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NASA has released its Spinoff 2022 report which feature more than “45 companies using NASA technology to create products and services here on Earth.”
In a press release NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said “the value of NASA is not confined to the cosmos but realized throughout our country – from hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs to world-leading climate science, understanding the universe and our place within it, to technology transfers that make life easier for folks around the world. As we combat the coronavirus pandemic and promote environmental justice and sustainability, NASA technology is essential to address humanity’s greatest challenges.”
Some of the highlights in the report include:
- How companies use information from NASA’s vertical farm to sustainably grow fresh produce.
- New ways that technology developed for insulation in space keeps people warm in the great outdoors.
- How a system created for growing plants in space now helps improve indoor air quality and reduces the spread of airborne viruses like coronavirus.
- How phase-change materials originally developed to help astronauts wearing spacesuits absorb, hold and release heat help keep race car drivers cool.
“Other highlights include one of the first robotic commercial lunar landers, developed with NASA mentorship and technology investment, which is slated to deliver NASA science and technology payloads to the Moon in 2022 under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The publication also features a grip-strengthening glove based on a robotic astronaut assistant that helps reduce workplace stress injuries, as well as detect-and-avoid systems, flight simulators, and a navigation app that enable remotely piloted aircraft to fill the sky. And it tells the story behind the Space Pen.”
“These NASA technologies are not only giving companies and entrepreneurs a competitive edge in their own industries but are also helping to shape budding industries, such as commercial lunar landers,” said Daniel Lockney, Technology Transfer program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA is much more than rocket launches and astronauts. We’re about improving the quality of life for people all around the world.”
“The book also features a Spinoffs of Tomorrow section that highlights 20 NASA technologies ripe for commercial application and available for licensing. These include a next-generation biometric identity verification system to unlock phones and computers using heartbeats, a nanomaterial thin-film device that can convert carbon dioxide into fuel, and a self-healing aluminum that can repair cracks and reverse damage in structures such as aircraft, tanks, and fuel lines.”
