Space news and Exploration II

[ScienceRocks]

Complex Organic Molecules Discovered in Infant Star System


http://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/news/eso1513/

Complex Organic Molecules Discovered in Infant Star System

For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of complex organic molecules, the building blocks of life, in a protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. The discovery, made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), reaffirms that the conditions that spawned the Earth and Sun are not unique in the Universe. The results are published in the 9 April 2015 issue of the journal Nature
(…)
Importantly, the molecules ALMA detected are much more abundant than would be found in interstellar clouds. This tells astronomers that protoplanetary discs are very efficient at forming complex organic molecules and that they are able to form them on relatively short timescales

 

[ScienceRocks]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.8687

The Mass of Kepler-93b and The Composition of Terrestrial Planets

Kepler-93b is a 1.478 +/- 0.019 Earth radius planet with a 4.7 day period around a bright (V=10.2), astroseismically-characterized host star with a mass of 0.911+/-0.033 solar masses and a radius of 0.919+/-0.011 solar radii. Based on 86 radial velocity observations obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and 32 archival Keck/HIRES observations, we present a precise mass estimate of 4.02+/-0.68 Earth masses. The corresponding high density of 6.88+/-1.18 g/cc is consistent with a rocky composition of primarily iron and magnesium silicate. We compare Kepler-93b to other dense planets with well-constrained parameters and find that between 1-6 Earth masses, all dense planets including the Earth and Venus are well-described by the same fixed ratio of iron to magnesium silicate. There are as of yet no examples of such planets with masses > 6 Earth masses: All known planets in this mass regime have lower densities requiring significant fractions of volatiles or H/He gas. We also constrain the mass and period of the outer companion in the Kepler-93 system from the long-term radial velocity trend and archival adaptive optics images. As the sample of dense planets with well-constrained masses and radii continues to grow, we will be able to test whether the fixed compositional model found for the seven dense planets considered in this paper extends to the full population of 1-6 Earth mass planets.

 

[eots]

 

[Mr.Right]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

 

[eots]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

The need to have a way to get a return on investment..like taking passenger moon trips, then eventually a Vegas style casino/premiere holiday destination..once those gambling profits start rolling in the possibilities are endless

 

[ScienceRocks]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

Yes we do...The private sector won't do the science stuff. Nasa should stick to science and pushing the boundries of things. We wouldn't know 1/10th of what we do today if it wasn't for nasa. I promise you that a private corporation wouldn't do this and that is a fact.

I think nasa should get at least 30 billion per year in order to keep looking for new extrasolar planets and to do development of new space tech for different missions to the outter-solar system. Nasa should also get the asteroid hunting mandate and the military command should be placed in control of defending our planet from them.

I honestly believe there comes a point that privatizion is a bad idea. This is one time that is so.

 

[Mr.Right]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

Yes we do...The private sector won't do the science stuff. Nasa should stick to science and pushing the boundries of things. We wouldn't know 1/10th of what we do today if it wasn't for nasa. I promise you that a private corporation wouldn't do this and that is a fact.

I think nasa should get at least 30 billion per year in order to keep looking for new extrasolar planets and to do development of new space tech for different missions to the outter-solar system. Nasa should also get the asteroid hunting mandate and the military command should be placed in control of defending our planet from them.

I honestly believe there comes a point that privatizion is a bad idea. This is one time that is so.

Like I said, do we really need it? Wouldn't that money be better spent on things we really need? I mean, what has NASA given us that we can't live without? Waste of money IMHO.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

The need to have a way to get a return on investment..like taking passenger moon trips, then eventually a Vegas style casino/premiere holiday destination..once those gambling profits start rolling in the possibilities are endless

But that doesn't ever include science and exploration. Nasa is the only option.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

Yes we do...The private sector won't do the science stuff. Nasa should stick to science and pushing the boundries of things. We wouldn't know 1/10th of what we do today if it wasn't for nasa. I promise you that a private corporation wouldn't do this and that is a fact.

I think nasa should get at least 30 billion per year in order to keep looking for new extrasolar planets and to do development of new space tech for different missions to the outter-solar system. Nasa should also get the asteroid hunting mandate and the military command should be placed in control of defending our planet from them.

I honestly believe there comes a point that privatizion is a bad idea. This is one time that is so.

Like I said, do we really need it? Wouldn't that money better spent on things we really need? I mean, what has NASA given us that we can't live without? Waste of money IMHO.

You're a clueless piece of shit. How about knowledge and probably a thousand other things. You'd turn this country into a third world asshole. Why do we need nws or cdc or fda? Oh'yeah, to have a organizion able to do something when we really need to do something. You'd weaken this country before you'd admit that nasa is well worth it.

Nasa develops engines that also advance our military and much more.

 

[Mr.Right]

You are aware of course that Obama with support of the Democrats stripped NASA of anyway to reach orbit or space? We must hire private enterprise to deliver materials to the space station and must use Russia to send people into space.

We have no space vehicle and no plans to make another. Ohh did I mention that Obama and the democrats cut NASA's budget to the bone?

Where's the money to come from? Oh yeah it's all Obama's fault. How about taking a few billion from the military's 700b.? After all with a Nasa budget of around 17b, 2 or 3b would be a real shot in the arm.Congress got the will to do that? Do you Sarge?

"A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA’s funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget."

LINK: Space.com

Do we really need NASA? I think space exploration should be privatized. There are several companies that would fit the bill. It would also allow for specialization. And private companies would also be more efficient.

Yes we do...The private sector won't do the science stuff. Nasa should stick to science and pushing the boundries of things. We wouldn't know 1/10th of what we do today if it wasn't for nasa. I promise you that a private corporation wouldn't do this and that is a fact.

I think nasa should get at least 30 billion per year in order to keep looking for new extrasolar planets and to do development of new space tech for different missions to the outter-solar system. Nasa should also get the asteroid hunting mandate and the military command should be placed in control of defending our planet from them.

I honestly believe there comes a point that privatizion is a bad idea. This is one time that is so.

Like I said, do we really need it? Wouldn't that money better spent on things we really need? I mean, what has NASA given us that we can't live without? Waste of money IMHO.

You're a clueless piece of shit. How about knowledge and probably a thousand other things. You'd turn this country into a third world asshole. Why do we need nws or cdc or fda? Oh'yeah, to have a organizion able to do something when we really need to do something. You'd weaken this country before you'd admit that nasa is well worth it.

Name one thing NASA has given us that we couldn't do without.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You sound like a member of the fucking Taliban that believes we shouldn't develop shit and we should just herd goats while living our lives praising the lord. You just don't believe we should spend shit on anything great or stand out as a world power You're asking for a weaker America.

