Spinoff: Computer Technology

Program Assists Satellite Designers

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Managed by Goddard Space Flight Center, the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) was launched on December 30, 1995, from Kennedy Space...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Water-Based Coating Simplifies Circuit Board Manufacturing

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The Structures and Materials Division at Glenn Research Center is devoted to developing advanced, high-temperature materials and...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Software Schedules Missions, Aids Project Management

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA missions require advanced planning, scheduling, and management, and the Space Agency has worked extensively to develop the...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Wireless Sensor Network Handles Image Data

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

To relay data from remote locations for NASA’s Earth sciences research, Goddard Space Flight Center contributed to the...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Software Simulates Sight: Flat Panel Mura Detection

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In the increasingly sophisticated world of high-definition flat screen monitors and television screens, image clarity and the...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Inductive System Monitors Tasks

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) software developed at Ames Research Center uses artificial intelligence and data mining techniques to build...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Mars Mapping Technology Brings Main Street to Life

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The Red Planet has long held a particular hold on the human psyche. From the Roman god of war to Orson Welles’ infamous Halloween...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Intelligent Memory Module Overcomes Harsh Environments

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Solar cells, integrated circuits, and sensors are essential to manned and unmanned space flight and exploration, but such systems...

Spinoff: Computer Technology

Integrated Circuit Chip Improves Network Efficiency

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Prior to 1999 and the development of SpaceWire, a standard for high-speed links for computer networks managed by the European Space...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Novel Process Revolutionizes Welding Industry

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Deformation resistance welding (DRW) is a revolutionary welding process—a new technique for joining metals—in an...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Portable Device Analyzes Rocks and Minerals

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Building on the success of the two rover geologists that arrived on Mars in January 2004, NASA’s next rover mission is being...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA Design Strengthens Welds

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The Welding Institute (TWI), a nonprofit professional organization based out of the United Kingdom and devoted to the industry of joining...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

NASA Innovation Builds Better Nanotubes

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

One of the basic nanotechnology structures, the carbon nanotube, is a graphite sheet one atomic layer thick that is wrapped on...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Sensors Increase Productivity in Harsh Environments

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

A team of scientists at Glenn Research Center, operating under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Polyimide Boosts High-Temperature Performance

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Polyimides are a class of polymers notable for chemical, wear, radiation, and temperature resistance, characteristics that...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Robotics Offer Newfound Surgical Capabilities

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Anyone who has ever worked on a car’s engine or tried to fix a sink knows the frustration of trying to perform precision work in a...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

In-Line Filtration Improves Hygiene and Reduces Expense

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Water, essential to sustaining life on Earth, is that much more highly prized in the unforgiving realm of space travel and...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

LED Device Illuminates New Path to Healing

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Among NASA’s research goals is increased understanding of factors affecting plant growth, including the effects of...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Photorefraction Screens Millions for Vision Disorders

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Who would have thought that stargazing in the 1980s would lead to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren seeing more clearly today?...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Lockable Knee Brace Speeds Rehabilitation

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Marshall Space Flight Center develops key transportation and propulsion technologies for the Space Agency. The Center...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Robotic Joints Support Horses and Humans

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

A rehabilitative device first featured in Spinoff 2003 is not only helping human patients regain the ability to walk, but is now helping our...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Periodontal Probe Improves Exams, Alleviates Pain

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

“Dentists,” comedian Bill Cosby memorably mused, “tell you not to pick your teeth with any sharp metal object....

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Magnetic Separator Enhances Treatment Possibilities

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Since the earliest missions in space, NASA specialists have performed experiments in low gravity. Protein crystal...

Spinoff: Transportation

Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

As increased energy efficiency, and particularly fuel efficiency, becomes a greater concern, hybrid and...

Spinoff: Transportation

Advanced Control System Increases Helicopter Safety

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

For over 30 years, NASA and U.S. Army engineers have worked together at Ames Research Center to make rotorcraft fly...

Spinoff: Transportation

Aerodynamics Research Revolutionizes Truck Design

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The last 35 years have seen a sea change in the design of trucks on America’s highways, reflecting extensive research...

Spinoff: Transportation

Engineering Models Ease and Speed Prototyping

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA astronauts plan to return to the Moon as early as 2015 and establish a lunar base, from which 6-month flights to Mars...

Spinoff: Transportation

Software Performs Complex Design Analysis

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Designers use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to gain greater understanding of the fluid flow phenomena involved in...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Space Suit Technologies Protect Deep-Sea Divers

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Working on NASA missions allows engineers and scientists to hone their skills. Creating devices for the high-stress rigors...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Fiber Optic Sensing Monitors Strain and Reduces Costs

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In applications where stress on a structure may vary widely and have an unknown impact on integrity, a common...