This year’s publication, NASA’s 2024 Spinoff, features several commercialized technologies that leverage NASA research and development expertise to impact everyday life.
“As we continue to break new ground and achieve unimaginable things, NASA scientists and engineers are constantly innovating and advancing technology,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “A key part of our mission is to rapidly put these advances into the hands of companies and entrepreneurs so they can use them to expand their operations, open new markets, revitalize our economy, and improve the quality of life for all.”
Medical innovations include the first wireless arthroscope (a small tube with a camera inserted into the body during surgery) cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which benefited from NASA’s experience with space suits and satellite batteries. Technology to diagnose diseases such as coronavirus, hepatitis, and cancer also came out of NASA’s space exploration and science efforts. Even some toothpastes grew out of NASA’s efforts to grow crystals for electronic devices.
Other highlights from the 2024 spinoff include developments from NASA’s Artemis program, such as small, rugged video cameras used to improve aircraft safety and new ways to detect defects and damage in composite materials, while another spinoff article details the modern benefits of fuel cell technology developed for Apollo more than 50 years ago that is now poised to support a ground-based power grid based on renewable energy.
The book also includes some technologies that NASA has identified as promising spinoffs, as well as information on how to license NASA technologies. Since the 1970s, thousands of NASA technologies have been introduced into many science and technology fields, impacting nearly every American industry.
“As NASA’s longest running program, we continue to increase the number of technologies we license each year, streamlining the development path from government to the commercial sector,” said Daniel Rockney, director of technology transfer programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These commercialization success stories continue to demonstrate the benefits of moving government technology into private hands, where it can make a real impact.”
The spinoffs are part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and its Technology Transfer program, which is responsible for finding broad, innovative applications for NASA-developed technologies through partnerships and licensing agreements, ensuring the agency’s investments benefit the nation and the world.
To read the latest issue of Spinoff, please visit:
https://spinoff.nasa.gov
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Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Email: james.j.russell@nasa.gov