You'd rip the innovative heart out of the most advance country in the history of our goddamn species to defends your bs belief system. I say this even as I love what Musk is doing and believe that the private sector will play a big roll in the future....But to say nasa is a waste of money? I think your fucking trillion dollar wars are a waste of money..I think your tax cuts to the most wealthy are a waste of fucking money...Knowledge and the leadership of our nation sure as fuck isn't. We need more of it or China is going to eat our lunch.

nasa is worth every fucking cent for the advances and knowledge they have provided us. Our species are no better then the dinosaurs without them. I don't think you'd want the defense of this planet in the hands of a bunch of out of private fat cats. Yeah, 99% of everything else in our universe is worth 30 billion/year...

People like you are kind of like the ghetto ******* as they never want better and don't want to learn. You'd have us down at that level...It makes me sick. I beg these people to wake up every day for years but here you want us to follow them. grrr. This simply is what civilized people do...We advance things and become better for it.


I support the private sector but nasa is part of our strength!

 

[ScienceRocks]

The understanding of our universe and just how complex it is. Not only that it gives us a chance to defend our planet from the threats that we face.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Godbless nasa as they add to human intelligence. Even if that was the only goddamn thing they ever did they'd be worth it.

They make us capable of saving our own fucking ass and we should all be thankful.

 

[ScienceRocks]

What has nasa did for us???


NASA Technologies Benefit Our Lives
www.nasa.gov/city. The new features highlight how space pervades our lives, invisible yet critical to so many aspects of our daily activities and well-being.
NASA Technologies Benefit Our Lives
Health and Medicine

Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

Red light-emitting diodes are growing plants in space and healing humans on Earth. The LED technology used in NASA space shuttle plant growth experiments has contributed to the development of medical devices such as award-winning WARP 10, a hand-held, high-intensity, LED unit developed by Quantum Devices Inc. The WARP 10 is intended for the temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain, arthritis, stiffness, and muscle spasms, and also promotes muscle relaxation and increases local blood circulation. The WARP 10 is being used by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Navy as a noninvasive “soldier self-care” device that aids front-line forces with first aid for minor injuries and pain, thereby improving endurance in combat. The next-generation WARP 75 has been used to relieve pain in bone marrow transplant patients, and will be used to combat the symptoms of bone atrophy, multiple sclerosis, diabetic complications, Parkinson’s disease, and in a variety of ocular applications. (Spinoff 2005, 2008)

Infrared Ear Thermometers

Diatek Corporation and NASA developed an aural thermometer, which weighs only 8 ounces and uses infrared astronomy technology to measure the amount of energy emitted by the eardrum, the same way the temperature of stars and planets is measured. This method avoids contact with mucous membranes, virtually eliminating the possibility of cross infection, and permits rapid temperature measurement of newborn, critically-ill, or incapacitated patients. NASA supported the Diatek Corporation, a world leader in electronic thermometry, through the Technology Affiliates Program. (Spinoff 1991)

Artificial Limbs

NASA’s continued funding, coupled with its collective innovations in robotics and shock-absorption/comfort materials are inspiring and enabling the private sector to create new and better solutions for animal and human prostheses. Advancements such as Environmental Robots Inc.’s development of artificial muscle systems with robotic sensing and actuation capabilities for use in NASA space robotic and extravehicular activities are being adapted to create more functionally dynamic artificial limbs (Spinoff 2004). Additionally, other private-sector adaptations of NASA’s temper foam technology have brought about custom-moldable materials offering the natural look and feel of flesh, as well as preventing friction between the skin and the prosthesis, and heat/moisture buildup. (Spinoff 2005)

Ventricular Assist Device

Collaboration between NASA, Dr. Michael DeBakey, Dr. George Noon, and MicroMed Technology Inc. resulted in a lifesaving heart pump for patients awaiting heart transplants. The MicroMed DeBakey ventricular assist device (VAD) functions as a “bridge to heart transplant” by pumping blood throughout the body to keep critically ill patients alive until a donor heart is available. Weighing less than 4 ounces and measuring 1 by 3 inches, the pump is approximately one-tenth the size of other currently marketed pulsatile VADs. This makes it less invasive and ideal for smaller adults and children. Because of the pump’s small size, less than 5 percent of the patients implanted developed device-related infections. It can operate up to 8 hours on batteries, giving patients the mobility to do normal, everyday activities. (Spinoff 2002)

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Transportation

Anti-Icing Systems

NASA funding under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and work with NASA scientists advanced the development of the certification and integration of a thermoelectric deicing system called Thermawing, a DC-powered air conditioner for single-engine aircraft called Thermacool, and high-output alternators to run them both. Thermawing, a reliable anti-icing and deicing system, allows pilots to safely fly through ice encounters and provides pilots of single-engine aircraft the heated wing technology usually reserved for larger, jet-powered craft. Thermacool, an innovative electric air conditioning system, uses a new compressor whose rotary pump design runs off an energy-efficient, brushless DC motor and allows pilots to use the air conditioner before the engine even starts. (Spinoff 2007)

Highway Safety

Safety grooving, the cutting of grooves in concrete to increase traction and prevent injury, was first developed to reduce aircraft accidents on wet runways. Represented by the International Grooving and Grinding Association, the industry expanded into highway and pedestrian applications. The technique originated at Langley Research Center, which assisted in testing the grooving at airports and on highways. Skidding was reduced, stopping distance decreased, and a vehicle’s cornering ability on curves was increased. The process has been extended to animal holding pens, steps, parking lots, and other potentially slippery surfaces. (Spinoff 1985)

Improved Radial Tires

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company developed a fibrous material, five times stronger than steel, for NASA to use in parachute shrouds to soft-land the Vikings on the Martian surface. The fiber’s chain-like molecular structure gave it incredible strength in proportion to its weight. Recognizing the increased strength and durability of the material, Goodyear expanded the technology and went on to produce a new radial tire with a tread life expected to be 10,000 miles greater than conventional radials. (Spinoff 1976)

Chemical Detection

NASA contracted with Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) to develop moisture- and pH-sensitive sensors to warn of potentially dangerous corrosive conditions in aircraft before significant structural damage occurs. This new type of sensor, using a specially manufactured optical fiber whose entire length is chemically sensitive, changes color in response to contact with its target. After completing the work with NASA, IOS was tasked by the U.S. Department of Defense to further develop the sensors for detecting chemical warfare agents and potential threats, such as toxic industrial compounds and nerve agents, for which they proved just as successful. IOS has additionally sold the chemically sensitive fiber optic cables to major automotive and aerospace companies, who are finding a variety of uses for the devices such as aiding experimentation with nontraditional power sources, and as an economical “alarm system” for detecting chemical release in large facilities. (Spinoff 2007)

