Hello,

I'm planning to write a big article about NASA spin-offs and technology improvement. How does space technology affect everyday life?

Well... we all know about GPS, meteorology, telecommunications, etc. I'm sure the general public doesn't know much about other spin-offs. For example - this:

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06...ace-telescope/

Any other examples?

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Svetoslav Alexandrov, B.Sc. in Molecular Biology
A human return to the Moon is always 15 years in the future. A human mission to Mars is always 30 years in the future. This is the sad truth.

Here's a good place to start

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/

NASA has been publishing Spinoff for decades.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

I actually did a Public Service Announcement on this topic, so:

- Better protective suits for firefighters.
- Safer bike and sporting helmets. (As the sister of a football player, I approve!)
- Tinted glare-reducing sunglasses for safer driving.
- Shatterproof eyeglasses. (As a nearsighted athlete, I approve!)
- Cordless power tools. (Spinoff... d'oh)
- Smoke detectors.
- Memory foam pillows.
- Better cushioning in athletic shoes. (All cross country runners can appreciate this!)

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I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

Some people have the mistaken notion that if it involves America and space then it had to be a NASA project. GPS is not NASA technology. It came out of military research. NASA did a lot of good early work on comsats (especially technology demonstrators) but most of the work was done by private industry such as Hughes Aerospace (now part of Boeing).

I have to agree with Larry on this one.

A lot of what we thought were NASA goodies turned out to be market place modifications. A biggie is the PC. Too many people think if it weren’t for NASA we wouldn’t have the PC.
I would love to see your list and perhaps debate a few.

Here's your list
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/

Start here
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/back_issues_archives.html

1600 stories later, you can get to here
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2007/index.html

Then get back to us.

By the way - I've NEVER heard anyone claim that the PC exists only because of NASA.

From the link.
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/


Under the title of
“Lithium Battery Power Delivers Electric Vehicles to Market”

They have

It sounds like NASA contributed to the charging/discharging circuitry. I doubt that ONLY NASA had this knowledge. More likely one of their engineers contributed his spare time to the project. It’s ironic since NASA has banned all lithium-ion batteries from space use due to their propensity to explode or catch fire.

Personally I wouldn’t call this one a feather in NASA’s cap.

Nor do NASA. They simply state - as you correctly quoted

"NASA contributed engineering expertise..."

You're so desperate to criticise NASA, you don't even stop to read the stuff you copy and paste!

It’s not that I’m looking to criticize NASA it’s just some of the things they do I feel is a waste of their small budget. Namely Phoenix.

But this stuff is on a NASA website and the title page is Nasa Spin-off.
If this is one of their top 5, then they are grasping at straws.

The page just says "spotlight".

It doesn't say "top 5", it doesn't say "most recent", it doesn't say "most notable", it doesn't say "biggest impact", and most certainly does not say it's a static list.

Now; I will agree that some of these "participated in" might not be as notable, and that some of these are just NASA got there first, so it is difficult to gauge the impact if NASA were not involved.

But; the simple fact that there is a central technology and science group where ideas can be coordinated, seems to be a good indicator that some of these things would not be where they were if there weren't some "group" effort involved.
Eventually; these things might be developed, but when, considering the budgets involved.

And; forgive me for being U.S.-centric, but I like the idea that we have an agency that's trying to keep the country's technology ahead of others.

And specific missions may not mean much in a direct spin-off, they do provide scientific benefit, and incrimental technological benefits.

It sometimes takes an archeologist years to gather enough fossils as evidence for something. Taking months of scraping to find a single bone may seem like a waste, but combine that with many other bones, and it might be an important piece of the puzzle.

It's for these reasons that I think a simple "list" like this will always seem inadaquate and trivial at times.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Phoenix, the Mars lander?

I still miss her!
Phoenix, what a beauty she was...

--Dennis

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Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true. -- Niels Bohr --

Ipsa scientia potestas est. ~ Knowledge itself is power.---- Bacon
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Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit.


Hint: this is at heart a scientific forum, and underneath the fooling around there are some diamond-hard minds hanging about, ready to tear you to shreads. -- mike alexander --

What is that, Kai?

Yeah.. just search on poster and Phoenix. But please don't get that started again.

