Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Versatile Fuel Cells Stop Natural Gas Emissions at Oil Wells

NASA Technology

In 1999, a NASA engineer and a professor from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) ran into each other at a conference and hatched an idea....

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Balance Scale Predicts, Helps Prevent Falls

NASA Technology

The inside of the International Space Station is designed to give astronauts the illusion of verticality in the weightlessness of orbit. The “floors” are relatively...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Beowulf Clusters Make Supercomputing Accessible

NASA Technology

In the Old English epic Beowulf, the warrior Unferth, jealous of the eponymous hero’s bravery, openly doubts Beowulf’s odds of slaying the monster Grendel that...

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: Computer Technology

Data Visualization Platform Helps Missions Fly

NASA Technology

There are so many pieces to a successful mission in space, and keeping track of it all is no easy task. Software designed to simplify the interface between mission...

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: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

New Imaging Technique Measures Unseen Flows

NASA Technology

Gravity draws water from a faucet into a cup. Air bubbles rise because they’re lighter than the water around them—gas and liquid effortlessly self-separating. In...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Aerogel Insulations Save Millions in Industrial Applications

NASA Technology

It’s no surprise that some of NASA’s biggest breakthroughs and most popular spinoffs have been in the field of temperature management. The Space...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Revolutionary Battery Replacement Leads to a New Humidity Sensor

NASA Technology

A lot can and does go wrong with technology, as Dr. Terry Rolin, an electronic systems failure analyst at Marshall Space Flight Center, knows well....

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: Health and Medicine

Space Station Research Platform Paves the Way for Zero-G Manufacturing

NASA Technology

Much of the research NASA does on the International Space Station is designed to better understand how to work and live in zero gravity to...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Rocket Expertise Assists Transition to Green Energy

NASA Technology

Around the world, economic growth and prosperity is tied to the availability of cheap energy. Coal is abundant and cheap, but in developed countries the...

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: 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: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Separation Device Launches New Science Payloads

NASA Technology

Rockets typically come in stages, each optimized for different parts of the launch. When each stage has finished its part, it drops away, allowing the smaller...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Printed Polymer Makes Integrated Airplane Parts

NASA Technology

Spacecraft fuel tanks have always been round, because they need to hold as much fuel as possible under as much pressure as possible with a minimum of material, and...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Remote Monitoring Promotes Community Health beyond Hospitals

NASA Technology

Hospital rooms are full of sensors, screens, and beeps. Those sensors send signals not just to screens in that room but down the hall to the nurse’s...

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...

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

Spray Analyzer Turns Up in Cars, Planes, Medicine, Cutting-Edge TVs

NASA Technology

At first, NASA just wanted a way to characterize fuel sprays in a turbulent environment such as a jet engine. What William Bachalo created to...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Software Toolkit Steadies Rockets

NASA Technology

“Combustion instability is the part of rocket science that makes rocket science hard,” says Paul Gloyer, actual rocket scientist and cofounder of a company that hopes to help...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Beryllium Blazes New Trail for Telescopes

NASA Technology

The James Webb Space Telescope is a mechanical eye so penetrating it will look back in time to the dawn of the universe. And its cornea of lightweight, durable mirrors is...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Fluorescent Paints Spot DNA Damage from Radiation, Gene Editing

NASA Technology

A cutting-edge technique for detecting damage to chromosomes showed enough promise for space medicine that its creators founded a company to market...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Bowflex System Spurs Revolution in Home Fitness

NASA Technology

The commercials were once ubiquitous, and the machines soon appeared in spare rooms and garages across the country. The Bowflex Revolution was a phenomenon of the...

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: 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: Health and Medicine

Miniature Positioner Focuses Lenses with Precision

NASA Technology

Nobody has ever directly seen dark matter or dark energy, yet physicists and astronomers observe their effects all around us. Dark matter is thought to hold...

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 limbs,...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Spacesuit Air Filters Eliminate Household Pet Odors

NASA Technology

In a surprising turn, NASA-backed research on new spacesuit technology could improve air quality in the homes of pet owners, as well as keep cars smelling fresh...