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Public Safety

Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems

Intergraph Government Solutions developed its Video Analyst System (VAS) by building on Video Image Stabilization and Registration (VISAR) technology created by NASA to help FBI agents analyze video footage. Originally used for enhancing video images from nighttime videotapes made with hand-held camcorders, VAS is a state-of-the-art, simple, effective, and affordable tool for video enhancement and analysis offering benefits such as support of full-resolution digital video, stabilization, frame-by-frame analysis, conversion of analog video to digital storage formats, and increased visibility of filmed subjects without altering underlying footage. Aside from law enforcement and security applications, VAS has also been adapted to serve the military for reconnaissance, weapons deployment, damage assessment, training, and mission debriefing. (Spinoff 2001)

Land Mine Removal

Due to arrangements such as the one between Thiokol Propulsion and NASA that permits Thiokol to use NASA’s surplus rocket fuel to produce a flare that can safely destroy land mines, NASA is able to reduce propellant waste without negatively impacting the environment, and Thiokol is able to access the materials needed to develop the Demining Device flare. The Demining Device flare uses a battery-triggered electric match to ignite and neutralize land mines in the field without detonation. The flare uses solid rocket fuel to burn a hole in the mine’s case and burn away the explosive contents so the mine can be disarmed without hazard. (Spinoff 2000)

Fire-Resistant Reinforcement

Built and designed by Avco Corporation, the Apollo heat shield was coated with a material whose purpose was to burn and thus dissipate energy during reentry while charring, to form a protective coating to block heat penetration. NASA subsequently funded Avco’s development of other applications of the heat shield, such as fire-retardant paints and foams for aircraft, which led to the world’s first intumescent epoxy material, which expands in volume when exposed to heat or flames, acting as an insulating barrier and dissipating heat through burn-off. Further innovations based on this product include steel coatings devised to make high-rise buildings and public structures safer by swelling to provide a tough and stable insulating layer over the steel for up to 4 hours of fire protection, ultimately to slow building collapse and provide more time for escape. (Spinoff 2006)

Firefighter Gear

Firefighting equipment widely used throughout the United States is based on a NASA development that coupled Agency design expertise with lightweight materials developed for the U.S. Space Program. A project that linked NASA and the National Bureau of Standards resulted in a lightweight breathing system including face mask, frame, harness, and air bottle, using an aluminum composite material developed by NASA for use on rocket casings. Aerospace technology has been beneficially transferred to civil-use applications for years, but perhaps the broadest fire-related technology transfer is the breathing apparatus worn by firefighters for protection from smoke inhalation injury. Additionally, radio communications are essential during a fire to coordinate hose lines, rescue victims, and otherwise increase efficiency and safety. NASA’s inductorless electronic circuit technology contributed to the development of a lower-cost, more rugged, short-range two-way radio now used by firefighters. NASA also helped develop a specialized mask weighing less than 3 ounces to protect the physically impaired from injuries to the face and head, as well as flexible, heat-resistant materials—developed to protect the space shuttle on reentry—which are being used both by the military and commercially in suits for municipal and aircraft-rescue firefighters. (Spinoff 1976)

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Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Temper Foam

As the result of a program designed to develop a padding concept to improve crash protection for airplane passengers, Ames Research Center developed a foam material with unusual properties. The material is widely used and commonly known as temper foam or “memory foam.” The material has been incorporated into a host of widely used and recognized products including mattresses, pillows, military and civilian aircraft, automobiles and motorcycles, sports safety equipment, amusement park rides and arenas, horseback saddles, archery targets, furniture, and human and animal prostheses. Its high-energy absorption and soft characteristics not only offer superior protection in the event of an accident or impact, but enhanced comfort and support for passengers on long flights or those seeking restful sleep. Today, temper foam is being employed by NASCAR to provide added safety in racecars. (Spinoff 1976, 1977, 1979, 1988, 1995, 2002, 2005)

Enriched Baby Food

Commercially available infant formulas now contain a nutritional enrichment ingredient that traces its existence to NASA-sponsored research that explored the potential of algae as a recycling agent for long-duration space travel. The substance, formulated into the products life’sDHA and life’sARA, can be found in over 90 percent of the infant formulas sold in the United States, and are added to the infant formulas sold in over 65 additional countries. The products were developed and are manufactured by Martek Biosciences Corporation, which has pioneered the commercial development of products based on microalgae; the company’s founders and principal scientists acquired their expertise in this area while working on the NASA program. (Spinoff 1996, 2008)

Portable Cordless Vacuums

Apollo and Gemini space mission technologies created by Black & Decker have helped change the way we clean around the house. For the Apollo space mission, NASA required a portable, self-contained drill capable of extracting core samples from below the lunar surface. Black & Decker was tasked with the job, and developed a computer program to optimize the design of the drill’s motor and insure minimal power consumption. That computer program led to the development of a cordless miniature vacuum cleaner called the Dustbuster. (Spinoff 1981)

Freeze Drying Technology

In planning for the long-duration Apollo missions, NASA conducted extensive research into space food. One of the techniques developed was freeze drying—Action Products commercialized this technique, concentrating on snack food. The foods are cooked, quickly frozen, and then slowly heated in a vacuum chamber to remove the ice crystals formed by the freezing process. The final product retains 98 percent of its nutrition and weighs only 20 percent of its original weight. Today, one of the benefits of this advancement in food preparation includes simple nutritious meals available to handicapped and otherwise homebound senior adults unable to take advantage of existing meal programs sponsored by government and private organizations. (Spinoff 1976, 1994)

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Environmental and Agricultural Resources

Harnessing Solar Energy

Homes across the country are now being outfitted with modern, high-performance, low-cost, single crystal silicon solar power cells that allow them to reduce their traditional energy expenditures and contribute to pollution reduction. The advanced technology behind these solar devices—which are competitively-priced and provide up to 50 percent more power than conventional solar cells—originated with the efforts of a NASA-sponsored 28-member coalition of companies, government groups, universities, and nonprofits forming the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Alliance. ERAST’s goal was to foster the development of remotely piloted aircraft intended to fly unmanned at high altitudes for days at a time, requiring advanced solar power sources that did not add weight. As a result, SunPower Corporation created the most advanced silicon-based cells available for terrestrial or airborne applications. (Spinoff 2005)

