Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Odor-Eliminating Shoe Inserts Rely on NASA-Tested Activated Carbon Cloth

This is the story of a space-age insert for shoes that got its start when a graduate student with smelly feet took off her shoes and another tapped into his...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Space-Age Water Conservation

The more difficult a problem is for NASA, the more solutions it eventually produces for the rest of us.

Few challenges are more pressing for the space agency than the need for clean water. Water...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

How the Moon Landing Led to Safer Food for Everyone

As many Americans prepare for a socially distanced Thanksgiving meal, some may be aware that NASA helped develop the tiny, highly efficient video cameras  in the devices...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Recalibrating Fine Motor Skills

A touchscreen control panel similar to an Apple iPad seems like it would be easier to use than a panel of switches and buttons that must be flipped and pushed in the right order. But what if an...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Artificial Intelligence for Astronauts Monitors Patients at Home

When chronic pain flares, the trip from your door to the doctor’s office can seem as difficult as getting from Earth to Mars. The same could be said for the...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

For Work or Play, Comfort All Day

A new line of gaming chairs combines two NASA technologies to keep users comfortable during even the longest video game marathons.

Raynor Group, a major manufacturer of office furniture, has...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

In Cloud Computing, Open Source Becomes Big Business

In 2010, open source software, once the playpen of renegade hackers and hobbyists, had already gone mainstream. Cloud computing was newer and less defined, but already commercially...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Catch the Waves

It’s very important that the highly tuned components in sensitive instruments, whether on a spacecraft or used in a lab, don’t see their own reflection. In sensing devices across the electromagnetic spectrum like...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Planets Take Virtual Shape on Earth with NASA Knowledge and Imagery

In a time of quarantines and online learning, guided strolls along the surface of Mars are especially appealing.

These tours are possible with Access Mars ...

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: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Space Fuel Cell Provides Deep-Sea Power

“Almost everything you need in space, you also need under the ocean,” said Thomas Valdez, manager of chemical engineering at Teledyne Energy Systems.

Both extreme environments are...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

The Rewards of Perseverance

A laser-light sensor that can identify bacteria in a wound may sound far-fetched, but it’s already becoming a reality, thanks in part to NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. The technology is going to...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Environmental Cleanup Courtesy of a NASA Cafeteria Brainstorm

Jackie Quinn had an idea. What if the system NASA developed for removing contaminants from building paint could also be used to clean up the environment? In her quest to...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

NASA Brain Training Tech Makes Smart Glasses

A new pair of smart glasses uses a technique invented at NASA to measure users' brainwaves and tell them how well they’re paying attention. Others have used the NASA formula to help...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Communicating via Long-Distance Lasers

Visible light has been used to communicate for centuries: lanterns on ships and Morse code flashes allowed information to be conveyed at a distance. But now there’s a better way to use light...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

In the Right Hands, NASA Satellite Data and Analysis Make Earth Better

The number of illegal gold mines in the Amazon is increasing so fast that activists have turned to satellite imagery to identify them. Still, with thousands of...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Flying in the Fast Lane with Air Traffic Software

Think of the national airspace as a complex highway system, but with planes. They’re all moving at different speeds and converging on relatively few airports, intent upon arriving...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

TetrUSS Stacks Up Building Blocks for Aircraft Design

Anyone who excelled at the Game Boy’s top-selling video game will recall the animated rocket liftoffs that celebrated high scores. In addition to simulated rocketry and the...

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: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Taking Out the Trash, NASA-Style

The space station doesn’t have curb-side trash pickup. Nor does it have a local landfill or recycling plant. What it does have is access to a naturally efficient incinerator – Earth’s...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Debugging Code Is Rocket Science

Incorrect computer code can blow up rockets, as NASA learned from the first launch in the Ariane 5 rocket series. The 501 rocket used computer code written for the Ariane 4 series – but the change...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

NASA Helps Optimize Air Purifiers with Modeling Expertise

Whether trapping microscopic germs or an abundance of pet hair, air filters help homes and offices alike maintain a clean environment. With any technology, research and...

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: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Hot Water on Demand

The worst part of any shower, outside of getting soap in your eyes, is probably getting unexpectedly blasted with cold water. Traditional home water heaters mean you have to wait for the right temperature to come...

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: 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: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Eagle Eyes in Treacherous Skies

Tornados can flip a car when the wind speed reaches 122 mph, making them unpredictability dangerous. Volcanic eruptions are as toxic as they are destructive. Researchers are working hard to improve...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

NASA Investment in Small Businesses Helps Both Thrive

It’s as true in tech as it is in ancient fables: the little guys can get things done. A dehydrated gel to keep your drinks cool, a cooling system for supercomputers and a...

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: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Zero-Leak Valve Holds Tight in Demanding Environments

NASA Technology

There’s no safe way to set anything substantial on fire on the space station to observe how spreading flames act in zero gravity, to test a fire...