Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Micronutrient Formula Strengthens Plants, Increasing Yields

NASA Technology

An apple a day keeps the doctor away—but how do you bring enough apples, and other fresh food, all the way to Mars and back? Given the limits on how...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Chemical Simulation Software Predicts Climate Change, Air Quality

NASA Technology

For climate scientists, the whole Earth is a laboratory. They need to observe what is happening across the entire planet over long swaths of...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources
NASA Kite Invention Spurs Ever-Growing Educational Program

NASA Technology

When an educational agency contacted NASA engineer Geoff Bland in 2010, wondering about a way to monitor ponds and streams where water samples were being...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Planet-Navigating AI “Brain” Helps Drones and Cars Avoid Collisions

NASA Technology

Once you’ve designed a robot that can autonomously explore planetary terrains, putting the same technology in cars, toys, and drones seems...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Early NASA “Dream Computer Program” Still Optimizes Designs

NASA Technology

At the top of the food chain, an apex predator hunts without fear of being hunted. That’s why MSC Software Corporation branded its latest software...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
2D Analysis Software Clarifies Medical, Weather, Intelligence Images

NASA Technology

NASA engineer Semion Kizhner spent an entire week trying to understand the Hilbert-Huang Transform with the colleague who had developed it, but...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Quake Hunter Maps a Century of Quakes Worldwide

NASA Technology

Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters, in terms of death tolls and the cost of recovery. They’re also nearly impossible to predict, but...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Free Aerodynamic Simulation Code Supports Industry, Education

NASA Technology

In the mid-1990s, NASA, the Air Force, and McDonnell Douglas Corporation realized they were duplicating each other’s efforts to make better software...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Software Models Atmosphere for Spacecraft

NASA Technology

When the Curiosity rover made its spectacular landing on Mars, most of the attention was focused on the revolutionary “sky-crane maneuver” that helped slow the...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Software Takes Cost Estimating to the Stars

NASA Technology

When imagining what it takes to design a spacecraft, few people think about the engineering work that goes into getting an accurate cost estimate before the building...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Communication Devices Ease Contact with Commercial Spacecraft

NASA Technology

Scientific experimentation is the central purpose of the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts work toward answers that will be crucial...

Spinoff: Computer Technology
Mission Control Software Manages Commercial Satellite Fleets

NASA Technology

The task of monitoring and diagnosing spacecraft health is getting out of hand.

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
High-Speed Cameras Test Material Performances on Impact

NASA Technology

When something goes wrong in space, the results can be tragic. NASA takes the responsibility of testing to understand past accidents and prevent future ones...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
External Platform Enables Space Research

NASA Technology

Not all the research on the space station happens on the inside. A good portion of the investigations take advantage of the orbiting outpost’s perch some 250 miles above...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
All-in-One Lab Device Gets New Instruments via Software Update

NASA Technology

Devices for testing electronics haven’t changed much in decades, and this presents an inconvenience not just for the engineers using them but for...