Pollution Remediation

A product using NASA’s microencapsulating technology is available to consumers and industry enabling them to safely and permanently clean petroleum-based pollutants from water. The microencapsulated wonder, Petroleum Remediation Product or “PRP,” has revolutionized the way oil spills are cleaned. The basic technology behind PRP is thousands of microcapsules—tiny balls of beeswax with hollow centers. Water cannot penetrate the microcapsule’s cell, but oil is absorbed right into the beeswax spheres as they float on the water’s surface. Contaminating chemical compounds that originally come from crude oil (such as fuels, motor oils, or petroleum hydrocarbons) are caught before they settle, limiting damage to ocean beds. (Spinoff 1994, 2006)

Water Purification

NASA engineers are collaborating with qualified companies to develop a complex system of devices intended to sustain the astronauts living on the International Space Station and, in the future, those who go on to explore the Moon. This system, tentatively scheduled for launch in 2008, will make use of available resources by turning wastewater from respiration, sweat, and urine into drinkable water. Commercially, this system is benefiting people all over the world who need affordable, clean water. By combining the benefits of chemical adsorption, ion exchange, and ultra-filtration processes, products using this technology yield safe, drinkable water from the most challenging sources, such as in underdeveloped regions where well water may be heavily contaminated. (Spinoff 1995, 2006)

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Computer Technology

Better Software

From real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the Moon and Mars, to real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle, NASA is collaborating with Google Inc. to solve a variety of challenging technical problems ranging from large-scale data management and massively distributed computing, to human-computer interfaces—with the ultimate goal of making the vast, scattered ocean of data more accessible and usable. With companies like InterSense, NASA continues to fund and collaborate on other software advancement initiatives benefiting such areas as photo/video image enhancement, virtual-reality/design, simulation training, and medical applications. (Spinoff 2005)

Structural Analysis

NASA software engineers have created thousands of computer programs over the decades equipped to design, test, and analyze stress, vibration, and acoustical properties of a broad assortment of aerospace parts and structures (before prototyping even begins). The NASA Structural Analysis Program, or NASTRAN, is considered one of the most successful and widely-used NASA software programs. It has been used to design everything from Cadillacs to roller coaster rides. Originally created for spacecraft design, NASTRAN has been employed in a host of non-aerospace applications and is available to industry through NASA’s Computer Software Management and Information Center (COSMIC). COSMIC maintains a library of computer programs from NASA and other government agencies and offers them for sale at a fraction of the cost of developing a new program, benefiting companies around the world seeking to solve the largest, most difficult engineering problems. (Spinoff 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1998)

Refrigerated Internet-Connected Wall Ovens

Embedded Web Technology (EWT) software—originally developed by NASA for use by astronauts operating experiments on available laptops from anywhere on the International Space Station—lets a user monitor and/or control a device remotely over the Internet. NASA supplied this technology and guidance to TMIO LLC, who went on to develop a low-cost, real-time remote control and monitoring of a new intelligent oven product named “ConnectIo.” With combined cooling and heating capabilities, ConnectIo provides the convenience of being able to store cold food where it will remain properly refrigerated until a customized pre-programmable cooking cycle begins. The menu allows the user to simply enter the dinner time, and the oven automatically switches from refrigeration to the cooking cycle, so that the meal will be ready as the family arrives home for dinner. (Spinoff 2005)

"]NASA Technologies Benefit Our Lives+ Back to Top[/URL]

Industrial Productivity

Powdered Lubricants

NASA’s scientists developed a solid lubricant coating material that is saving the manufacturing industry millions of dollars. Developed as a shaft coating to be deposited by thermal spraying to protect foil air bearings used in oil-free turbomachinery, like gas turbines, this advanced coating, PS300, was meant to be part of a larger project: an oil-free aircraft engine capable of operating at high temperatures with increased reliability, lowered weight, reduced maintenance, and increased power. PS300 improves efficiency, lowers friction, reduces emissions, and has been used by NASA in advanced aeropropulsion engines, refrigeration compressors, turbochargers, and hybrid electrical turbogenerators. ADMA Products has found widespread industrial applications for the material. (Spinoff 2005)

Improved Mine Safety

An ultrasonic bolt elongation monitor developed by a NASA scientist for testing tension and high-pressure loads on bolts and fasteners has continued to evolve over the past three decades. Today, the same scientist and Luna Innovations are using a digital adaptation of this same device for a plethora of different applications, including non-destructive evaluation of railroad ties, groundwater analysis, radiation dosimetry, and as a medical testing device to assess levels of internal swelling and pressure for patients suffering from intracranial pressure and compartment syndrome, a painful condition that results when pressure within muscles builds to dangerous levels. The applications for this device continue to expand. (Spinoff 1978, 2005, 2008)

Food Safety Systems

Faced with the problem of how and what to feed an astronaut in a sealed capsule under weightless conditions while planning for human space flight, NASA enlisted the aid of The Pillsbury Company to address two principal concerns: eliminating crumbs of food that might contaminate the spacecraft’s atmosphere and sensitive instruments, and assuring absolute freedom from potentially catastrophic disease-producing bacteria and toxins. Pillsbury developed the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept, potentially one of the most far-reaching space spinoffs, to address NASA’s second concern. HACCP is designed to prevent food safety problems rather than to catch them after they have occurred. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has applied HACCP guidelines for the handling of seafood, juice, and dairy products. (Spinoff 1991)

 

[ScienceRocks]

Want more???
Everyday Items Developed By NASA - Business Insider
To prove this point, every year since the mid-1970s, NASA has published a list of space technologies that have been integrated into everyday items. The tangible benefits span from life-saving medical devices to protective eyewear. To date, NASA has documented nearly 1,800 "spinoff" technologies. Here's a short list.

• Artificial limbs
• Baby formula
• Cell-phone cameras
• Computer mouse
• Cordless tools
• Ear thermometer
• Firefighter gear
• Freeze-dried food
• Golf clubs
• Long-distance communication
• Invisible braces
• MRI and CAT scans
• Memory foam
• Safer highways
• Solar panels
• Shoe insoles
• Ski boots
• Adjustable smoke detector
• Water filters
• UV-blocking sunglasses

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-items-developed-by-nasa-2012-8#ixzz3WtSPDHSC

 

[Mr.Right]

Want more???
Everyday Items Developed By NASA - Business Insider
To prove this point, every year since the mid-1970s, NASA has published a list of space technologies that have been integrated into everyday items. The tangible benefits span from life-saving medical devices to protective eyewear. To date, NASA has documented nearly 1,800 "spinoff" technologies. Here's a short list.

