Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

‘NASA Invention of the Year’ Controls Noise and Vibration

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center, the Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) is an innovative, low-cost piezoelectric...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Thermoelectric Devices Advance Thermal Management

When NASA programs need the ultimate reliability to power deep space probes, they repeatedly select thermoelectric (TE) devices as a system component. TE devices heat, cool, and generate...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Computational Modeling Develops Ultra-Hard Steel

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Glenn Research Center’s Mechanical Components Branch routinely conducts research on transmissions and gearing for advanced gas turbines,...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Thin, Light, Flexible Heaters Save Time and Energy

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Ice accumulation is a serious safety hazard for aircraft. The presence of ice on airplane surfaces prevents the even flow of air, which...

Spinoff: Industrial Productivity & Manufacturing Technology

Novel Nanotube Manufacturing Streamlines Production

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Nanotubes are sheets of graphite, one atom thick, rolled into seamless cylinders, with an exterior diameter in the range of nanometers....

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Ingestible Thermometer Pill Aids Athletes in Beating the Heat

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

From the football turf to high above the Earth, heat exhaustion is a life-threatening concern. Heat exhaustion, or...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

Space-Proven Medical Monitor: The Total Patient-Care Package

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

By mid-1963, American astronauts had visited space on six different occasions, all as part of NASA’s first human space...

Spinoff: Health and Medicine

From Planetary Imaging to Enzyme Screening

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

To work in NASA’s Mission Control Center and share in the excitement of seeing the very first close-up images of Saturn being piped back to...

Spinoff: Transportation

Damage-Tolerant Fan Casings for Jet Engines

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

All turbofan engines work on the same principle. A large fan at the front of the engine draws air in. A portion of the air enters the...

Spinoff: Transportation

Steering Aircraft Clear of Choppy Air

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

On December 28, 1997, a United Airlines plane flying from Japan to Hawaii experienced severe turbulence while over the West Pacific Ocean. Over 100...

Spinoff: Transportation

Advanced Air Data Systems for Commercial Aircraft

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

It is possible to get a crude estimate of wind speed and direction while driving a car at night in the rain, with the motion of the...

Spinoff: Transportation

NASA Helps Design the "Cockpit of the Future"

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Langley Research Center conducts research in support of all of the aeronautics project at NASA. It continues to forge new frontiers in...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Water Vapor Sensors Go Sky-High to Assure Aircraft Safety

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

A laser diode is a semiconductor-based laser used to generate analog signals or digital pulses for transmission through optical...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Clean Water for Remote Locations

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Water is indispensable for human health and well-being. A person cannot live for more than a few days without clean, drinkable water. It is, therefore,...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Fire-Resistant Reinforcement Makes Steel Structures Sturdier

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In preparing to send man to the Moon in the 1960s, no detail was too small for NASA to consider when it came to ensuring that...

Spinoff: Public Safety

Feeling Well Rested and Wide Awake When it Counts

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Responding to a congressional concern about aviation safety, NASA's Ames Research Center created the Ames Fatigue/Jet Lag Program in 1980...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

X-ray Device Makes Scrubbing Rugs Clean a Spotless Effort

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

If "pulling the rug out from under" means suddenly withdrawing support and assistance, then NASA is pretty good at "putting the...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

A Match Made in Space

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Just before the space shuttle reaches orbit, its three main engines shut down so that it can achieve separation from the massive external tank that provided the fuel...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Affordable Space Tourism: SpaceStationSim

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

For over 5 years, people have been living and working in space on the International Space Station (ISS), a state-of-the-art laboratory complex...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Preventing Ice Before it Forms

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA has always been on the cutting edge of aviation safety research, though many of the technologies the Agency develops also find practical application in...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Microspheres in Plasma Display Panels

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA does things that have never been done "before" sending spacecraft to other planets, sending people to the Moon, and exploring the limits of the...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Look Sharp While Seeing Sharp

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

While fashion styles are known to come and go, a certain 'shade' from the past has proved otherwise.

Developed in the 1980s, the original SunTiger,...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Raised Relief Mars Globe Brings the Red Planet Closer

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

When the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) entered the Red Planet's atmosphere in March 2006, it joined the ranks of other noble...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Reflecting on Space Benefits: A Shining Example

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

NASA has long been known for having developed the thin, shiny reflective material used to insulate everything from the Hubble Space...

Spinoff: Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Modern Exploration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

One of the forces that propels scientific and cultural advancement is exploration. The mission of NASA is to pioneer the future of...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

PRP: The Proven Solution for Cleaning Up Oil Spills

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

The Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker exporting millions of gallons of oil, ran aground just after midnight on March 24, 1989 in Alaska,...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Progressive Plant Growing Has Business Blooming

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

Soil, water, and light. According to prevailing dogma, these are the three main ingredients for growing and maintaining healthy plants. But...

Spinoff: Environmental and Agricultural Resources

FLIPPER: Validation for Remote Ocean Imaging

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution

In order to better understand our solar system and the ways it supports life, scientists and researchers at NASA study the planets. Of course,...