October 1, 2008 Cochlear implants, ultrasonically welded swimsuits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swim, DustBusters, and freeze-dried food. You owe more to NASA than you think. Fifty years ago today, NASA’s employees turned up for their first day at work. One-hundred and fifty manned missions, $810.459 billion present-day dollars, and 382 kilograms of moon rocks later, the ripples from NASA have influenced society and the development of technology in ways we rarely detect. Kyle Sherer takes a closer look at the history and major achievements of the last half-century.
When NASA required a small, portable machine to pick up samples from the surface of the moon, it commissioned Black & Decker to create the device. The computer program B&D made to produce the model inspired a new design, which was eventually used as the basis of the DustBuster. The composite material NASA developed for rocket casings has been incorporated into fire fighting equipment, while NASA research into algae as a recycling agent resulted in an improved recipe for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_food babyfood.
But when tracking ripples, the starting point has to be the splash that disturbed the pond. In the case of NASA, the splash was made by a spherical hunk of metal with whisker-like antennae and a simple transmitter.
...continue