NASA has a slogan in which it says: “For the good of all,” which it has adhered to since its founding, as it transferred its technological and scientific achievements to the public and commercial spheres, throughout its period of work.
What may surprise you is that the origins of many of the tools, machines and facilities that are in your home now go back to research conducted by NASA over the past fifty years, as technology originally designed to help explore space and land humans on the moon, was able to It should also be useful in our daily lives, and it has become a given.
Water filters:
Although basic water filters have been around since the mid-1950s, modern filtration systems did not begin to appear until after NASA poured resources into its research for the Apollo program in 1963. NASA led research in this area, because it was trying to research A method by which large quantities of water are preserved uncontaminated for long periods of time in extreme conditions.
To achieve this goal, NASA has developed a system that works by taking advantage of coal’s ability to absorb pollutants and particles found within water when it is specially treated.
Microprocessor:
Technically, NASA did not invent the integrated circuit, which electrical engineer Jack Kilby credits with in 1958, but instead invented newer, more advanced forms of it. In fact, it could be said that NASA’s Apollo program launched the microchip revolution.
One of the first high-profile uses of microchip technology was in the Apollo guidance computer with its DSKY interface, which was used to provide on-board computation and control for navigation, as well as control of the command module and lunar module. Today, they can be found in almost every aspect of life, from cell phones and personal computers to microwaves and calculators.
Flexible foam:
In the 1970s, NASA invented elastomeric foam, a shock-absorbing material designed to improve the safety of aircraft cushions. Foam was installed on the helmets and seats of the Apollo spacecraft, a lining that would help mitigate some of the extreme forces that astronauts might experience.
Flexible foam is a polyurethane material treated with additional chemicals. It is characterized by high viscosity and density, which are ideal properties for absorbing large impacts and resisting energy flow. It is also sensitive to temperature, which means that when pressed against a heat source, such as a human, it takes its shape. , which helps with fit and reduces unwanted gaps. Rubber foam was released into the public domain in the early 1980s, and was quickly picked up and used in medical and sports equipment, such as: American football helmets and bicycle helmets.
Impact wrench:
After Kennedy announced the Apollo program in 1961, a flood of research began into the practical aspects of human spaceflight, and thanks to this came one of the most notable achievements, which was the collaborative invention of NASA with the tool company Black + Decker, to manufacture a zero-impact wrench. It is a tool that can rotate screws in zero gravity.
With this in mind, the research program has developed cordless tools for a variety of purposes, including: a hammer drill, and a cordless rotary that can be used to extract rocks from the surface of the moon. Interestingly, through research conducted by NASA in the 1960s, Black+Decker developed the Dust Buster cordless handheld vacuum cleaner.
Scratch resistant lenses:
After NASA realized that plastic is much better at absorbing ultraviolet light and does not shatter if dropped, space masks were produced using plastic. However, the problem was that uncoated plastic could be easily scratched, and given the amount of dust and debris in the space environment, They needed lenses that could not be scratched.
Thanks to NASA research, space masks are now covered with diamond-like carbon layers, which are applied in thin layers on the outside, making them extremely strong. This technology is now available on Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Home smoke detector:
Francis Robbins Upton invented the smoke detector in 1890, but it was not adjustable until NASA invented a model with variable sensitivity in 1973, and the units were installed in Skylab to detect toxic fumes aboard vehicles.
Satellite:
The first satellite capable of transmitting television signals was Telstar 1. It was launched in 1962, and was a joint project to develop an experimental satellite communications system over the Atlantic Ocean.
The satellite works using a transmitter and receiver to transmit data, and NASA continued to develop this technology, producing more advanced systems to reduce noise and errors in the transmitted signals, which led to the ability to transmit high-definition video and audio.
