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Aerodynamics Research Revolutionizes Truck Design
Vehicle design has seen radical improvements thanks in large part to NASA aerodynamics research. Starting in the 1970s, researchers at Dryden Flight Research Center conducted numerous tests to refine the shape of trucks to reduce aerodynamic drag and improve efficiency. During the 1980s and 1990s, a team based at Langley Research Center explored controlling drag and the flow of air around a moving body. This research has revolutionized truck design.
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Wireless Fluid-Level Measurement System Equips Boat Owners
While developing a measurement system for fluids on aging aircraft, Langley Research Center developed an innovative wireless fluid-level measurement system. The NASA technology was of interest to Tidewater Sensors LLC, of Newport News, Virginia, because of its many advantages over conventional fuel management systems, including its ability to provide an accurate measurement of volume while a boat isexperiencing any rocking motion due to waves or people moving about on the boat. These advantages led the company to license this novel fluid-level measurement system from NASA for marine applications.
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Polymer Fabric Protects Firefighters, Military, and Civilians
In 1967, NASA contracted with Celanese Corporation, of New York, to develop a line of fire-resistant textiles for use in space suits and vehicles. The resulting technology, PBI, is now used in numerous firefighting, military, motor sports, and other applications.
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Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market
A manufacturer of lithium-ion battery electric vehicles entered into a Space Act Agreement with Kennedy Space Center to determine the utility of lithium-powered fleet vehicles. NASA contributed engineering expertise for the car’s advanced battery management system and tested a fleet of zero-emission vehicles on the Kennedy campus. The company now offers a series of lithium electric vehicles aimed at the urban and commuter markets.
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Space Suit Technologies Protect Deep-Sea Divers
Through its work with NASA, a company has developed a suit for protecting divers who are called on to work in extreme and dangerous conditions, such as high pressure, toxic chemical spills, the hot waters of the Persian Gulf, and among chemical warfare agents.
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Space Age Swimsuit Reduces Drag, Breaks Records
Because of NASA’s experience in studying the forces of friction and drag, Speedo asked the Agency to help design a swimsuit for racing. The resulting suit reduces skin friction drag 24 percent more than the previous Speedo racing suit. The research seems to have paid off; 94 percent of gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympics were won in the new Speedo suit.
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Space Research Fortifies Nutrition Worldwide
An experiment into regenerative ecosystems evolved into one of the most widespread NASA spinoffs of all time—a method for manufacturing an algae-based food supplement that provides the nutrients previously only available in breast milk. A NASA partner now manufactures this supplement, and it can be found in over 90 percent of the infant formulas sold in the United States, as well as those sold in over 65 other countries.
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Polymer Coats Leads on Implantable Medical Device
An advanced material developed by NASA is now being used on thin metal wires connected to its implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, for patients experiencing heart failure. The devices resynchronize the contractions of the heart’s ventricles by sending tiny electrical impulses to the heart muscle, helping the heart pump blood throughout the body more efficiently.
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Mars Cameras Make Panoramic Photography a Snap
Wide-screen panoramic photography technologies developed for the Mars rovers have found more “down-to-Earth” photographic and virtual exploration applications for consumers. With industry partners, NASA scientists created a prototype for the Gigapan robotic platform for consumer cameras, which automates the creation of highly detailed digital panoramas.
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Circulation-Enhancing Device Improves CPR
A small medical device developed to correct circulation problems
for astronauts returning to Earth is now being used in CPR by emergency medical
technicians.
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Noninvasive Test Detects
Cardiovascular Disease
Based on software
designed to interpret spacecraft
imagery, a simple and affordable
system now allows doctors to use
ultrasound to perform advanced, noninvasive
heart monitoring.
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‘NASA
Invention of the Year’ Controls Noise
and Vibration
The Macro-Fiber Composite,
NASA’s “Invention of the Year,” is an innovative,
low-cost piezoelectric device designed
to control vibration, noise, and deflections
in composite structural beams and panels.
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Comprehensive Software Eases
Air Traffic Management
NASA-developed air traffic management
software tools are helping to streamline
the flow of commercial flights across the
National Airspace System.
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New Lubricants Protect Machines
and the Environment
Originally designed for the space shuttle crawlers at Kennedy Space
Center, an ecologically friendly lubricant is now available for consumer use.
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The
Proven Solution for Cleaning Up
Oil Spills
Industry scientists worked
with researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and Marshall Space Flight Center in the early
1990s to develop a petroleum remediation product,
PRP, now available to consumers and industry
that enables them to safely and permanently
clean petroleum-based pollutants from water.
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Saving Space and Time: The Tractor That Einstein
Built
Remote-controlled tractors with a margin of error
of one centimeter are the result of work done by
Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists who designed
ultra-precise GPS for use on a satellite probe sent
to test two unverified predictions of Einstein’s
theory of relativity.
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Preventing Ice Before it Forms
An environmentally-friendly formula for preventing
ice on airplanes is now available as a non-toxic
spray for automobile windshields and can provide
anti-icing rotection down to 20 °F.
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Forty-Year-Old Foam Springs Back
With New Benefits
The most recognized and widely used
NASA spinoff is at it again. Temper foam celebrated
its 40th birthday in 2006, and the original product
maker is still going strong, pushing the cushion
into new arenas, including automotives, amusement
parks, prosthetics, and modern art.
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A Robot to Help Make
the Rounds
In 1995, NASA supported the conception of a two-armed, mobile, sensate
research-robot that could demonstrate the skills required to carry out
robotic tasks in space. Today, a derivation of this robot is flexing its
skills in the skilled health care environment.
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Keeping the Air Clean
and Safe—An Anthrax Smoke Detector
No one is quite sure what Earthly germs would do on Mars, but scientists
agree that it is safest to keep the Martian terrain as undisturbed as possible.
A team at JPL developed a bacterial spore-detection system for Mars-bound
spacecraft that can also recognize anthrax and other harmful, spore-forming
bacteria on Earth and alert people of the impending danger.
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Bringing Thunder and
Lightning Indoors
Scientists at Langley developed a piezoelectric device that is now available
to the public as the Lightning Switch, a wireless, batteryless, remote-controlled
light switch—a way to install or replace light switches without any new
wiring and without batteries. It installs in minutes and can save hundreds
of dollars per switch in rewiring costs, but its usefulness does not stop
there…
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Amorphous
Alloy Surpasses Steel and Titanium
In the same way that the inventions of steel in the 1800s and plastic in
the 1900s sparked revolutions for industry, a new class of amorphous alloys
is poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.
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Reflecting on Space Benefits: A Shining
Example
The shiny, reflective radiant barrier technology used to protect
people and equipment on virtually all manned and unmanned NASA space missions
is in use all over Earth, protecting people from the elements.
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From
Rockets to Racecars
Low-temperature oxidation catalysts
developed to enhance the operational life of carbon
dioxide lasers are being used in the high-speed motor
sports arena as air purifiers, so professional racecar
drivers do not get carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Space Suit Spins
Over several decades, the manufacturer of
NASA’s space suits has managed to develop a wide range
of uses for the space-born textiles, with applications
ranging from pharmaceutical manufacturing to the creation
of lighter-than-air vehicles.
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Space-Proven Medical Monitor: The Total
Patient-Care Package
Monitoring man’s
biophysical reactions to space has
played an important role in developing
better patient-monitoring systems
here on Earth.
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