BENEFITS OF SPACE EXLORATION: TECH TRANSFER NEWS

TECH TRANSFER: The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 that created NASA called for the new agency to disseminate its technology for public benefit. Accordingly, NASA is obliged to provide for the widest practicable dissemination of information concerning results of NASA’s activities. Subsequent legislation further formalized NASA’s obligation to find secondary uses for its technologies.

NASA’s Technology Transfer Mission: Since NASA’s inception in 1958, it has transferred the knowledge and technology it developed to commercial and other organizations! 

Technology Transfer Office: NASA has for decades maintained a Technology Transfer Office to promote and manage the “transfer of NASA technology to promote the commercialization and public availability of Federally-owned inventions to benefit the national economy and the U.S. public.” Unlike spin-offs, where the new application was not envisioned at the time the technology was developed, tech transfer was usually planned for as part of the development process. In some cases, NASA partnered with outside entities to develop technology that would have both NASA and non-NASA uses from the get-go.

U.S. Space Foundation Technology Hall of Fame

Alas, the Space Foundation has updated its website, making it very difficult to access the still-extant HoF entries. I will continue to showcase the technologies the Space Foundation recognized as a way of documenting the value to the public of Space-related technologies.

Long-time recipients may remember that I have showcased the USSF Tech Hall of Fame items in the past in Air and Space this Week. The USSF recently altered their website to make how I’ve been showing HoF entries less convenient, but I still want to show important and sometimes-unexpected examples of technology developed initially for NASA’s that wound up with valuable unrelated commercial uses when the technology is transferred to the private sector. NASA had pioneered the necessary technologic infrastructure, then turned to commercial partners to allow the full benefit to all of us, exactly as was intended in NASA founding documents.

Sometimes new technology has applications unforeseen by its developers. Sometimes the applications were known ahead of time and guided the development process, sometimes an unexpected application will arise. The first of the three 2008 USSF HoF inductees is an extremely-important of the latter, “ArterioVision.” 

The HoF citation reads in part, “Advanced video imaging software developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides remarkably accurate and imagery of our Solar System and has laid the groundwork for understanding images of all kinds. ArterioVision software is a direct benefit of this space technology.

Used with non-invasive ultrasound examinations, ArterioVision software accurately measures the thickness of the inner two layers of the carotid artery which carries blood from the heart to the brain. While standard examinations measure only plaque and blood flow within the artery, the highly accurate ArterioVision process exposes the earliest evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart disease and stroke.”

As Always, THANK YOU, NASA!

TECH TRANSFER LINKS AND OTHER INFO

NASA Software Available for Business and Public Use: The public can now download NASA computational innovations originally designed to support its missions. To find out more, and to access NASA’s catalog of available software, see: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-software-benefits-earth-available-for-business-public-use.

NASA Office of Chief Technologist, Technology Transfer, and Spinoffs: Website closed down

https://spinoff.nasa.gov/pdf/AIAA%202011%20Quantifying%20Spinoff%20Benefits.pdf

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/new_interactive_website_homeandcity

Introduction: https://technology.nasa.gov/network

T2 Portal: https://technology.nasa.gov

NASA Software Catalog: https://software.nasa.gov

NASA Patent Portfolio: https://technology.nasa.gov/patents

JPL Tech Transfer Office: https://ott.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program: https://sti.nasa.gov