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
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.
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 two 2010 USSF HoF inductees is an extremely-important of the former, “Eye Protection and Vision-Enhancing Technology.” 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.
The HoF citation reads, “Beginning with research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 1960’s, Eagle Eyes technology is the result work to develop protection for human eyesight from the harmful effects of solar radiation. Specifically, ultraviolet and blue-light rays which are known to contribute to cataract and age-related macular degeneration.
NASA researchers looked to nature for a solution. They learned that the eyes of birds of prey contain oil droplets that filter out harmful radiation and permit only specific wavelengths of light to enter giving them extreme visual clarity” even at great distances.
An advanced formula replicating this natural system was successfully applied to the first transparent welding curtain to filter out harmful light and protect human eyesight in hazardous environments. The new technology was soon applied to sunglasses and introduced to the public under the Sun Tiger name known today as Eagle Eyes Optics. Eagle Eyes Optics absorb 99+%% of all photo wavelengths considered hazardous to human eye tissue – including UVA, UVB and blue-light up to 475 nanometers in the wavelength spectrum and the cut-off point at which visible light is allowed to transmit through the lens. Scientific shows that this range is the most beneficial to the human eye for protection and increased visual perception, contrast and reduced chromatic aberration. Eagle Eyes products are recognized around the world for their protective and vision-enhancing capabilities and are another excellent example of how space technology benefits life on Earth.”
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