Never has the future seemed so close at hand.

In just a few year's time, the globe enters a new millennium--one that is filled with exciting promise and, assuredly, difficult challenges. The early decades of the 21st century will test America's competitive prowess in the global marketplace as much as before, as well as the nation's entrepreneurial verve.

NASA stands ready to partner with U.S. businesses, to help solve design challenges, and to improve the overall productivity and competitiveness of American industry.

This cooperation is a partnership for progress.

There are numbers of examples of how NASA outreach to a major company, or the smallest of private business, has been of benefit to the Nation as a whole. These are success stories.

For instance, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the State of Florida have a technology outreach program--one that helps Florida business solve technical problems. A myriad of problem-solving ideas have come forward, from making ink dry faster in the manufacturing of American flags, and improving the fit of a prosthetic foot, to identifying a low-cost, hand-held carbon monoxide detector for fire fighters, and even reducing the noise and vibration of a dental drill.

The Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) was established in 1987 by the Florida Legislature. KSC and TRDA, working together, have been able to transfer space technology expertise to private industry needs. A Rockledge, Florida company that makes high-speed electric motors was plagued by bearing breakdown at high speed. NASA identified an improved bearing design and materials that would result in longer-lasting performance. In another case, a Cape Coral, Florida manufacturer of an oxygen device for home use had a problem on its equipment. KSC engineers tested the device, identified the source of the problem, and initiated the solution. NASA's KSC has come to the assistance of hundreds and hundreds of Florida companies over the past few years.

Ames Research Center technology was put into place at the Denver International Airport (DIA). The largest airport constructed in the past two decades, DIA features the Center Terminal RAdar CONtrol Automation System (TRACON)--an air traffic control automation system developed at Ames in the late 1980s. TRACON is the Denver International Airport's primary traffic management tool. Denver airport officials say the airport's air traffic management systems have been operating very smoothly and efficiently since the airport began running with TRACON.

Another NASA success story involved Jennifer, a young woman diagnosed with Leigh's Encephalopathy. Her only method for communicating was a single-switch interface with a computer. She activated the device with her mouth, allowing her to select from an array of words. However, the switch under her chin was cumbersome and difficult to use. Her specific needs were addressed by Langley Research Center at the request of SkillQuest Services, of the city of Virginia Beach. Langley engineers devised a custom headpiece for the youngster. A "chin mouse" was crafted so that the girl's chin could trip a microswitch, allowing her to select an option on a computer screen. As a result, this specially-crafted device has improved Jennifer's quality of life.

Lewis Research Center's Space Communications Division, the Cleveland Clinic, and the University of Virginia are working jointly under a NASA Space Act Agreement. Satellite transmission of mammograms through NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) has been possible, with images beamed to the location of mammography experts. Now patients in rural, urban, and low population density regions, as well as economically depressed areas can have experts review their mammograms. ACTS allows the images to be delivered in near real time, thanks to the satellite's high data rate and high-tech ground station network.

NASA's Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) at the John C. Stennis Space Center worked with a realtor to jointly develop a better way for prospective home buyers to find a new house. The answer was in looking to the sky. Making use of primarily airborne sensors, CRSP specialists culled together a computer mapping system. Specific geographical data were then referenced to the imagery: Possible flood areas, percent of shade on the lot, setback distance between the street and the house, stores, developments, etc., were all defined. The end product helped the realty company make home buying easier.

Marshall Space Flight Center structures and dynamics engineers helped improve the obstetrical forceps used to properly position an infant in the mother's womb prior to delivery. For this task, the NASA technicians found that by using composite materials, a safe load distribution on the infant could be held in check as pressure was applied by the attending physician. The key was in using fiber optic sensors embedded in the composite material during manufacturing. These sensors enable the physician to monitor pressure on the infant throughout the delivery. These space-age forceps make infant delivery safer.

Lastly, not all NASA success stories can be so fruitful. In one case, it was really the pits--literally.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was asked by a baking corporation to help devise a way to detect any cherry pits, or pieces of pits, that remain in cherry pie filling. The answer involved use of infrared camera technology, typically used for planetary, Earth, and astrophysical research. The JPL solution now prevents tooth damage to a bakery customer, and subsequent law suits.

Linking NASA to problem solving is a natural. But those problems don't have to be hundreds of miles above Earth or on a faraway world. NASA's technological expertise is not confined to space...it can be further leveraged by building bridges and commercial partnerships between the space agency and the private sector.

NASA is an investment in America's future...and can offer a rich bounty of competence, skills, facilities, and a willingness to create partnerships for progress.