National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration spinoff Office of the Chief Technologist NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546 www.nasa.gov NP-2018-08-2611-HQ 2019 Technology Transfer Program NASA Headquarters Daniel Lockney, Technology Transfer Program Executive Spinoff Program Office Goddard Space Flight Center Daniel Coleman, Editor-in-Chief Mike DiCicco, Senior Science Writer Naomi Seck, Senior Science Writer John Jones, Senior Graphics Designer This 2018 NASA photograph captured the International Rebecca Carroll, Contributing Writer Space Station in silhouette as it transited the Moon. TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 Foreword 7 Introduction 8 Executive Summary 20 NASA Technologies Benefiting Society 156 Spinoffs of Tomorrow 178 Technology Transfer Program 66 DEPARTMENTS 37 HEALTH AND MEDICINE TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC SAFETY CONSUMER GOODS 24 Unique Polymer Finds Widespread 40 Battery Innovations Power 58 NASA Brings Accuracy to World’s 84 Bowflex System Spurs Revolution in Use in Heart Devices All-Electric Aircraft Global Positioning Systems Home Fitness 27 Material for Mars Makes Life- 43 Shuttle Tire Sensors Warn Drivers of 63 Gas Regulators Keep Pilots Breathing 87 Spacesuit Air Filters Eliminate Household Saving Sutures Flat Tires Pet Odors 66 RoboMantis Offers to Take Over 30 Fluorescent Paints Spot DNA 46 Space-Age Insulator Evolves to Dangerous Missions 89 NASA Research Sends Video Game Players Damage from Radiation, Gene Editing Replace Plastic and Save Weight on a Journey to Mars SPINOFFS 70 Wrapped Tanks Cut Weight on 32 Image-Analysis Software Sees Cancer 49 Software Helps Design Artery Stents, Everything from Buses to Paintball Guns 92 Memory Foam Supports and Shapes in in 3D Lawn Mowers, Airplanes Women’s Apparel 73 Membranes Mimic Kidneys to 34 Miniature Positioner Focuses Lenses 51 Super-Accurate Atomic Clocks Could Filter Water 94 Rocket Design Leads to Turbo-Charged with Precision Aid in Navigation, Communication Air Purifier 76 Detailed Spectrometry Makes 37 Biometric Sensor Tracks Vital Signs 54 Probes Characterize Air and Water Dangerous-Materials Testing Safer 96 Brainwaves Reveal Student Engagement, for Health Flows over Aircraft, Yachts Operate Household Objects 78 Methane Detector Sniffs Out Leaks 100 NASA Plant Research Offers a Breath of 80 Biofeedback Loops Aim to Enhance Fresh Air Combat, Sports Training 102 Light Research Aids Slumber 2 Table of Contents Spinoff 2019 111 128 142 ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY 106 Electrified Bacteria Clean Wastewater, Generate Power 126 Space Mission Planning System Targets 142 Spray Analyzer Turns Up in Cars, Planes, Medicine, Advertising with Precision Cutting-Edge TVs 109 Building-Monitoring System Provides Insights for Sustainability 128 Tiny Star Trackers Help Spacecraft Find 144 Deep-Space Food Science Research Improves Their Place 3D-Printing Capabilities 111 Space Station Garden Shines Light on Earth-Based Horticulture 130 Software Toolkit Steadies Rockets 146 Simulated Space Dirt Supports Future 113 Carbon Capture Process Makes Sustainable Oil Asteroid Mining 133 Low-Cost Transceiver Will Allow First Laser 115 Emissive Coatings Cut Industrial Costs, Emissions, Mass Communication 148 Vibration Isolator Steadies Optics for Telescopes Fuel Consumption 135 NASA Code Speeds Nation’s Aircraft, 150 IonCCD Enables Fast, Reliable, Inexpensive 118 Pointing Platform Enables Earth Imaging from Spacecraft Design Mass Spectrometry Space Station 137 Tiny Springs Improve Electronic Reliability 152 Beryllium Blazes New Trail for Telescopes 122 Algorithms to Detect Clouds Forecast Global Crop Production 138 Collaborative Platform Trains Students in 154 Phase-Change Coating Absorbs Heat from Rockets, Simulation and Modeling Pipes, Beer Spinoff 2019 Table of Contents 3 The worlds orbiting other stars are called exoplanets, and they come in a wide DISCLAIMER: While NASA does not manufacture, market, or sell commercial products, variety of sizes, from gas giants larger many commercial products are derived from NASA technology. Many NASA-originated than Jupiter to rocky planets smaller than technologies are adapted by private industry for use by consumers like you. Spinoff Earth or Mars. This rocky super-Earth is an developments highlighted in this publication are based on information provided by individual illustration of the type of exoplanet NASA and private industry users of NASA-originated aerospace technology who acknowledge hopes to discover using TESS, or the that such technology contributed wholly or in part to development of the product or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. TESS process described. NASA cannot accept responsibility or