Topic

Tough Textiles Protect Payloads and Public Safety Officers

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Special textiles have been mission-critical components for successful space missions since the early years of NASA’s first parachutes and...

Forecasting Tools Point to Fishing Hotspots

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Sport fishing is an uncertain pastime. Some days the fish are biting; others, not. But for captains of charter fishing boats and recreational fishermen making...

Air Purifiers Eliminate Pathogens, Preserve Food

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution In order for NASA astronauts to explore the solar system, they will need to travel not just as pioneers but as settlers, learning to live off the land....

Fabrics Protect Sensitive Skin from UV Rays

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Beginning in 1968, NASA began researching garments to help astronauts stay cool. The Agency designed the Apollo space suits to use battery-powered pumps to...

Phase Change Fabrics Control Temperature

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Since designing the first space suits in the 1950s, NASA has been interested in developing materials to keep astronauts comfortable and cool. In order to protect...

Tiny Devices Project Sharp, Colorful Images Consumer, Home, and Recreation

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Johnson Space Center, NASA’s center for the design of systems for human space flight, began developing high-resolution visual...

Star-Mapping Tools Enable Tracking of Endangered Animals

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Try this: Print out a lower-case letter “o” in Times New Roman, 10-point font. Now hold the paper at arm’s length. Viewed from this...

Modeling Innovations Advance Wind Energy Industry

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution One morning in 1990, a group of Glenn Research Center (then Lewis Research Center) employees arrived to find their workspace upended by an apparent...

Nanofiber Filters Eliminate Contaminants

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Water, an increasingly precious commodity on Earth, has always been priceless in space; but “priceless” is a figure of speech—water in space does have a...

Thermal Insulation Strips Conserve Energy

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Launching the space shuttle involves an interesting paradox: While the temperatures inside the shuttle’s main engines climb higher than 6,000 °F— hot enough...

Satellite-Respondent Buoys Identify Ocean Debris

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution NASA operates a series of Earth-observing satellites, which help scientists learn more about our home planet. Through partnerships with universities and...

Mobile Instruments Measure Atmospheric Pollutants

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution As a part of NASA’s active research of the Earth’s atmosphere, which has included missions such as the Atmospheric Laboratory of Applications and...

Cloud Imagers Offer New Details on Earth’s Health

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution A stunning red sunset or purple sunrise is an aesthetic treat with a scientific explanation: The colors are a direct result of the absorption or...

Antennas Lower Cost of Satellite Access

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Whether for scientific inquiry, weather forecasting, or public safety, the world relies upon the data gathered by satellite remote sensing. Some of NASA’s most...

Feature Detection Systems Enhance Satellite Imagery

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution In 1963, during the ninth orbit of the Faith 7 capsule, astronaut Gordon Cooper skipped his nap and took some photos of the Earth below using a...

Chlorophyll Meters Aid Plant Nutrient Management

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution On December 7, 1972, roughly 5 hours and 6 minutes after launch, the crew of Apollo 17 took one of history’s most famous photographs. The brilliant...

Telemetry Boards Interpret Rocket, Airplane Engine Data

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution For all the data gathered by the space shuttle while in orbit, NASA engineers are just as concerned about the information it generates on the...

Programs Automate Complex Operations Monitoring

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Kennedy Space Center, just off the east coast of Florida on Merritt Island, has been the starting place of every human space flight in NASA’s history....

Software Tools Streamline Project Management

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Three innovative software inventions from Ames Research Center (NETMARK, Program Management Tool, and Query-Based Document Management) are finding their way...

Modeling Languages Refine Vehicle Design

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution When we watch a space shuttle launch on television, we have only the vaguest sense of the extraordinary amount of work required to make such a complex operation...

Radio Relays Improve Wireless Products

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution In order to transmit communications through Earth’s atmosphere, satellites and space vehicles need radio equipment that can operate at higher frequencies than on...

Advanced Sensors Boost Optical Communication, Imaging

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution In 1992, on a gravity assist flyby of Earth that would help propel it along its mission to Jupiter, NASA’s Galileo probe detected a line of light...

Tensile Fabrics Enhance Architecture Around the World

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution On a Friday night in March 2008, fans at a college basketball game at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome noticed the stadium’s scoreboard begin to sway....

Thermoelectric Devices Cool, Power Electronics

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution More than 10 billion miles away from Earth, a NASA spacecraft continues a journey that began in 1977. Having long since accomplished its original mission to...

Robust Light Filters Support Powerful Imaging Devices

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Consider the anatomy of a rainbow: From the inner arch, violet shifts to blue, then green, yellow, and red. Contained in the rainbow is the spectrum...

Innovative Tools Advance Revolutionary Weld Technique

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution The iconic, orange external tank of the space shuttle launch system not only contains the fuel used by the shuttle’s main engines during liftoff...

Methods Reduce Cost, Enhance Quality of Nanotubes

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution For all the challenges posed by the microgravity conditions of space, weight is actually one of the more significant problems NASA faces in the...

Gauging Systems Monitor Cryogenic Liquids

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Rocket fuel needs to stay cool—super cool, in fact. The ability to store gas propellants like liquid hydrogen and oxygen at cryogenic temperatures (below -243...

Voltage Sensors Monitor Harmful Static

Originating Technology/NASA Contribution Anyone who has ever experienced an unpleasant jolt from a doorknob after shuffling across the carpet on a dry morning knows that static electricity—also known as...