3D Printing has become more common in factories, schools, and even private homes in recent years. A 2013 NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract led to development of a 3D printer capable of assembling nutrients into food on the International Space Station or on long duration missions. This concept was then commercialized for use printing pizzas, decorating cakes, and creating custom breakfast bars. NASA also sees potential for similar additive manufacturing processes to print tools, spare parts, or even entire spacecraft in space. In 2021, this idea appeared in Star Trek: Prodigy as a “vehicle replicator”.

In the 1990’s NASA invented an air purifier for the International Space Station that is now a commercial product utilized in restaurants, hospitals, and even refrigerators. Home air purifiers based on this technology can also be used to eradicate harmful pathogens in residential dwellings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, air purifiers were particularly important in reducing the spread of the virus. As a result, the market for air purifiers was over $11 billion in 2020 and is expected to double by 2027.

In September 2021, as part of the Innovation4 crew, Hayley Arceneaux became the first person with a prosthetic limb to go to space! But space technologies have been benefiting people with prosthetic limbs for years. Harshberger Prosthetic & Orthotic Center uses light-weight high-strength molding materials that were created for space shuttle external tank insulation. Prosthetic legs designed by engineers at the University of Michigan provide patients a more natural gait due to the motors that were developed for robots on the International Space Station. Even Temper Foam, which is used to make artificial limbs more comfortable, was invented to make astronaut seating more impact resistant. Many more innovations that were originally intended for space vehicles, including diamond-joint coating, artificial muscles, and robotic sensors, now make artificial human limbs more functional, durable, comfortable, and life-like.

One of the most widespread NASA spinoffs of all time originated with experiments attempting to create bioregenerative life support for extended-duration, human-crewed space flight. The nutritious, algae-based vegetable oil contains two essential fatty acids that cannot be synthesized by the human body and is now found in over 90% of infant formulas sold in the U.S today - and in nutritional supplements for adults. You have probably benefited from this innovation if you were fed baby formula as an infant, if you drink DHA enriched milk as an adult, or if you enjoy gummy vitamins rich in Omega 3 fatty acids.

After the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company invented the material used in NASA's Viking Lander parachute shrouds, the company began using it in its everyday radial tires; the material is stronger than steel and adds thousands of miles of life to the tires. In the 1990’s NASA software helped Goodyear develop still better tires. Today, NASA technology is used for recycling tires, and tire pressure sensors developed for the space shuttle are now commonplace in cars. In the near future, NASA’s new superelastic non-pneumatic (airless) metal tires may provide safer and more efficient alternatives to traditional rubber tires.

In the 1990s, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory invented a light, miniature imaging system that required little energy in order to take high quality photographs from space. This technology, now standard in cell phone and computer cameras, is what you use to capture your daily activities and most important memories… and what you may use to work remotely or complete emergency distance learning in the COVID-19 era. Cameras based on NASA’s breakthroughs are also found in everything from GoPro cameras to medical equipment for noninvasive endoscopy. Right now one of these cameras is probably in your pocket, or looking back at you from the screen where you read this.

Adam Kisseh, a hearing impaired Kennedy Space Center engineer, was unsatisfied with the hearing aids currently available. With his experience working on the Space Shuttle Program’s electronic, sound and vibrator sensor systems, Kisseh developed the early forms of cochlear implant technology, which utilizes electrical impulses rather than sound amplification to detect frequencies. Today, cochlear implants help hearing impaired people to understand speech without lip reading, talk on the phone, experience music, and better control their own voices. The global market for cochlear implants was estimated to be nearly $2 billion in 2021, a reflection of how many people now benefit from this space innovation.

While searching in the early 1960’s for a way to increase interaction with onboard computers and allow users to perform tasks like manipulating data visually, NASA and Stanford researchers developed the first computer mouse. Later, NASA’s Bob Taylor, who was involved with the project, moved to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he continued to innovate on the design... which famously was seen there by Steve Jobs, who then released the first commercially available mouse with an Apple computer design in 1983. There’s a good chance you arrived at this webpage by clicking with your mouse, and even if you used a trackpad or touchscreen, even those visual user interfaces are directly descended from NASA’s original design for the mouse.