• Artificial limbs
• Baby formula
• Cell-phone cameras
• Computer mouse
• Cordless tools
• Ear thermometer
• Firefighter gear
• Freeze-dried food
• Golf clubs
• Long-distance communication
• Invisible braces
• MRI and CAT scans
• Memory foam
• Safer highways
• Solar panels
• Shoe insoles
• Ski boots
• Adjustable smoke detector
• Water filters
• UV-blocking sunglasses

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-items-developed-by-nasa-2012-8#ixzz3WtSPDHSC

If I'm not mistaken, just about everything you mentioned was accomplished with a non NASA partner, or simply funded by NASA. I didn't see one thing that couldn't have been accomplished without NASA.

 

[eots]

l can not help but be reminded the classic Frengi vs Vulcan schools of thought and the 13th and 79th rules of acquisition

1. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money
2. Beware of the Vulcan greed for knowledge.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You say nasa is worthless? This proves you wrong.

|

Top 10 NASA Inventions

The spaceship isn't NASA's only great invention.

Hemera/Thinkstock

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. government agency that runs the country's civilian space program, has accomplished some truly amazing feats since its inception in 1958 -- from beating the Soviet Union in the race to put astronauts on the moon, to exploring the surface of Mars with unmanned robotic vehicles. So you're probably not surprised to hear that NASA employs a pretty awesome brain trust of scientific and engineering talent in a wide array of fields, from astronomy and physics to chemistry, biology and materials science.

NASA has invented all sorts of technology to solve the peculiar problems of space exploration. In the 1950s and early 1960s, it created the revolutionary three-axis stabilization control design that enables satellites to point their antennas, instruments and solar panels with precision. Since then, it's been such a prolific problem solver that about one in every 1,000 U.S. patents is granted to someone working on a NASA project [source: Rayl].

In fact, the NASA workforce is so ingenious that quite a few of its inventions are useful for those of us who stay on the ground. The agency even has a special administrative branch, the Technology Utilization Program, which focuses on helping companies turn the ideas behind space gadgetry into industrial and consumer innovations.

The list of inventions is certainly long, but if we have to single out a few favorites, these 10 would top the list.

10
Memory Foam

If you're looking to pull one of these in a chair, you'd better hope it comes packed full of memory foam.

Photo courtesy Aaron Fotheringham

In the early 1960s, an aeronautical engineer named Charles Yost worked on technology designed to make sure that the Apollo command module and its astronauts could be recovered safely after landing. That experience came in handy four years later, when Yost was tapped to help NASA's Ames Research Center develop airplane seating that could absorb the energy of crashes and increase passengers' chances of survival. Yost created a special type of plastic foam that had the seemingly miraculous ability to deform and absorb tremendous pressure, then return to its original shape.

Researchers discovered that the "slow springback foam," as it was called initially, not only made passengers safer, it also made sitting for hours on long flights more comfortable because it allowed for a more even distribution of body weight.

In 1967, Yost formed his own company, Dynamic Systems Inc., which marketed the innovation as "temper foam." Since then, memory foam has found its way into scores of applications. In the 1970s and 1980s, pro football's Dallas Cowboys team used it to line players' helmets to reduce the trauma of impact on the field. Shoe manufacturers have called on the foam to create special high-comfort insoles. In hospitals, mattress pads and wheelchair seats made from the foam support patients with painful, dangerous sores on their bodies.

Companies continue to find new uses for memory foam and its descendants. A Colorado company uses a type of memory foam to build inflatable bumper rafts, which resist sinking, for whitewater rides at theme parks. A company in Kentucky builds it into horses' saddles and uses it to make prosthetic braces for injured animals [source: NASA Spinoff].

Next, we'll look at an invention with the smarts to protect NASA's high-tech equipment from the elements -- both on and off the Earth.

9
Anti-corrosion Coating
NO, NASA DIDN'T INVENT THAT
Two products are often mistakenly attributed to the space program:

• Teflon (actually invented by DuPont back in 1938)
• The powdered breakfast drink Tang (actually developed by General Foods, now Kraft Foods), even though it was on the menu when astronaut John Glenn ate and drank in space in 1962

One challenge with space exploration is that equipment must withstand radical conditions, from the heat of rocket exhaust to extreme cold in space. Surprisingly, one of the most destructive forces is the corrosive effect of saltwater-laden ocean spray and fog. It rusts gantries -- large frames that surround rocket launch sites -- and launch structures at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and other coastal facilities. Fortunately, in the 1970s, researchers at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center discovered that coating the equipment with a protective layer containing zinc dust and potassium silicate would help thwart the costly rusting.

In the early 1980s, a company called Inorganic Coatings Inc. used the concept to produce a nontoxic, water-based coating, IC 531 zinc silicate, which readily bonds with steel and dries within 30 minutes to a hard, ceramiclike finish. The coating has been applied to bridge girders, pipelines, oil rigs, dock equipment, buoys, tractor-trailer truck frames and even to the exteriors of U.S. Army tanks.

But perhaps the coating's most celebrated application came in the mid-1980s, when 225 gallons (852 liters) of it were applied to the inside of the Statue of Liberty, to help curb further deterioration of the century-old iconic figure [source: Space Foundation].

Next up, we'll meet technology with the ability to let us glimpse something as expansive as the cosmos and as tiny as the arteries traveling away from the human heart.

8
ArterioVision

ArterioVision pairs ultrasound equipment like this with NASA's software genius.

©iStockphoto/johnnyscriv

Since the mid-1960s, scientists in the image processing lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been working to improve video imaging software, so that astronomers can turn space probe data into increasingly vivid, high-resolution images of distant planets and other celestial objects.

In recent years, medical researchers have applied some of NASA's software innovations to peer not into the sky but into patients' circulatory systems for signs of atherosclerosis, a common disease in which fatty material builds up inside arteries and threatens to cause heart attacks and strokes.

The California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL for NASA, licensed the technology to a private company, Medical Technologies International Inc. (MTI), whose chief engineer, Robert Seltzer, was a veteran JPL researcher. The result was ArterioVision software. It can be used with ultrasound equipment to perform a noninvasive examination of a patient's carotid artery, which carries blood to the brain.

Paired with ultrasound technologies, ArterioVision can detect signs of cardiovascular illness at very early stages, when it would otherwise evade detection by conventional tests. As a result, medical experts say that more patients may have a chance to curb the disease with dietary and lifestyle changes, rather than medication or surgery down the line [source: NASA]. Doctors' offices in all 50 U.S. states offer ArterioVision testing [source: Lockney].This next NASA invention has expanded lifestyle options for hearing-impaired individuals worldwide.

