center have applied that technical knowledge to building a commercial lunar lander at...

Spinoff: Transportation

Private Lessons for Private Spaceflight

To enable their private astronauts to live and work in orbit, Axiom Space of Houston used NASA facilities and people with NASA experience to train their crews of private astronauts that travel...

Spinoff: Transportation

New Solar Array Design Saves Space

NASA plans to use solar electric propulsion to send astronauts to Mars, but the technology will require huge solar arrays that take up precious space in a rocket fairing. So a NASA team invented...

Spinoff: Transportation

Space Program Pumps Up Turbomachinery

When NASA was looking for a low-cost solution to launch into orbit, Barber-Nichols of Arvada, Colorado, was subcontracted to build the turbopump for the Fastrac rocket engine at Marshall Space...

Spinoff: Transportation

Flying (Not Quite) Blind

Commercial helicopters now use the video switcher developed by Van Nuys, California-based Eon Instrumentation Inc. to meet Langley Research Center specifications. It enables the X-59 supersonic test plane to...

Spinoff: Transportation

NASA Helps Private Lander Shoot for the Moon

Autonomous robots building the shelters and other structures astronauts need before they even land is an exciting idea, but is it practical? Testing such a venture on Earth won’t prove...

Spinoff: Transportation

Swinging the HAMR

From search-and-rescue operations to surveying farmland, remotely operated aircraft have become important to several industries. However, current multi-rotor designs have one drawback: endurance. Driving four or...

Spinoff: Transportation

Test Rockets Prepare for Distant Landings

Rocket-powered vehicle for testing lander navigation systems supports space companies

How can a spacecraft land itself on alien terrain? NASA needed a better answer than...

Spinoff: Transportation

NASA Helps Bring Airport Communications into the Digital Age

Some of the best entertainment at the airport is all the action outside the window. Loaded luggage carriers zip past on their way to planes. Fuel trucks come and go....

Spinoff: Transportation

Water-Powered Engines Offer Satellite Mobility

NASA Technology

NASA has been planning for a water-powered rocket engine since the Agency’s early years. After all, water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, which have been powering...

Spinoff: Transportation

Unique Sensors Will Improve Aerodynamic Design, Aircraft Performance

NASA Technology

Even after almost 150 years of wind tunnel testing, no commercial product had ever been able to directly measure the localized force that...

Spinoff: Transportation

Flash Lidar Enables Driverless Navigation

NASA Technology

A spacecraft hovers over the gray, cratered moonscape, scanning for its landing spot, and then, in a blaze of rocket fire that kicks up a massive cloud of dust, the...

Spinoff: Transportation

Plane-Launched Rocket Opens Up Space for Small Satellites

NASA Technology

More than ever, day-to-day life on Earth depends on the growing number of satellites in orbit used for communications, navigation, tracking, science,...

Spinoff: Transportation

Doppler Lidar Makes Self-Driving Cars Safer

NASA Technology

Lasers designed to help a lunar spacecraft land on a proverbial dime might help self-driving cars navigate rush hour traffic on this planet. The path from the Moon to...

Spinoff: Transportation

Pressure Vessels Improve Transportation of Liquid Fuels

NASA Technology

Few people will ever pass a rocket on the freeway, but anyone could soon see the “gas tank” of a liquid propulsion engine outside the passenger window....

Spinoff: Transportation

Virtual Airspace Hosts a Training Program for Air Traffic Managers

NASA Technology

The skies are on the brink of major change. The number of U.S. aircraft flying through the national airspace is likely to multiply many times...

Spinoff: Transportation

Weight-Estimating Software Helps Design Urban Air Taxis

NASA Technology

Picture an airplane. What you imagine is probably what most commercial airliners look like, a design that has been improved and tweaked—but not really...

Spinoff: Transportation

Probes Characterize Air and Water Flows over Aircraft, Yachts

NASA Technology

A new approach to characterizing high-speed turbulence in wind and fluid flows is on track to become the standard for wind tunnel measurements—and...

Spinoff: Transportation

Software Helps Design Artery Stents, Lawn Mowers, Airplanes

NASA Technology

When Aloha Airlines Flight 243 made an emergency landing on Maui in April 1988, much of its upper fuselage was missing, leaving passengers entirely...

Spinoff: Transportation

Space-Age Insulator Evolves to Replace Plastic and Save Weight

NASA Technology

When aerogels were first invented in the 1930s, nobody had much use for them. And yet, nearly a century later, these materials could become as...

Spinoff: Transportation

Battery Innovations Power All-Electric Aircraft

NASA Technology

The X-planes, experimental aircraft built by NASA and the military, started out by breaking the sound barrier in 1947 and have been pushing through invisible...

Spinoff: Transportation

Super-Accurate Atomic Clocks Could Aid in Navigation, Communication

NASA Technology

Do you know what time it is?

Knowing the answer—being able to measure time accurately and consistently—is fundamental to advanced...