liability for the misinterpretation or serves as the successor to the Kepler misrepresentation of the enclosed information provided by these third-party users. Publication Space Telescope and will survey a large herein does not constitute NASA endorsement of the product or process, nor confirmation of portion of the sky to catch exoplanets as manufacturers’ performance claims related to any particular spinoff development. they transit their host stars. Foreword ASA technology has been spinning off into private any indicator, they’ll span the various fields of science markets, other Government agencies, and academia and technology, and they’ll ultimately create jobs, boost Nacross the country and around the world since the the economy, improve efficiency, and even save lives. Space Agency was created in 1958. Many of these products This is especially true at a time when the Space Agency and capabilities have since become part of our everyday has been putting new strategies into practice to acceler- lives, and this is no accident. Even while NASA hones the ate the transfer of its technology to the private sector, tools to explore the solar system and beyond, it never stops with patent licenses and software usage agreements, for developing new ways to get these technologies into the hands example, both significantly increasing in the last eight of innovators here on Earth so that the public can benefit years. When it comes to putting new technology into from its investment in aeronautics and space missions. the hands of businesses, NASA has cemented its status Some of NASA’s most widespread spinoffs have come as a leader and model among Federal agencies. from its most memorable missions—such as the Apollo Progress won’t stop at the Moon, either. Much of our Jim Bridenstine Program that first put astronauts on the Moon. These work there will prepare us for future missions to Mars Administrator include cordless power tools, freeze-dried food, flame- and other destinations, with NASA and its partners National Aeronautics and resistant firefighter gear, the integrated circuit that gave in industry making breakthroughs and devising new Space Administration rise to the microchip, and thin, lightweight insulations. solutions all along the way. Among the most surprising were perhaps improvements Several of the commercial technologies and products to kidney dialysis, a lightning detector, and automated you’ll learn about in Spinoff 2019 sprang from NASA’s credit card transactions. human exploration missions, from Project Mercury to Arguably more important than all the myriad the Orion crew capsule. The innovations from these inventions that spun off from Apollo, though, was the missions to send humans into space never stop improving revolution in electronics and software that it helped life here on Earth. to launch, ushering in an era of rapid miniaturization and quantum leaps in efficiency and capacity. Clunky technology like transistor tubes quickly vanished. As we and our commercial partners now prepare to return to the Moon—this time to establish a long-term presence and carry out science and research—there’s no telling what inventions and advances we’ll make or how American industry will harness them. But if the past is Spinoff 2019 Foreword 5 The August 21, 2017, total solar eclipse was rare in its long, uninterrupted path over land, which provided scientists with a special chance to investigate the Sun and its influence on Earth in ways that aren’t usually possible. Scientists study the Sun's corona from space with instruments called coronagraphs, which use a metal disk to block out the Sun’s face. But the innermost regions of the Sun’s corona are only visible in white light during total solar eclipses, when scientists are able to measure them in great detail. Spinoff (spin´ôf) -noun. 1. A commercialized product incorporating NASA technology or expertise that benefits the public. These include products or processes that: • were designed for NASA use, to NASA specifications, and then commercialized; • are developed as a result of a NASA-funded agreement or know-how gained during collaboration with NASA; • are developed through Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer contracts with NASA; • incorporate NASA technology in their manufacturing process; • receive significant contributions in design or testing from NASA laboratory personnel or facilities; • are successful entrepreneurial endeavors by ex-NASA employees whose technical expertise was developed while employed by the Agency; • are commercialized as a result of a NASA patent license or waiver; • are developed using data or software made available by NASA. 2. NASA’s premier annual publication, featuring successfully commercialized NASA technologies. Introduction he images of