SPACE EXPLORATION | Expanding the boundaries of human understanding
The Spinoffs
-
Tang
General Foods developed Tang in 1957, and it has been on supermarket shelves since 1959. In 1962, when astronaut John Glenn performed eating experiments in orbit during the Gemini missions, Tang was selected for the menu, launching heightened public awareness of the powdered drink.
Return to Top -
Cordless Tools
Apollo-era technology spurred development of cordless tools. In the 1960s, NASA asked Black & Decker to develop a special drill -- powerful enough to cut through hard layers of the lunar surface and yet lightweight, compact and operable under its own power source. A computer program developed by Black & Decker analyzed and optimized drill motor operations, allowing engineers to design a motor that was powerful yet required minimal battery power. Black & Decker has continued to refine this technology and now sells its rechargeable products worldwide.
Return to Top -
Artificial Heart
A miniature ventricular-assist device (initially called the NASA/DeBakey heart pump) used in artificial hearts is based, in part, on technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps. The concept began with talks between Dr. Michael DeBakey, a Baylor University Medical School heart surgeon, and one of his heart transplant patients, NASA engineer David Saucier. Saucier worked at NASA's Johnson Space Center and arranged talks among DeBakey and other NASA engineers. The result was a battery-operated pump that weighed less than 113 grams.
Return to Top -
MRI Machine
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologist at Southern Indiana Radiological Associates in Indiana puts a clean sheet and pillow on the bed of an MRI in 2002. The space program has contributed to advances in MRI over the years and NASA technology has been incorporated into MRI techniques. In the mid-1960s, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed digital image processing to allow computer enhancement of moon pictures. Today, digital image processing is used to create and enhance images of body organs in computed axial tomography (CAT scans) and MRI.
Return to Top -
Dialysis
A patient in Nebraska reads during her four-hour dialysis procedure in 1998. Dialysis is a way of removing impurities or wastes from the blood when the kidneys are unable to do so. Dialysis most frequently is used for patients who have kidney failure, but may also be used to remove drugs or poisons quickly. Spinoffs from the Apollo program include kidney dialysis machines and physical rehabilitation for heart patients.
Return to Top -
Diabetic Insulin Pump
A cross-country runner in Wisconsin who is a Type 1 diabetic carries an insulin pump with her when she runs. Implantable and external insulin pumps based on a design of the biological laboratory of the Mars Viking spacecraft have helped insulin-dependent diabetics. The computerized pumps can infuse insulin at a pre-programmed rate, allowing more precise control of blood sugar levels.
Return to Top -
Water Purification System
U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the Reactor Department and Repair Division aboard USS Abraham Lincoln fill jugs with purified water from a potable water manifold in the Indian Ocean in 2005, just months after a 9.1-magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the area, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and millions homeless. Water purification technology used on the Apollo spacecraft is used in several spinoff applications to kill bacteria, viruses and algae in community water supply systems and cooling towers. Filters mounted on faucets can reduce lead in water supplies.
Return to Top -
Prosthetic Limbs
Dan Hebert of Bio-Medical Appliances Inc. works on refurbishing a prosthetic leg in his shop in Vermont. Medical spinoffs from space technology include material for prosthetic limbs. Temper foam, whose origins date back to 1966, when it was developed to absorb shock and offer improved protection and comfort in NASA’s airplane seats, has been used in such prosthetics. Prosthetic limbs using a version of this material have the natural feel of flesh and can be molded into a variety of muscle tones and dyed to match exact skin color.
Return to Top -
Easier Land Mine Removal
Thousands of land mines explode on a mountainside about 20 kilometers east of Kabul, Afghanistan, during a controlled destruction of stockpiled mines in 2004. NASA and the Thiokol Propulsion, Science and Engineering Division in Utah have produced an easy and safe way to detonate such mines. The device uses NASA reusable solid rocket motor scrap propellant packed inside a high-temperature flare. The flare is used to burn a hole in the land mine’s case and ignite its explosive. When the explosive burns away, the mine is disabled.
Return to Top -
Speeding Up Cell Growth
This prostate cancer construct was grown during NASA-sponsored bioreactor studies on Earth. Cells are attached to a biodegradable plastic lattice that gives them a head start in growth. The bioreactor was rotated to provide gentle mixing of fresh and spent nutrients without damaging the cells. Prostate tumor cells were grown in a NASA-sponsored bioreactor experiment aboard the STS-107 mission in 2002. Cartilage, bone marrow, heart muscle, skeletal muscle, pancreatic islet cells, liver and kidney are just a few of the normal tissues that investigators are culturing in rotating bioreactors.
Return to Top -
Treating Brain Cancer
A special lighting technology was developed for space-based commercial plant growth research on the space shuttle. Surgeons have used this technology to treat brain cancer on Earth in two successful operations. The treatment technique, called photodynamic therapy, requires the surgeon to use pinhead-sized light-emitting diodes (LED), a source releasing long wavelengths of light, to activate light-sensitive, tumor-treating drugs. Laser light has been used for this sort of surgery, but the LED light illuminates through all nearby tissues, reaching parts of a tumor that shorter wavelengths of laser light cannot reach. The LED probe is safer because the longer wavelengths of light are cooler than the shorter wavelengths of laser light, making the LED less likely to injure normal brain tissue near the tumor.
Return to Top