7
Cochlear Implants

Hearing aids amplify sound, but they don't clarify it.

Comstock/Thinkstock

In the late 1970s, Adam Kissiah Jr., a hearing-impaired engineer working on the space shuttle program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, knew all too well the shortcomings of conventional analog hearing aids. They simply amplified sound entering the ear without clarifying it. In an effort to solve the problem, he put to use his knowledge of NASA's advances in electronic sensing systems, telemetry, and sound and vibration sensors. He came up with the concept for a new type of hearing aid -- an implant that would produce digital pulses to stimulate the auditory nerve endings, which then would transmit the signals to the brain.

Kissiah went on to work with BioStim, a private company, to develop the new device. Kissiah's patented concepts were built upon by other manufacturers [source: Space Foundation]. Since then, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 219,000 patients have received cochlear implants [source: NIDCD]. The devices enable people who've been deaf since birth to hear for the first time. They've also restored hearing for those who still have a responsive auditory nerve but who've lost hearing due to trauma or disease [source: Space Foundation].

This application of space technology has made an enormous difference in the lives of people like Mike Scheerer, a Peoria, Ill., man in his late 50s, who received a cochlear implant in 2009 and heard songbirds singing in the trees in his neighborhood. "I would say that's the most beautiful thing I ever heard," he told the Peoria Star newspaper. "I had never heard birds before, that I can remember" [source: Davis].

NASA's role in revolutionizing our senses doesn't stop with hearing. Find out how the organization protects people's vision next.

6
Scratch-resistant Eyeglass Lenses
It may seem hard to believe, but there was a time when eyeglasses actually were made of glass. Not only were they heavy, but if the person wearing them was hit with something, the lens would shatter and spew tiny, vision-threatening shards of glass. For that reason, in 1972, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that all sunglasses and prescription lenses be shatter-resistant, which essentially compelled lens makers to shift to more durable plastic.

Plastic provided better optics and absorbed ultraviolet light better, but there was one problem: Plastic lenses were frustratingly easy to scratch. That's where NASA scientist Ted Wydeven of the agency's Ames Research Center came in. While working on a water purification system for spacecraft, Wydeven coated a filter with a thin, plastic film, using an electric discharge of an organic vapor. The resulting coating was surprisingly tough, and NASA used the concept to develop an abrasion-resistant coating for space helmet visors and aerospace equipment. In 1983, Foster-Grant, the sunglasses manufacturer, commercialized the scratch-resistant coating, and today, the majority of eyeglasses sold in the United States are outfitted with plastic lenses that last 10 times as long as the old ones [source: Space Foundation ].

Can you guess which NASA invention holds the title as the most licensed technology from the agency as of 2010? Read on to see if you guessed right.

5
Remediating the Environment: Emulsified Zero-valent Iron

Shuttles left behind an awful lot of cleanup after their glorious departures. NASA came up with at least one solution to that problem.

Marc Serota/Getty Images

After NASA launches a shuttle into space, a slew of fuel and chemical waste remain on the launching pad and surrounding area.

One compound in particular, trichloroethylene, also called "trike," takes a long time to break down naturally in the ground. It's also known to cause health problems, including harmful effects to the nervous system and development [source: EPA].

The situation becomes more alarming when one considers the fact that cleanup wasn't a priority during the heyday of NASA's shuttle program before the mid-1970s [source: Waymer]. In fact, trike waste was placed into the ground, under the assumption the compound would evaporate (it didn't).

But NASA caught on and devised a method to break down the waste. Rather than physically removing it, NASA scientists Jacqueline Quinn and Kathleen Brooks Loftin invented a solution that helps break down trike into nontoxic byproducts with no harm to the environment. They won both the agency's commercial and government invention of the year in 2005.

The thick solution, called emulsified zero-valent iron, can be injected into groundwater, where it neutralizes toxic chemicals that pose a threat to the environment. The technology transitioned easily into commercial markets, with chemical, manufacturing and oil companies purchasing the solution to remediate land contaminated with toxic matter from their businesses. In fact, the solution became so popular, it's the agency's most licensed technology as of 2010 [source: Spinoff Magazine].

Diabetes and NASA paired together in the same sentence? Figure out their relationship on the next page.

4
Insulin Pump
What do NASA and diabetes have in common?

For starters, the agency has made treating the condition easier, thanks to researchers working on the Mars Viking spacecraft. At the time, the chance of traveling farther into space also presented challenges in monitoring astronauts' health, prompting the team to find new ways to oversee astronauts' vital signs.

Similar monitoring systems were adopted to help treat individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes, also known as Type 1 diabetes. As a result of the Goddard Space Flight Center's work, medical experts created implanted devices that can monitor a person's blood sugar levels and send signals to release insulin into his or her body when needed [source: NASA]. The technology, known today as an insulin pump, has helped monitor the health of people living with diabetes since the late '80s.
----
Lifeshears

After a NASA space shuttle trades Earth's atmosphere for the depths of the galaxy, it detaches itself from its rocket boosters. The technology responsible for making that flawless transition also boasts life-saving uses on the ground [source: Barrett].

Alongside Hi-Shear Technology Corporation of Torrance, NASA helped develop Lifeshears in 1994, a type of cutting equipment that comes in handy during emergency and rescue situations [source: Spinoff Magazine]. The invention's strengths draw from its reduced cost, weight and noise -- all of which place less stress on victims and rescuers when compared to large hydraulics and hoses required for previous operations. Instead, these shears are "pyrotechnically-actuated," meaning they draw a charge from a pyrotechnic reaction within the device's cartridge. It's the same concept NASA uses to separate shuttles from their booster rockets midair, except on a smaller scale.

Charge-coupled Device
|

Top 10 NASA Inventions

The spaceship isn't NASA's only great invention.

Hemera/Thinkstock

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. government agency that runs the country's civilian space program, has accomplished some truly amazing feats since its inception in 1958 -- from beating the Soviet Union in the race to put astronauts on the moon, to exploring the surface of Mars with unmanned robotic vehicles. So you're probably not surprised to hear that NASA employs a pretty awesome brain trust of scientific and engineering talent in a wide array of fields, from astronomy and physics to chemistry, biology and materials science.

NASA has invented all sorts of technology to solve the peculiar problems of space exploration. In the 1950s and early 1960s, it created the revolutionary three-axis stabilization control design that enables satellites to point their antennas, instruments and solar panels with precision. Since then, it's been such a prolific problem solver that about one in every 1,000 U.S. patents is granted to someone working on a NASA project [source: Rayl].

