Visit the NASA Home and City website at: homeandcity.nasa.gov
Credits: NASA
NASA studies our planet, Sun, solar system and beyond, but America’s space program is closer to home than you may think. You can find thousands of NASA-influenced technologies right in your backyard. Our new interactive website lets users explore how NASA appears in everyday life.
NASA Home & City features about 130 spinoff technologies in a virtual space, allowing users to tour through buildings and rooms to discover common items that NASA inspired or helped improve. These spinoffs are commercial products that apply NASA technology originally developed for studying and exploring space.
"Our space technology continues to improve life on Earth,” said Jim Reuter, the acting associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. "NASA Home & City is a place of discovery for people, and especially students, who have ever wondered why space exploration should matter to them.”
The new website showcases only a small sample of NASA spinoff and dual-purpose technologies. Here are a few innovations featured on NASA Home & City that may surprise you!
Water filtration systems in your home date back to the Apollo era.
Water is a scarce resource away from Earth. Originally designed to purify water for the Apollo astronauts, NASA’s silver ion technology purifies and softens water while inhibiting bacteria growth in filtering units. Today, manufacturers use this combined technology to create home-use water filtering systems that not only purify and soften, but also remove objectionable tastes and odors.Durable wind turbines were designed with Mars in mind.
Solar panels will likely provide the primary source of power for future crewed Mars missions, but NASA also investigated the use of wind turbines for times when the Sun isn't shining. Designed for Mars and tested in Antarctica, durable wind turbines can be found generating power all over the globe.NASA spacesuits and firefighter gear use a similar fabric.
NASA significantly improved an incredibly fire-resistant polymer fabric for use in spacesuits and spacecraft that is now commonly used in firefighters’ protective gear, as well as in various civilian and military applications. The thermoplastic material protects people working in the most extreme environments or in situations where high-strength and wear resistance are required.Do you take selfies? NASA technology is in your cell phone camera too.
The images NASA captures of distant galaxies or newly discovered stars are often breathtaking—and scientifically groundbreaking. The technology used to capture these images has evolved greatly over the years. In the 1990s a NASA engineer built a new kind of image sensor. It is small, requires very low power and is highly efficient—excellent for space missions as well as digital and cell phone cameras on Earth.Space tech helps you out on the slopes.
Skiers and snowboarders face extremely bright sunlight, especially when it's reflected off the white snow. That can make it hard to see, and not just because of glare. The blue light waves in sunlight makes it more difficult to discern colors at the edge of the visible light spectrum, like reds. A NASA-designed filter used in snow goggles helps block up to 95 percent of blue light, making it easier for people on the slopes to see the terrain clearly.
NASA’s collaboration with commercial companies has helped bring space technology back to Earth for over 50 years. To explore more NASA spinoff technologies in your home and city, visit:
To learn more about NASA’s current space technology projects and missions, visit:
Last Updated: Sept. 18, 2018
Editor: Loura Hall
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