10. Highway Safety
This technique is used to cut grooves in concrete for increasing the traction and avoiding injuries. The highway safety technique was first introduced for reducing the number of aircraft accidents on wet runways. The technique was originally developed at Langley Research Center. It was of great help to test the grooving at airports and highways. Nowadays, it is widely used for reducing the skidding and improving a vehicle’s cornering ability on curves.
9. Freeze Drying Technology
Thanks to NASA for carrying out extensive research into space food. The purpose of this technology is to bring sufficient food into space for long-period Apollo missions. In this technique, food can be cooked instantly and is heated slowly in a vacuum chamber so the ice crystals are removed. The end product retains about 95% of its nutritional elements.
8. CAT Scans
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has come up with the digital imaging technology. In this technology, the computer processes numerical representations for physical images. These are helpful to locate objects during a space program. This technology has proved to be highly beneficial for developing several medical instruments and technologies like Computer Axial Tomography (CAT) scanners in radiography.
7. Mobile Phone Camera
These days, we cannot consider a smartphone to be reliable until it is equipped with a camera. This can be owned to the US space exploration agency that brought forward two fantastic technologies—-telephony and photography. The concept of the digital camera was first developed by engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1960. Afterwards in 1990, a team at the JPL started working on small cameras that could fit on spacecrafts.
6. Water Purification
Here again NASA has contributed its efforts to develop modern water filtration system and advanced water purification technologies. For manned long space exploration missions, the scientists were to come up with the best systems of purifying water in space so that the supply of pure water to the astronauts could be made possible. The water filtration technology is now widely used to treat impure water and can be applied on a large scale.
5. Scratch-resistant Lenses
The Lewis Research Center has contributed to prepare sunglass lenses that are highly resistant to spotting and scratches. This concept came to the minds of scientists at the time when they were to find a diamond hard coating for aerospace systems. In 1980, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. got the license for using the patented technique to create the diamond-hard coatings. If this technology is applied to lenses, it can result in scratch resistant lenses for human beings.
4. Clean Energy Technology
Space technology has proved to be quite effective to develop technologies for non-space use, some of them have been exploited by the private sector. For example, a company developed the Space Shuttle Main Engine. The same company has used the technology to create clean energy consumptive devices. It helps to minimize the emission of carbon.
3. Chemical Detection
NASA contracted with Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) to develop pH and moisture sensitive sensors for getting rid of dangerous conditions in aircrafts. Such sensors use optical fibers that are sensitive to chemicals. They can change their color when come in contact with the target. These kinds of sensors are used for detecting the existence of chemicals in civil wars etc.
2. Video Enhancing System
NASA’s Video Image Stabilization and Registration (VISAR) technique was used by Intergraph Government Solutions. The purpose of this technology is to develop Video Analyst System. Nowadays, this technique is widely used by FBI to analyze video footages. Video Enhancing System (VAS) is also widely used by military to deploy weapons and for mission debriefing.
1. Artificial Limbs
NASA’s innovative approaches toward robotics and shock-absorption materials have led the entrepreneurs get satisfactory solutions for human and animal prostheses. The achievement of artificial muscle system with robotic sensing is introduced by Environmental Robots Inc. It is quite useful to create highly effective artificial limbs. On the other hand, the temper foam technology developed by NASA has been useful for developing custom-moldable materials which can act like human flesh.
Besides this, there are various other technologies that have eased our lives. What do you think of it?