In fact, the NASA workforce is so ingenious that quite a few of its inventions are useful for those of us who stay on the ground. The agency even has a special administrative branch, the Technology Utilization Program, which focuses on helping companies turn the ideas behind space gadgetry into industrial and consumer innovations.

The list of inventions is certainly long, but if we have to single out a few favorites, these 10 would top the list.

10
Memory Foam

If you're looking to pull one of these in a chair, you'd better hope it comes packed full of memory foam.

Photo courtesy Aaron Fotheringham

In the early 1960s, an aeronautical engineer named Charles Yost worked on technology designed to make sure that the Apollo command module and its astronauts could be recovered safely after landing. That experience came in handy four years later, when Yost was tapped to help NASA's Ames Research Center develop airplane seating that could absorb the energy of crashes and increase passengers' chances of survival. Yost created a special type of plastic foam that had the seemingly miraculous ability to deform and absorb tremendous pressure, then return to its original shape.

Researchers discovered that the "slow springback foam," as it was called initially, not only made passengers safer, it also made sitting for hours on long flights more comfortable because it allowed for a more even distribution of body weight.

In 1967, Yost formed his own company, Dynamic Systems Inc., which marketed the innovation as "temper foam." Since then, memory foam has found its way into scores of applications. In the 1970s and 1980s, pro football's Dallas Cowboys team used it to line players' helmets to reduce the trauma of impact on the field. Shoe manufacturers have called on the foam to create special high-comfort insoles. In hospitals, mattress pads and wheelchair seats made from the foam support patients with painful, dangerous sores on their bodies.

Companies continue to find new uses for memory foam and its descendants. A Colorado company uses a type of memory foam to build inflatable bumper rafts, which resist sinking, for whitewater rides at theme parks. A company in Kentucky builds it into horses' saddles and uses it to make prosthetic braces for injured animals [source: NASA Spinoff].

Next, we'll look at an invention with the smarts to protect NASA's high-tech equipment from the elements -- both on and off the Earth.

9
Anti-corrosion Coating
NO, NASA DIDN'T INVENT THAT
Two products are often mistakenly attributed to the space program:

• Teflon (actually invented by DuPont back in 1938)
• The powdered breakfast drink Tang (actually developed by General Foods, now Kraft Foods), even though it was on the menu when astronaut John Glenn ate and drank in space in 1962

One challenge with space exploration is that equipment must withstand radical conditions, from the heat of rocket exhaust to extreme cold in space. Surprisingly, one of the most destructive forces is the corrosive effect of saltwater-laden ocean spray and fog. It rusts gantries -- large frames that surround rocket launch sites -- and launch structures at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and other coastal facilities. Fortunately, in the 1970s, researchers at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center discovered that coating the equipment with a protective layer containing zinc dust and potassium silicate would help thwart the costly rusting.

In the early 1980s, a company called Inorganic Coatings Inc. used the concept to produce a nontoxic, water-based coating, IC 531 zinc silicate, which readily bonds with steel and dries within 30 minutes to a hard, ceramiclike finish. The coating has been applied to bridge girders, pipelines, oil rigs, dock equipment, buoys, tractor-trailer truck frames and even to the exteriors of U.S. Army tanks.

But perhaps the coating's most celebrated application came in the mid-1980s, when 225 gallons (852 liters) of it were applied to the inside of the Statue of Liberty, to help curb further deterioration of the century-old iconic figure [source: Space Foundation].

Next up, we'll meet technology with the ability to let us glimpse something as expansive as the cosmos and as tiny as the arteries traveling away from the human heart.

8
ArterioVision

ArterioVision pairs ultrasound equipment like this with NASA's software genius.

©iStockphoto/johnnyscriv

Since the mid-1960s, scientists in the image processing lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been working to improve video imaging software, so that astronomers can turn space probe data into increasingly vivid, high-resolution images of distant planets and other celestial objects.

In recent years, medical researchers have applied some of NASA's software innovations to peer not into the sky but into patients' circulatory systems for signs of atherosclerosis, a common disease in which fatty material builds up inside arteries and threatens to cause heart attacks and strokes.

The California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL for NASA, licensed the technology to a private company, Medical Technologies International Inc. (MTI), whose chief engineer, Robert Seltzer, was a veteran JPL researcher. The result was ArterioVision software. It can be used with ultrasound equipment to perform a noninvasive examination of a patient's carotid artery, which carries blood to the brain.

Paired with ultrasound technologies, ArterioVision can detect signs of cardiovascular illness at very early stages, when it would otherwise evade detection by conventional tests. As a result, medical experts say that more patients may have a chance to curb the disease with dietary and lifestyle changes, rather than medication or surgery down the line [source: NASA]. Doctors' offices in all 50 U.S. states offer ArterioVision testing [source: Lockney].This next NASA invention has expanded lifestyle options for hearing-impaired individuals worldwide.

7
Cochlear Implants

Hearing aids amplify sound, but they don't clarify it.

Comstock/Thinkstock

In the late 1970s, Adam Kissiah Jr., a hearing-impaired engineer working on the space shuttle program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, knew all too well the shortcomings of conventional analog hearing aids. They simply amplified sound entering the ear without clarifying it. In an effort to solve the problem, he put to use his knowledge of NASA's advances in electronic sensing systems, telemetry, and sound and vibration sensors. He came up with the concept for a new type of hearing aid -- an implant that would produce digital pulses to stimulate the auditory nerve endings, which then would transmit the signals to the brain.

Kissiah went on to work with BioStim, a private company, to develop the new device. Kissiah's patented concepts were built upon by other manufacturers [source: Space Foundation]. Since then, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 219,000 patients have received cochlear implants [source: NIDCD]. The devices enable people who've been deaf since birth to hear for the first time. They've also restored hearing for those who still have a responsive auditory nerve but who've lost hearing due to trauma or disease [source: Space Foundation].

This application of space technology has made an enormous difference in the lives of people like Mike Scheerer, a Peoria, Ill., man in his late 50s, who received a cochlear implant in 2009 and heard songbirds singing in the trees in his neighborhood. "I would say that's the most beautiful thing I ever heard," he told the Peoria Star newspaper. "I had never heard birds before, that I can remember" [source: Davis].

NASA's role in revolutionizing our senses doesn't stop with hearing. Find out how the organization protects people's vision next.

