BENEFITS: SPIN-OFFS
SPIN-OFFS
A “spin-off” is the useful application of a technology/technique that was originally developed to meet the needs of Space exploration or some other scientific enterprise.
SPINOFF INFORMATION
NASA offers a variety of Virtual Appearances as part of their overall outreach program. One topic offered is “How NASA Improves Our Quality of Life. Check it, and a variety of other VA topics at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/DUJwdHZRq7b!
See also:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/SpinoffsFromTheShuttleFS.html
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/new_interactive_website_homeandcity
https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/blog/nasa-spinoffs
https://technology.nasa.gov/page/spinoff-2020-shares-how-nasa-innova
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/benefits/index.html
https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/economics.html
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/pdf/AIAA%202011%20Quantifying%20Spinoff%20Benefits.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/flash/games/level4/Spinoffs_Hidden_Pictures.html
NASA Office of Chief Technologist, Technology Transfer, and Spinoffs: https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/home/index.html
Even Wikipedia has a good resource for NASA spin-offs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies
Check out NASA’s Spinoff Website here! And check out A+StW’s take on benefits here!
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 uses.
There are three inductees listed for 2022. The second one listed is for “CubeSats,” which were created by two engineering professors at Stanford as a teaching tool for students to get hands-on experience with satellites. “In the 1990’s Professor Robert Twiggs was teaching engineering students at Stanford. At the time, he had them designing and building small satellites (roughly ½ meter in diameter). However, the complexity and large size of the satellite made it difficult for students to complete during their time in the program. He figured that a smaller satellite might be easier for them to design and build within the time frame of their studies.”
“Working with Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari at Cal Poly, the two came up with the basic CubeSat design that would eventually become a world-wide standard. In 2000 they started their collaborative work on the satellite concept, and in 2003 the first CubeSat was launched from a Russian rocket.”
NASA engineers took notice. A lot of research of interest to NASA could be done by very small satellites – CubeSats. A group at NASA Ames began using them to conduct micro-gravity biological experiments in 2006, and two CubeSats were flown on the InSight spacecraft to Mars in 2018, where they served as InSight’s communications relays.
CubeSats have a standardized design and use standardized components, and allow for a simple launching process, making them an increasingly-attractive means of conducting operations in Space.
Thanks NASA, and Stanford, too!
Not all Spinoffs are Technological! We often think of NASA spinoffs as finding a new (commercial) use for some material, device, or other Thing that had originally be developed for NASA. However, not all of the very important spinoff benefits are things. A really good example of this is NASA SP-4102: Managing NASA in the Apollo Era. After all, the development of the managerial processes needed to bring a huge project with tight safety, cost, time and other constraints to fruition successfully was one of the biggest and best spin-offs from the Apollo program! See: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4102/contents.htm. An example of management, NASA Style, can be found here: https://www.nasa.gov/reference/jsc-program-management-execution. NASM DOCENTS: NASA management as a valuable additional by-product of the U.S. Space Program can be a good thing to include on your tours!
The Legacy of NASA’s Fuel Cells: The capsules designed during the 1960s Space race needed power to operate properly. That was not a problem in Project Mercury, because flights were of short duration, and the present battery technology could provide the needed power. But the longer-duration missions planned for Projects Gemini and Apollo could not rely on batteries alone. A combustion engine aboard was dangerously out of the question, and setting up a solar cell array of the size needed was not feasible. NASA’s solution was to turn to the fuel cell, where hydrogen and oxygen combine through an electrolyte. Fuel cells could provide more energy per pound on long missions than batteries.
NASA contracted with three companies to design and build the fuel cells required. One of them was a division of Pratt & Whitney, soon to be named UTC Power, supplied the fuel cells used on the Space Shuttle, then began making them commercial, under the new name, HyAxiom. The companies NASA partnered with to design/make fuel cells can “trace their intellectual property heritage, their corporate heritage, even the generations of personnel to those companies NASA funded back in the early 1960s.” For the quote source and more info, see: https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/tech-today-nasas-moonshot-launched-commercial-fuel-cell-industry.
