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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 ,...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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 that...

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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...

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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...

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When astronauts on the International Space Station venture outside to install new equipment or perform maintenance, dozens of people on Earth are involved. These extravehicular...

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Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
NASA Microphone Detects Turbulence Hundreds of Miles Away

Whether it’s in the wake vortex of airplanes taking off or in seemingly calm air, there are few issues more meddlesome to flight than turbulence. Not only can these...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Tiny Pulsed Lasers Have Medical, Industrial, Military, Environmental Applications

NASA Technology

On the outside, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will look nearly identical to the 2011-launched Curiosity rover. But inside, engineers...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Metallic Glass Coatings Improve Power Plant, Oil Rig Productivity

NASA Technology

A rover can be equipped with the most state-of-the-art scientific instruments NASA engineers can devise, but if the wheel breaks, that’s going...

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NASA Technology

Even before much-anticipated autonomous drones finally take to the sky, the U.S. airspace is saturated, says now-retired Langley Research Center scientist Kennie...

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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Electrostatic Discharge Training Improves Manufacturing Practices

NASA Technology

Everybody has felt it from time to time: that sharp jolt of electric shock you get when you walk across a rug and touch a doorknob.

...
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Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology
Pulsed Laser Innovations Power Nobel-Winners’ Research

NASA Technology

When Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon, the video and his first words—transmitted across nearly 240,000 miles and broadcasted around the...

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NASA Technology

You might open a window after painting a room, or let a foam mattress air out before sleeping on it so the materials can off-gas and...

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NASA Technology

Astronaut Scott Parazynski has flown airplanes, climbed Mount Everest, and scuba-dived deep in a volcanic lake—but he says floating in space...

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NASA Technology

NASA has been planning for a water-powered rocket engine since the Agency’s early years. After all, water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, which have been powering...

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NASA Technology

The drones are coming for us all—and that’s a good thing. While unmanned, remote-controlled, or programmed flight is not new, it is becoming increasingly...

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NASA Technology

Even after almost 150 years of wind tunnel testing, no commercial product had ever been able to directly measure the localized force that...

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NASA Technology

Through decades of sending astronauts into space, scientists have learned much about the biological effects of weightlessness. In the absence of...

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NASA Technology

On the night of April 20, 2010, a flow of oil, gas, and mud erupted onto the floor of the Deepwater Horizon drilling vessel from the oil well below....

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Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Freeze-Dried Foods Nourish Adventurers and the Imagination

NASA Technology

Freeze-dried food, today, is commonplace. It’s in the baby food aisle and next to the dried apricots. Hikers carry it on backwoods treks and doomsday...

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