In need of a portable drill to cut core samples on the moon, NASA reached out to Black and Decker, who had designed a line of cordless tools. The collaboration resulted in refined battery life of the power tools, leading Black and Decker to create the first ever cordless vacuum, the DustBuster. The collaboration also led to the development of numerous other consumer, medical and industrial hand-held cordless tools. Millions of people who clean or maintain their homes with battery powered tools are benefiting from NASA investments today. Cordless vacuums alone are a $20 billion dollar annual market.

Today GPS is instrumental in everything from national security and supply chain coordination to fast food delivery and dating apps… not to mention daily navigation. The first GPS satellite was launched by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1978, and NASA has continued to develop the hardware and software behind more accurate location tracking for decades. Now Russia’s GLONASS satellites supplement GPS globally, and the Chinese BeiDou-3 system is expected to offer millimeter level accuracy. GPS techniques for digitally tracking physical things have also led to advances in the Internet of Things (IoT), which now allows for smarter cities and homes, safer self-driving cars, wearable technology for wellness, and more.

During long space missions, where every ounce of weight and inch of space aboard a spacecraft must be maximized, freeze-dried foods are a staple. Once reconstituted, they are also easier and far more pleasant to eat than former meal sources that were packed into squeeze tubes. Freeze-dried foods are only 20% of their original weight and retain 98% of their nutritional value. Freeze-dried foods are safe from infection and do not require refrigeration, so they are frequently used today for disaster relief, in hospitals, to feed the elderly, and for common travel snacks. And of course, kids love neapolitan astronaut ice cream!

The challenge of safely landing space shuttles led NASA scientists to do extensive research on minimizing hydroplaning. NASA discovered that cutting grooves into runways helps channel water away from the runway and eliminate potential accidents. Today these grooves are found in the pavement of commercial runways, public highways, parking lots, sidewalks, residential stairways, and other surfaces… reducing accidents in wet weather by an estimated 85%!

To prevent the dangerous formation of ice on space shuttles, NASA crafted several thermoelectric solutions to keep astronauts safe. This technology is now used on commercial aircrafts to deice wings and other aerodynamic surfaces, keeping passengers safe as they move through chilly skies. NASA derived anti-icing formulas also protect trains and prevent delays. What once kept astronauts safe in extreme conditions now protects ordinary people as they travel.

The infrared thermometer became a familiar experience for millions during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a dramatic improvement on earlier thermometers that required direct contact and risked cross contamination… and this innovation is derived from NASA technology originally used to assess the temperature of distant celestial objects. Today this not only allows for quick detection of a fever, even in a crowd, it also makes it easier to take the temperature of children, the elderly, or the incapacitated.

Mylar was initially developed for NASA in the 1950’s to protect its spacecraft from the sun’s heat and to keep them insulated against the cold of space. In the 1970’s NASA made their insulation technology available in the public domain, and it was put to many commercial uses, including Radiant Barrier home insulation. Today, insulated blankets made from similar materials are used for keep displaced victims of natural disasters warm, and to protect marathon runners from hypothermia when they finish a race. The technology also sees use for firefighter protection, including military, motor sports, and other uses. With an annual market size of nearly $60 billion, space-grade insulation is even used to keep beer kegs colder on Earth.

The Goddard Space Flight Center created special monitoring systems to track astronauts' vital signs in space. The modern insulin pump, which regulates the blood sugar levels for millions of diabetics, is adapted from those same monitoring systems. Technology developed for the Mars Viking missions also contributed to computerized pumps that can infuse insulin at a pre-programmed rate, allowing more precise control of blood sugar level and eliminating the need for daily injections. The market size for insulin pumps was nearly $4 billion in 2020. More importantly, this space innovation improves (and saves) lives.

After NASA and Ceradyne invented a clear material that could protect radar equipment without blocking the radar's signal, 3M teamed up with Ceradyne, using the material to invent invisible braces. Stronger than steel and translucent, this aesthetically pleasing invention is a big improvement over the traditional stainless steel ‘metal mouth’ look of its predecessor. Today, the annual market for invisible braces is over $2.6 billion.

