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! 

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 second of the two 2012 USSF HoF inductees is an example of the latter, “Firewatch.”

“DLR and the private firm IQ Wireless took technology developed by DLR to analyze gases and particles in space and created a terrestrial detection tool known as FireWatch that uses high-resolution optical sensors installed on towers or masts that connect to a remote central office to monitor forests and detect potential fires.

“With sensors that can distinguish between more than 16,000 scales of grey, the system can spot developing fires in virtually any weather, day or night, resulting in a detection rate of more than 90 percent. FireWatch image processing software analyzes the motion, structure and brightness of smoke plumes and automatically alerts monitoring personnel within six minutes during daylight and within 12 minutes during the night. Monitoring personnel receive target images and coordinates to determine and alert the appropriate response resources.”

More that 7,000,000 acres of forests are now protected by the Firewatch system.

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