BENEFITS OF SPACE EXLORATION: TECH TRANSFER

TECH TRANSFER: From the office of NASA’s Chief Technologist: “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.”

BENEFITS OF SPACE EXLORATION: TECH TRANSFER NEWS

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! 

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. This is a great example of the latter. The second of the two 2017 USSF HoF inductees is “Radiant Catalytic Ionization.”

NASA had been researching growing plants in Space. Hanging bananas here on Earth extends their lifetime, because the ethylene gas they give off cannot collect around them and hasten their decay. Keeping ethylene away from plants in microgravity is more difficult, because it simply collects around the food without moving. Scientists knew that organic compounds like ethylene could be oxidized into harmlessness using a combination of UV light and titanium dioxide, so they built a “scrubber” that could function under microgravity conditions. The system they devised was flown on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1995; it worked beautifully. Aerus LLC took the concept and developed the ActivePure line of products that “dramatically reduces concentrations of airborne aerosol contaminants, neutralizing viruses and bacteria, and wiping out infectious germs and viruses including the likes of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).” The latter is a big problem for hospitals, so the ActivePure technology is out there saving lives.

Thank you, NASA, and your industrial partners!

NASA Info Helps All! NASA has awarded $15.6 M in grants for 15 projects that support the maintenance of open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries that are freely available to everyone as part of the goals of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. For more on this story, see: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-funds-open-source-software-underpinning-scientific-innovation.

BENEFITS OF SPACE EXLORATION: TECH TRANSFER FYI

NASA Supports Tech Innovations: NASA has a long tradition of technological advancement and commercialization. They have announced the creation of two new Space Technology Research Institutes, one for engineering tech, particularly in 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques, and the other for climate research; see: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-advance-3d-printing-quantum-tech-for-climate-research. NASA also distributed $5M in awards for research into advanced aircraft manufacturing and composite materials; see: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awardees-to-develop-sustainable-aviation-composite-tech and: https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/nasa-awards-50-million-for-aviation-composite-tech-development.

NASA Supports New Technologies: “NASA has selected hundreds of small businesses and dozens of research institutions to develop technology to help drive the future of space exploration, ranging from novel sensors and electronics to new types of software and cutting-edge materials. The newly awarded projects under the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program also.” For more information about how NASA research needs are being met by hundreds of small companies, many of which will spin-off new non-NASA products of value, see: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-supports-small-business-research-to-power-future-exploration!

Small Business Innovation Research: NASA has for years had a program designed to help entrepreneurs develop technology. They recently announced an investment of $105 million for their Small Business Innovation Research program. The awardees will use NASA-developed technologies for other commercial applications. These programs have the potential to be very beneficial to the American taxpayer. So, the next time you hear somebody complain about NASA “wasting” American resources, cite this stuff back at them! For more information on this wonderful program for all of us, see: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invests-105-million-in-us-small-business-technology-development and also https://sbir.nasa.gov/prg_selection/node/66870.

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.

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.

BENEFITS OF SPACE EXLORATION: TECH TRANSFER LINKS AND OTHER INFO

NASA Office of Chief Technologist, Technology Transfer, and Spinoffs: https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/home/index.html

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

For info on the NASA Tech Transfer Office, see:

Overview: https://spinoff.nasa.gov

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

Award-winning Technologies: https://icb.nasa.gov

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

Goddard Space Flight Center Tech Transfer Office: https://technology-gsfc.ndc.nasa.gov

Johnson Space Center Tech Transfer Office: https://technology.jsc.nasa.gov

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