In recent years, over 10 million people have reduced their dependence on glasses and contact lenses thanks to LASIK surgery! Technology originally used to track the eyes of astronauts in space (to see how weightlessness affects a human’s frame of reference), is now used for this laser-eye surgery. The LASIK device tracks a patient's eye positions for the surgeon, and enables a precision operation with a laser. In this case it is easy to clearly see the impact of space innovations on everyday quality of life.

Portable computers were in their infancy in the early 1980s, when NASA commissioned the SPOC (Shuttle Portable On-Board Computer) a flexible system with a variety of uses including navigation and launching satellites. Weighing less than 10 pounds at a time when comparable systems weighed in at over 20 pounds, the SPOC was small, light, rugged, and high powered, with an onboard fan to keep the components cool… all features that are commonplace in laptops today. NASA investments like this hav directly led to the highly portable high powered devices so many people use for work (and emergency distance learning) today.

NASA had been experimenting for decades with using Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology to help plants grow more efficiently. NASA's LED technology has also been utilized in the development of medical devices that relax muscles, provide first aid for soldiers, reduce side effects in cancer patients, and encourage healthier sleep cycles. When you use “night mode” on your phone or laptop, you are taking advantage of similar technology to reduce eyestrain (and wakefulness cues) from more prevalent blue light.

Lifeshears are a “mechanically simple, lightweight, pyrotechnic extraction tool” used in rescue operations. Lifeshears were developed through the joint efforts of the Hi-Shear Technology Corporation, firefighters and NASA. Employing the same power source used to separate solid rocket boosters from space shuttles, Lifeshears are used in emergency situations to cut into cars or collapsed buildings to rescue people trapped inside. This innovation derived from space technology famously saved lives at Oklahoma City federal building bombing site in 1995 and the World Trade Center in 2001.

The technology powering CAT scans in hospitals today was developed from NASA’s digital image processing, which was first used to recreate images of the moon during Apollo missions. CAT scans are now used to diagnose internal injuries, locate infections, detect cancers, and much more. Related NASA technologies have also contributed to better breast imaging technology, three dimensional tissue images, and diagnosis via telehealth. Investments in seeing the distant universe better also pay off when it comes to looking into our own human bodies.

During the late 1970s to early 1980s, NASA used a process known as “blow rubber molding” to create their space helmets. In 1979, Frank Rudy, a NASA employee at the time, came up with an idea to use this sealed cushioning system as the midsole of shoes, which he patented and pitched to Nike. The air-cushioning system was put into tennis and basketball shoes three years later. The air-cushioned Nike basketball shoe, the Nike Air, is still around today, and Nike sells around 780 million shoes a year! Tapping into public imagination and interest in space exploration, some NASA inspired designs have sold particularly well and become collectors items.

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is the universal standard for all the safe packaged food humans eat on a daily basis. This quality control method was originally intended to ensure the safety of foods for NASA’s Apollo missions in the 1960s, and now keeps food safe and appetizing in markets around the world. The pre-packaged food market is expected to generate nearly $50 billion dollars annually, so this space innovation is significant to both public health and global economics. Bon appetit!

In 1972 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required that all eye glasses be made of a shatter-resistant material, like plastic instead of glass... but at the time the plastics would scratch easily. It turned out that several technologies pioneered by NASA wound up being useful in creating scratch resistant glasses, including a technique for providing a thin plastic layer in water filtration systems (which first led to scratch resistant astronaut helmet visors), and a process of diamond coating aerospace equipment that is now used by Rayban. Today, scratch resistant lenses are also used in dive masks and windshields - and represent a $562 million market annually. Sometimes technology developed by NASA for one use, winds up having surprising long term benefits in solving other problems.

In significant earthquakes, buildings, bridges and dams can be severely damaged, while cliffs and sloping ground can be destabilised. “In California, the collapse of buildings, roads, and infrastructure produced eight of the ten costliest earthquakes in the last one hundred years.” However, shock absorbers originally used to protect launch pad equipment during space shuttle launches have a perfect record bracing hundreds of buildings and bridges in earthquake-prone regions all over the world. This space innovation saves property - and lives - when disaster strikes.

