Introduction
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Merle
McKenzie
Acting Director
Innovative Partnerships Program |
Spinoff is one
of the products of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program.
We are proud to highlight the advances that come out of
the Agency’s pioneering work in space exploration, scientific
discovery, and aeronautics research. It is a primary function
of this publication to share such knowledge and capabilities
with private and public sectors.
More broadly speaking, the charter of the Innovative
Partnerships Program is to produce leveraged technology
through investments and partnerships with industry,
academia, and others. We accomplish this through
longstanding avenues such as technology transfer
and licensing, and through new forms of partnerships
with the external technology community. As an example,
this year we are adding a new partnership—Red Planet
Capital—which will invest in promising new technologies
through financial equity instruments.
NASA requires this technology innovation by the very nature
of its charter. For the Human Exploration Mission, the
Agency has the challenge to protect humans in hostile environments
and from adverse effects of long-duration habitation in
zero gravity, and to limit their exposure to extreme temperatures
and radiation.
This applies to hardware as well. Throughout its history,
whether on the outer edge of the solar system, communicating
with space assets on Mars, orbiting Earth, or sending commands
from the ground, NASA has enabled sensors, energy systems,
and electronic systems to function in extreme environments.
For example, temperature conditions can be as high as 400
°C or as low as -180 °C. Radiation poses challenges too—space
systems must operate through the mission with total radiation
exposures up to 5 megarads. Likewise, navigation demands
extraordinary accuracy, such as nanoradian precision for
an encounter with Neptune. This is like a golfer who tees
off in California and hits the green in Washington, DC.
NASA has a significant technology portfolio from
its years of meeting these needs. Not surprisingly,
as we developed technology to meet these requirements,
we found synergy with high-performance commercial
markets and with companies serving other Federal
agencies. Benefit to both sides is achieved through
joint development of technology, and through licensing.
The Partnership Benefits section in Spinoff highlights
some results of NASA’s technology licensing and partnering,
and the added value derived for the public at large.
A preview of this year’s technology-to-product benefits
include:
- NASA satellite imagery which helps a new generation
of researchers explore the trail blazed across
the country by Lewis and Clark through a unique online
geospatial network.
- A special, laser-based sensor
technology NASA developed
to measure atmospheric planetary gases that now
improves real-time weather forecasting and helps
aircraft avoid dangerous weather conditions here
on Earth.
- An environmentally
friendly deicer developed for airplane wings that is
now available to consumers to prevent ice from sticking
to car windshields.
In publishing NASA’s most current
technological achievements, I am confident that this
Spinoff 2006 publication offers enlightening information
that heightens your awareness about NASA’s focused
research and development activities, the creation of
extraordinary technologies and capabilities, and the
public benefit inherent in its utilization.
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