Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Shuttle, Hubble Work Lead to Strength in Custom Current Sensors

NASA Technology

When it was built, the Space Shuttle boasted the world’s most complex avionics system. The Shuttle’s controls were entirely digital, with all...

Spinoff: Transportation

Unmanned Research Aircraft Test Cutting-Edge Innovations

Born out of a desire for aircraft to be able to take off and land capably at airports with shorter runways to alleviate congestion at the major hubs, the circulation control wing...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Software Helps Restore Fire-Ravaged Habitats

NASA Technology

Idaho is a nature-lover’s dream. Forests there blanket swaths of terrain, from the glassy lake regions of the northern Panhandle to the famous trout-fishing streams...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Mars Methane Detector Identifies Harmful Gas Leaks

NASA Technology

Residing inside the intestines of animals and in marshes, bogs, untreated sewage, ocean sediment, and other places devoid of oxygen are microbes called...

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: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Helium Recapture System Reclaims Hydrogen for Industry Use

NASA Technology

Rising helium prices might not put much of a dent in the average birthday party balloon budget, but they add up quickly for an organization like NASA,...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Rodent Research Contributes to Osteoporosis Treatments

NASA Technology

Astronauts know their bodies will be tested during time spent on the International Space Station (ISS), from the multiple sunrises and sunsets per day...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Lasers Enable Alternative Power Transmission

NASA Technology

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, in his hugely successful 1979 work The Fountains of Paradise, crafted a story around the development of a technology that had...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

High-Temperature Superconductors Deliver Power without Heat

NASA Technology

It came to be known as the “Woodstock of Physics.” Thousands of scientists tried to squeeze into the Sutton Ballroom of the New York Hilton,...

Spinoff: Transportation

Data Visualizer Enhances Modeling for Cars, Consumer Products

NASA Technology

Nearly 20 years ago, Pieter Buning was in the early stages of his career with NASA, working on an interactive graphics program called Plot3D. “Life...

Spinoff: Transportation

Orbital Trajectory Analyzer Takes Mission Planning to New Heights

NASA Technology

There’s some wizardry involved in sending a rocket or other spacecraft beyond the oppressive reach of Earth’s gravity. Long before the first...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Single-Photon Lidar Maps Ground Features Quickly, Efficiently

NASA Technology

Taking topographic measurements with single photons in broad daylight means pushing the limits of precision, and this is what Sigma Space Corporation...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Flock of Nanosatellites Provides a Daily Picture of Earth

NASA Technology

Because of their expense, building and operating satellites has long been the purview of large companies and Government agencies. Having to manufacture...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Temperature-Resistant Materials Enable Space-Like Cold on Earth

NASA Technology

In spacecraft construction, even components like tape can require cutting-edge technology.

During the mid-1990s, engineers at the Jet...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Cryocoolers Fuel Exploration in Space and on Earth

NASA Technology

Studying solar flares and particle acceleration requires cool heads and lots of intricate planning. When NASA was preparing to launch the Reuven Ramaty High...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Space-Ready Durometers Measure Hardness on Earth

NASA Technology

There are no mechanic shops in space.

Following the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in February 2003, NASA implemented additional safety inspections to be...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

NASA Climate Analytics Support Biological Research

NASA Technology

Every few seconds, NASA’s satellites transmit more than a gigabyte of data back to Earth. By 2030, it’s estimated the Agency will have amassed 350 petabytes...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Rice Crop Models Stabilize Global Markets, Enable Efficient Irrigation

NASA Technology

When global food prices spiked dramatically in late 2007 and into 2008, with the costs of many basic dietary staples doubling or even...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

System-Health Monitor Predicts Failures before They Happen

NASA Technology

A young engineering and technical services company is betting that NASA teams at the Mission Control Center in Houston, aboard the International Space...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Modified Monitor Provides Glasses-Free 3D for Pilots, Gamers

NASA Technology

When flying the increasingly crowded skies, pilots need to have an arsenal of information at the ready: altitude, airspeed, fuel level, distance to...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Pressure Garments Save New Mothers’ Lives

NASA Technology

In 1969 NASA Ames Research Center received an unusual call for help: a local woman who had given birth continued to experience abdominal bleeding weeks later despite...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Electro-Optic Ceramic Creates High-Speed Fiber-Optic Networks

NASA Technology

By 2002, Corning Applied Technologies had developed a new electro-optic ceramic material, one that promised efficient, effective, rugged, low-cost...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Tiny Capsules Enable a World of Possibilities

NASA Technology

Big opportunities sometimes come in the smallest packages.

In the early 1980s, NASA engineers and researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Cost-Saving Method Yields Solar Cells for Exploration, Gadgets

NASA Technology

It’s expensive to fly to low-Earth orbit, let alone Mars and beyond. Engines are still propelled primarily by burning liquid fuel, but future...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Antimicrobial Agent Updates Ancient Industry of Prayer Mats

NASA Technology

Although it is one of the most abundant organic compounds on Earth, chitin is not among the best understood. For example, chitosan, a derivative of...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Artificial Intelligence Targets Advertising by Understanding User

NASA Technology

A couple of years ago, AJ Abdallat went online and bought a bracelet from a major department store as a gift for his wife. He wasn’t happy with...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Multispectral Satellite Imagery Shows Farmers’ Fields in New Light

NASA Technology

L anny Faleide founded his Agri ImaGIS company, now called Satshot Inc., in 1994 on an idea that may have given offense to the day’s tillers...

Spinoff: Transportation

Lightweight, Ultra-Strong Nanotubes to Transform Industry

NASA Technology

In June of 1991, Japanese scientist Sumio Iijima had been studying fullerenes, man-made molecules made up entirely of carbon, when he discovered under an...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Open Source Tools Popularize Infrastructure for Cloud Computing

NASA Technology

When a small group of NASA software developers met with representatives of Rackspace Inc. at a Thai restaurant in early 2010, few would have...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Modeling Software Helps Rocket Scientists Go with the Flow

NASA Technology

Rocket science and simplicity don’t normally go hand in hand, but that’s what NASA had in mind when the Agency developed the Fastrac turbopump in the...