I think I have a late 70's or early 80's copy of Spinoff lying around somewhere, I'll see if I can dig it up.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

I thought so.

So samkent, just to be clear - what are your thoughts on Ares I-X if you think Phoenix is a waste of money?

Other than being the contracted space-lift, how is GPS is NASA spinoff? GPS predates NASA, with clear roots back to WWII, as it's based on LORAN and Decca Navigator (1940s), Transit (1960), and Timation (1967). They're all military systems. GPS wouldn't be in use by civilians had not President Reagan directed it after Koran Air Lines Flight 007's shoot-down in 1983.

It isn't and they're not. Again - you're copy and pasting without reading the content.

Furthermore, the Phoenix jibe is so far off base you're just embarrassing yourself even more.

I am 100% behind it. It shows an attempt to do things in a different way. That is at the heart of what NASA was intended to do in the first place. As to the overruns I see it this way. If the government allocates a million, the agency (Not just NASA) is going to spend 2. If it all pans out you will have another option “Do you want liquids or solids”.

I see Phoenix as a lot of money with tremendous effort for a mission they knew with 100% certainty would end in 3 months. All to ground truth something they knew was there in the first place.

No they didn't. They knew with 100% certainty there would be scope for a mission extension possibly as long as up to Sol 180. Please stop lying.

Furthermore - if you're going to judge missions on duration - might I suggest that $78M for 4 minutes of LCROSS for something "they knew was there in the first place" is somewhat more expensive.

Your oversimplification and misrepresentation of space science is disgraceful.

Wow. The mind reels at the double standards of some posters here.

Really? For $400 million we get good science done, ground truth for water ice on Mars.

Ares I-X - for $400 million we get to take a stock shuttle booster, shove an inert 5th segment atop, shove a boilerplate upper stage simulator on top of that, and top it all with a mockup Orion spacecraft and mockup launch escape tower. Then you scrounge some Atlas V avionics - oh dear, EELV hardware worthy of Ares I, the world is about to end! Then you wrap it all up in tinfoil and declare it a useful "test" with no hardware actually being real Ares I hardware. Just so the center working Constellation can relearn (Mike Griffin's own words) rocket "science". In this day and age when noone flies anything but all-up tests anymore.

So, to recap - on one hand you've got a primary mission lasting 3 months on the surface of Mars for $400 million total, on the other hand you have a $400 million, suborbital "test" lasting less than 3 minutes and you're telling me with a straight face on that it's Phoenix that's a waste of money???

As far as I'm concerned, you've lost all credibility on the matter with me.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

A Public Service Announcement is a short film similar to a commercial, but with a positive social message, such as "Don't drink and drive".

__________________
I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

Thanks. Over here they sometimes show such messages "for the good of society", and they're usually produced by some organisation. But you made one too?

__________________
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

Weather satellites.

If I had to pick one thing NASA got started, it's weather satellites. TIROS, Nimbus, GOES. For the first time in human history, the entire globe can be watched for developing weather, in real time.

What we do with the data is a whole another thing. But imagine if such data had been availabvle for the Galveston Hurricane.

I'd bet that the whole space program has been paid for by improved global weather forecasting.

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Mike - I'd agree. Wx Satellites have been used to drastically reduce injury and the loss of human life and to somewhat reduce property damage.

Weather satellites.

If I had to pick one thing NASA got started, it's weather satellites. TIROS, Nimbus, GOES. For the first time in human history, the entire globe can be watched for developing weather, in real time.

US weather satellites belong to NOAA, not NASA. NASA does help in the development and did some important pioneering work but it isn't NASA's mission to own or operate weather satellites.

Yes, at Filmmaking Camp we made a few. The company we worked with offers them to broadcasting companies, but mine didn't get picked to be shown on TV.

__________________
I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

NASA procures the satellites, launches them, gets them operating and then turns them over to NOAA.

Incorrect. Many spacecraft use them. This comment and the one on solids vs liquids shows that you don't know what you are talking about

This is due to weapons development, ie ICBM.

Instead of just stating you don't know what you're talking about, I'll provide the why.
Guidelines on Lithium-ion Battery Use in Space Applications
They have quite a few requirements for most batteries. This indicates that they have done thier own research. Not just a spare time of an engineer.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)