NASA is best known for space exploration, but the agency’s technology is also affecting Earth.
A new book, called By-product 2022shines the spotlight on the products that have emerged from NASA research.
They include air purifier this is about technology for growing plants in space; blankets created from a substance NASA created to cool rocket fuel; and underwear for race car drivers which uses material originally developed for outerwear.
The book also explores 20 fresh NASA news that is ripe for commercial application.
These vary from a biometrics a system that unlocks phones with heartbeats to a thin film a device that converts CO2 into fuel.
NASA has been working to develop practical products since the agency’s inception in 1958. Today, this work is led by the Technology Transfer Programwhich seeks the widest possible applications for NASA technology.
“There are a lot of parallels between the things we see in space and the things we see on Earth,” Daniel Lockney, the program director, told TNW. “From trying to find ways to recycle water to getting more energy efficient and keeping astronauts safe in remote places, there’s a lot of overlap.”
Lockney oversees the strategy for finding those areas of overlap. The process begins whenever someone spends NASA money on R&D to create something new.
The invention is first reported to the Office of Technology Transfer. Teams at NASA’s field centers then determine whether the designs are technically feasible and could have secondary application.
“We’re figuring out if anyone else can use it – and how we can get it to them,” Lockney said.
If it’s software, NASA give it away for free. If it is hardware, however, the agency first determines whether a patent is necessary to help companies bring it to market. But the most common approach is to just publish the content and share it as widely as possible.
The free market is then responsible for turning the invention into products.
The program is primarily funded by taxpayers, although NASA collects a small royalty fee on licensed patents.
“That mostly goes to the inventors as a reward for coming up with a great idea – and an incentive to keep reporting inventions,” Lockney said. “No one gets rich because of it; it’s a net bonus, but it’s a public service and this is an activity funded by taxpayers.
The public service produced a varied set of products. They range from the cameras used in many modern smartphoneswhich NASA initiated for interplanetary space travel, al zit zapper this takes advantage of the agency’s research on thermodynamics.
However, not all rumors of NASA’s innovations are true – such as the myth of the space pen.
NASA reportedly spent millions to invent a pen that can write in zero gravity, while Soviet cosmonauts simply used a pencil. In reality, however, the device was independently developed by the founder of the Fisher Pen Company, with $ 1 million of its own funds.
The device was less flammable than pencils and eliminated the risk of broken lead floating around in microgravity. NASA then tested and approved the design for space use.
Even the The Soviet Union bought the pen for spaceflight, while NASA astronauts continue to use it today.
Another common misconception is this NASA invented Tanga beverage blend that was used in several early space missions.
“While that wasn’t created by us, it shows the expectation that there will be all these great benefits of space and NASA missions,” Lockney said.
Lockney believes his program also makes NASA’s work more relevant:
With space, the end result is not these technologies, but rather expanding humanity’s understanding of the universe and our place in it. But that’s so bold and abstract, it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. A tertiary advantage of this higher goal is that we also get these great processes, products and services.
They also demonstrate that exploring space can have terrestrial advantages.
Source
Thomas Macaulay