Latest News

  • Home
  • National
  • 4 amazing things Nasa invented (and 4 you think it did)
4 amazing things Nasa invented (and 4 you think it did)
Tuesday, May 8, 2018 IST
4 amazing things Nasa invented (and 4 you think it did)

OK, maybe this isn't exactly a Miracle, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Back in the 1990s, NASA teamed up with a company called International Flavors and Fragrances to grow a rose in space. The scent of that rose was synthesized and then bottled in a "out-of-this-world" perfume called Zen. Answer: Miracle

 
 

Nasa is everywhere.
 
Over the past 50 years, the US government space agency has built an awful lot of stuff for, well, space. But with its $17 billion (£10 billion) annual budget, it has also done quite a bit of research and development in other areas, and even its space gear managed to influence so many other things down here on earth.
 
The liquid cooled space clothing worn by lunar astronauts in the '70s has been adapted to help burn-victims. In the '80s, the agency helped develop a lightweight breathing system for firefighters. And more recently, biologists modified the star-tracking algorithms used by the Hubble Telescope to track fish and polar bears. "The list goes on and on, but not many people know about it," says Daniel Lockney, Technology Transfer Program Executive with Nasa's Office of the Chief Technologist.
 
Lockney is the guy you go to if you want access to Nasa's space-aged technologies. This week, he and his colleagues released a <span
class="s1">catalogue of about 1,000 Nasa software projects, trying to <span class="s1">make it easier for the agency's research to trickle down to the rest of us. And in the near future, he plans on launching an online software database and repository that will grease the wheels even more.
 
READ NEXT
Gallery: Kids' inventions made real: ladybird brollies to skip-rope drones
Pringles Hook
Gallery: Kids' inventions made real: ladybird brollies to skip-rope drones
By MICHAEL RUNDLE
 
He's proud of the work he and his colleagues do, and he loves to talk about Nasa's long history. When people learn what Lockney does, they often tell him about their favorite Nasa inventions. That can be fun. But sometimes, it's also a bit of an odd experience. People often name things that weren't actually invented at Nasa. "It happens all the time," Lockney says.
 
So, the list below provides a kind of quiz. There are eight technologies, four of them came out of Nasa's tech transfer program. And four did not. Can you tell the myths from the Nasa miracles?
 
Space Rose
 
OK, maybe this isn't exactly a Miracle, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Back in the 1990s, NASA teamed up with a company called International Flavors and Fragrances to grow a rose in space. The scent of that rose was synthesized and then bottled in a "out-of-this-world" perfume called Zen. Answer: Miracle
 
Velcro
 
 
Yes, NASA has used Velcro in its missions. No, they didn't invent it. A swiss engineer named George de Mestral came up with it in the late 1940s.Answer: Myth
 
Baby formula
 
NASA once gave a contract to Marietta Laboratories to experiment with microalgae as a kind of three-in-one food source, oxygen engine, and an organic waste disposal toolkit. The space food work didn't pan out, but Marietta would give us the technology to make nutritional supplements for infant formula. Answer: NASA Miracle
 
Tang
 
Tang's NASA link dates back to John Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7 mission. The storied astronaut did drink Tang in space, but it was invented for consumers, not the space program. Answer: Myth
 
 
Truck fairings
 
It all started when Edwin Saltzman was riding his bike. Whenever big trucks passed, he'd get hit with a mighty wallop of air. Since he worked at NASA, which has made a study of wind resistance on aircraft, it was pretty easy to design a more aerodynamic truck.
 
And by the late '70s his designs were everywhere. Answer:
 
Miracle
 
Teflon
 
 
Lockney says that he gets this one all the time. NASA uses Teflon in heat shields, in space suits, and even in cargo holds. But Teflon was invented in 1938. That's long before NASA was around.
 
Answer: Myth
 
Space pen
 
In the 1960s, an inventor named Paul Fisher came up with a remarkable pen that would work in zero-gravity. NASA used them in the Apollo 7 mission. The pen was a success, but when Fisher came up with it, he wasn't working for NASA. Answer: NASA Myth
 
Smartphone cameras
 
In the 1990's, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory team was looking for ways to shrink cameras down for interplanetary travel. They came up with the camera-on-a-chip, also known as the CMOS sensor. Today, CMOS sensors are found in most of the world's camera phones.

 
 
 
 
 

Related Topics

 
 
 

Trending News & Articles

 Article
Here is the full list of 827 porn websites banned by the DoT

While the Uttarakhand High Court has asked to block 857 websites, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) found 30 portals without any pornographic content. ...

Recently posted . 61K views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Class XII Boys Raped 16-Year-old in Dehradun School After Watching Porn on Phone: Police

The four boys as well as five school officials, including the director and principal, were arrested after the incident. The minors were presented before the Juvenil...

Recently posted . 8K views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Sept 27,2001 Rahul Gandhi and his girl friend Veronique,was arrested in Logan airport in Boston

Rahul was having an Italian passport and was carrying suitcase full of dollars. Some say it was about was it $2 million. Rahul and his girl friend was th...

Recently posted . 7K views . 7 min read
 

 Article
TOP 10 GYM EQUIPMENT BRANDS IN INDIA 2017

True – Tr...

Recently posted . 6K views . 83 min read
 

 
 

More in National

 Article
Railways toilet policy: Low cost sanitary napkins, condoms to be sold at stations

NEW DELHI: Condoms and sanitary pads would now be sold at toilet facilities both inside and outside railway stations for not only the passengers bu...

Recently posted. 573 views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Goa by-election results: Goa Chief Minister Mohan Parrikar wins Panaji seat by a margin of 4,803 votes

Panaji: Former union defence minister and current Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday enlisted a pounding triumph in Goa get together bye-election from th...

Recently posted. 835 views . 18 min read
 

 Article
No limit on holding gold if it matches income declaration: Govt

The government on Thursday tried to control bits of gossip by elucidating that there is no restriction on honest to goodness holding of gold and  jewellery, in...

Recently posted. 515 views . 29 min read
 

 Reviews
Top Schools In Noida Extension Area



Recently posted . 1K views . 52 min read
 

 Reviews
Top 10 financial services companies in India



Recently posted . 1K views . 31 min read
 

 Article
"For Doing BJP Politics": Chilling Note On Shirt Of Man Killed In Bengal

The BJP has claimed that 20-year-old Trilochan Mahato had worked very hard during the recent Panchayat polls in which Trinamool Congress suffered some setbacks in P...

Recently posted. 545 views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Vijay Mallya arrested in UK for money laundering; released on bail.

  New Delhi/London: Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya was on Tuesday arrested in the UK over money laundering case but was granted bail short...

Recently posted. 893 views . 6 min read
 

 
 
 

   Prashnavali

  Thought of the Day

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.
Anonymous

Be the first one to comment on this story

Close
Post Comment
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST


ads
Back To Top