6
Scratch-resistant Eyeglass Lenses
It may seem hard to believe, but there was a time when eyeglasses actually were made of glass. Not only were they heavy, but if the person wearing them was hit with something, the lens would shatter and spew tiny, vision-threatening shards of glass. For that reason, in 1972, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that all sunglasses and prescription lenses be shatter-resistant, which essentially compelled lens makers to shift to more durable plastic.

Plastic provided better optics and absorbed ultraviolet light better, but there was one problem: Plastic lenses were frustratingly easy to scratch. That's where NASA scientist Ted Wydeven of the agency's Ames Research Center came in. While working on a water purification system for spacecraft, Wydeven coated a filter with a thin, plastic film, using an electric discharge of an organic vapor. The resulting coating was surprisingly tough, and NASA used the concept to develop an abrasion-resistant coating for space helmet visors and aerospace equipment. In 1983, Foster-Grant, the sunglasses manufacturer, commercialized the scratch-resistant coating, and today, the majority of eyeglasses sold in the United States are outfitted with plastic lenses that last 10 times as long as the old ones [source: Space Foundation ].

Can you guess which NASA invention holds the title as the most licensed technology from the agency as of 2010? Read on to see if you guessed right.

5
Remediating the Environment: Emulsified Zero-valent Iron

Shuttles left behind an awful lot of cleanup after their glorious departures. NASA came up with at least one solution to that problem.

Marc Serota/Getty Images

After NASA launches a shuttle into space, a slew of fuel and chemical waste remain on the launching pad and surrounding area.

One compound in particular, trichloroethylene, also called "trike," takes a long time to break down naturally in the ground. It's also known to cause health problems, including harmful effects to the nervous system and development [source: EPA].

The situation becomes more alarming when one considers the fact that cleanup wasn't a priority during the heyday of NASA's shuttle program before the mid-1970s [source: Waymer]. In fact, trike waste was placed into the ground, under the assumption the compound would evaporate (it didn't).

But NASA caught on and devised a method to break down the waste. Rather than physically removing it, NASA scientists Jacqueline Quinn and Kathleen Brooks Loftin invented a solution that helps break down trike into nontoxic byproducts with no harm to the environment. They won both the agency's commercial and government invention of the year in 2005.

The thick solution, called emulsified zero-valent iron, can be injected into groundwater, where it neutralizes toxic chemicals that pose a threat to the environment. The technology transitioned easily into commercial markets, with chemical, manufacturing and oil companies purchasing the solution to remediate land contaminated with toxic matter from their businesses. In fact, the solution became so popular, it's the agency's most licensed technology as of 2010 [source: Spinoff Magazine].

Diabetes and NASA paired together in the same sentence? Figure out their relationship on the next page.

4
Insulin Pump
What do NASA and diabetes have in common?

For starters, the agency has made treating the condition easier, thanks to researchers working on the Mars Viking spacecraft. At the time, the chance of traveling farther into space also presented challenges in monitoring astronauts' health, prompting the team to find new ways to oversee astronauts' vital signs.

Similar monitoring systems were adopted to help treat individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes, also known as Type 1 diabetes. As a result of the Goddard Space Flight Center's work, medical experts created implanted devices that can monitor a person's blood sugar levels and send signals to release insulin into his or her body when needed [source: NASA]. The technology, known today as an insulin pump, has helped monitor the health of people living with diabetes since the late '80s.

The invention differed from previous insulin dispensers in that the device offered people a pre-programmed rate that was customizable based on the person's needs. It also removed the need for daily insulin injections [source: NASA Spinoff].

It turns out the same technology that allows NASA to sever shuttles from rockets also can free trapped victims. Head onward to find out how.

3
Lifeshears

Let's hope those cutters he's holding don't need to rescue you from a tough spot you're in, but if they do, be sure to thank NASA.

Image courtesy NASA/Spinoff

After a NASA space shuttle trades Earth's atmosphere for the depths of the galaxy, it detaches itself from its rocket boosters. The technology responsible for making that flawless transition also boasts life-saving uses on the ground [source: Barrett].

Alongside Hi-Shear Technology Corporation of Torrance, NASA helped develop Lifeshears in 1994, a type of cutting equipment that comes in handy during emergency and rescue situations [source: Spinoff Magazine]. The invention's strengths draw from its reduced cost, weight and noise -- all of which place less stress on victims and rescuers when compared to large hydraulics and hoses required for previous operations. Instead, these shears are "pyrotechnically-actuated," meaning they draw a charge from a pyrotechnic reaction within the device's cartridge. It's the same concept NASA uses to separate shuttles from their booster rockets midair, except on a smaller scale.

Lifeshears have helped search-and-rescue teams save individuals trapped in wrecked cars or collapsed buildings. The invention loosened victims from dangerous debris immediately following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers in 2001.

Up next: a tiny invention with large potential.

2
Charge-coupled Device

Thanks, Hubble, for everything, including your cool CCD technology.

NASA/National Geographic/Getty Images

If you were to peek inside the Hubble Space Telescope, you'd find a lot of high-tech sensors and wiring. But one piece in particular has found its way into the medical realm on Earth.

Charge-coupled devices (CCDs) possess the ability to "digitize" light into data. In other words, they offer an easier way to convert light energy (from photons) into digital images than other imaging methods. In 1997, NASA created a "supersensitive" CCD for Hubble to increase the quality and breadth of phenomena it could image in the cosmos.

But the LORAD Corporation picked up on the idea for a new way to scan female patients for breast cancer [source: NASA]. Just as the supersensitive sensor allowed Hubble to gather more details about structures and events in space, the CCD allows doctors to perform more precise tests on women who may have breast cancer.


---

Water Filters
Even though astronauts do their jobs miles away from Earth's surface, they still rely on basic necessities we may take for granted. Take clean water, for example. How does NASA ensure that the water astronauts drink is safe?

This question spurred the agency to create special water filters in the 1970s to make certain astronauts had clean water in space [source: Marconi]. Working with Umpqua Research Company in Oregon, NASA crafted filter cartridges that use iodine to clean water supplies from the shuttles.

The technology, called the Microbial Check Valve, has gained momentum in cleaning water for municipal water plants. It has paved the way for devising other ways to filter the resource for human consumption. Such filters become especially important in areas where chemicals have contaminated groundwater supplies.

 

[Mr.Right]

No product is invented or produced without a need for it. If there was no NASA someone else would have done it, and would probably have done it cheaper.

 

[ScienceRocks]

1. all this innovation
2. The knowledge of our universe and what it is all about
3. The ability to save our own ass
4. Humanity spreading outwards and using all the resources of our universe.