Safer Food for All of Us: Illnesses caused by packaged supermarket food have been greatly reduced in large part thanks to NASA. Mercury and most Gemini flights were too short to make food safety a huge issue, but going to the Moon required NASA to ensure that food taken aboard was free of pathogens. Even greater emphasis on food safety was required for long-duration ISS missions. NASA anticipated Apollo’s food protection needs and responded by creating the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. The Apollo Program Office issued a set of guidelines in 1963 that all program contractors would have to follow, emphasizing identifying and controlling all potential points of food contamination, demonstrating a plan for the prevention, control, or elimination of those hazards, and keeping meticulous records along the way. This supplants the older method of merely testing the final product. Pillsbury was one of the first to adopt what would be called HACCP, presenting their version to the industry in 1971. The FDA got on board with their version of HACCP as part of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act; it didn’t mention HACCP by name, calling it “Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls.” A Rose by any other Name…. Take Katy Larimer’s word for it, as she is Ocean Spray’s VP of R&D, “While the average consumer may not know what HACCP is, we know it’s enabling us to consistently put out safe, quality product.” Would the food industry and/or the FDA come up with such a system on their own? Probably. Bet we got the benefits of HACCP sooner and better than we would have otherwise. For more information on HACCP, see: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/moon-landing-food-safety.
Another example of NASA’s interest in food security is the National Space Counsel’s white paper released on December 1, 2023, entitled, “Enhancing Agricultural Resilience, Scalable Sustainability, and Ensuring Food Security through Space-based Earth Observation. As only NASA can!
“Five Mars Rover Technologies That Could Be in Your Next Car” is the title of a piece in Forbes.com; see it here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2021/02/18/five-mars-rover-technologies-that-could-be-in-your-next-car/?sh=140b36554cd3 Spoiler Alert! They are: Artificial Intelligence, Doppler LIDAR, Unbreakable Tires, Lubricant that actually repairs engine damage, and Flying Cars. OK, they’re not talking George Jetson here, but are reflecting on the big step forward represented by the technology that enabled the flight of the Ingenuity.
NASA’s Spinoff 2024 is Out! “As NASA innovates for the benefit of all, what the agency develops for exploration has the potential to evolve into other technologies with broader use here on Earth. Many of those examples are highlighted in NASA’s annual Spinoff book including dozens of NASA-enabled medical innovations, as well other advancements in 3D printing, robots, and brake designs.
This year’s publication also features a section highlighting technologies developed at agency centers such as NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, that are available for use by various industries.” See it here: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Other Spinoff Resources!
Space Priorities Framework: The White House recently released its new SPF. It has two principal sections, one on how the United States benefits from Space activities, and the other on the guiding priorities as we look ahead. The priorities fall into two groups: “Maintaining a Robust and Responsible U.S. Space Enterprise” and “Preserving Space for Current and Future Generations.” The bullet points for the former are: “The United States will: Maintain its leadership in space exploration and space science; Advance the development and use of space-based Earth observation capabilities that support action on climate change; Foster a policy and regulatory environment that enables a competitive and burgeoning U.S. commercial space sector; Protect space-related critical infrastructure and strengthen the security of the U.S. space industrial base; Defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats; and Invest in the next generation.”
Allow me to quote that final bullet point in full.
“Investing in STEM education is critical to continuing U.S. leadership into the next generation and preparing the nation’s STEM workforce to fuel the economy of the future. Our STEM ecosystem of public and private organizations will leverage space programs to educate our children as part of improving the scientific literacy of Americans and increasing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in scientific and technological fields. The United States is a diverse and multicultural society, and its space activities and workforce must reflect this composition. Furthermore, space information will continue to be made more accessible, providing inspiration and access to the benefits of space to more people than ever before. This includes working with commercial space entities to leverage the growing space economy to support historically underserved and underrepresented communities so that the benefits of space can accrue to all Americans.”
See the full document: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/United-States-Space-Priorities-Framework-_-December-1-2021.pdf.