When NASA was developing space suits for the Apollo moon landings, scientists developed flexible accordion-like corrugated joints that were later used in modern ski boots; heating elements from Apollo-era astronaut clothing have also been used for an in-boot foot-warming device. Later, temperature controlled shirts were developed for skiers based on NASA spacesuit technology in the late 1980s. Today, NASA technology makes skiing safer in many more ways, from weather forecasts and orbital snow surveys to advanced insulation and protective goggles. With ski equipment being a $1.6 billion dollar market, these are space innovations that benefit many people around the globe.

You can sleep more soundly at night because NASA technology is watching over you. Smoke detectors developed in the 1970s for Skylab and for the space shuttle included adjustable settings and were better able to differentiate between smoke and dust, meaning fewer false alarms when the technology was put to use in homes and other buildings. Infrared fire detectors for the space shuttle engines are also now used in other hydrogen handling facilities, making industrial sites safer for workers as well.

There has long been a symbiotic relationship between development of Earth-based and space-based solar power. For instance, in the 1980’s NASA's Glenn Research Center sponsored a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with ENTECH, which innovated on it’s terrestrial solar cells for use in space - thus accelerating development of better cells for use on Earth. For years NASA has also funded research into space-based solar power as a source of clean energy for populations on Earth, an idea which may now be close to fruition. Recent advances in space launch capabilities, robotics for space assembly, and high-efficiency components may open up a new era of clean energy abundance and independence for people all over the world.

Invented by a former NASA engineer, the Super Soaker entertains children around the world on hot summer days. When Lonnie Johnson was working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), he was working on a new heat pump that used water instead of freon (which was bad for the environment), and experimenting with nozzles that shot a stream of water under high pressure. “I was having trouble getting people to understand the hard science inventions I had like a heat pump,” he explains. “I thought the toy was something anyone could look at and appreciate.” Today Johnson is working on technologies that make green energy more affordable. Sometimes NASA engineers continue making important contributions to society well beyond their work on spacecraft.

In order to protect astronauts’ eyes from harmful radiation in space, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed the first UV-blocking lenses in the 1980’s. This same technology was soon used to develop UV-blocking sunglasses to protect the human eye from degenerative damage, including cataracts. In many parts of the world, like Alaska, UV-blocking technology is now considered critical to long-term eye health. The economic impact is also significant; the market for sunglasses was $16 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $18 billion by 2027. This is probably a space-based innovation you benefit from - and you look cool doing it!

The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 3 people on Earth do not have access to clean water, making water filtration a pervasive humanitarian issue that continues to this day. But in the 1970’s NASA pioneered compact water filtration systems for the space shuttle that could kill and filter out any bacteria present in the astronaut’s water supply (using iodine in place of chlorine). These technologies are now in use by millions of people today, for drinking water and in recreational pools, and could help billions more in the coming years. In fact, the Global Water filtration market is expected to hit $24.1 billion in 2025. This is an important life saving space-based innovation in the 21st century.

When NASA astronaut Wally Schirra went looking for a hands-free and clutter-free communication solution that would operate under extreme conditions in space and on splashdown, development of wireless headsets took a huge leap forward. On October 3, 1962, Schirra wore the first wireless headset in orbit, and today the basic technology used in that headset is commonplace in bluetooth headsets around the world. As of 2020, the global market for wireless headphones was almost $16 billion, and in the post-COVID mobile-first world, demand is expected to triple by 2026. This is a space-based innovation that helps billions of people around the world communicate every day.

Astronauts in zero gravity for long duration missions risk a dangerous loss of muscle mass and bone density. To combat this, they must maintain an exercise regime using machines that provide resistance. In fact, many modern workout machines were pioneered by NASA, including stationary walking, biking, and weightlifting equipment. A treadmill developed to provide simulated gravity in space (using air pressure), has even been repurposed to lighten the load on the legs of patients rehabbing here on Earth. These innovations benefit “a variety of patients, including professional and collegiate athletes, people learning to walk again after injury or surgery and people suffering from other stresses on the joints such as arthritis or obesity.”