Category: Spinoffs

NASA Equips Astronauts, Industry with Robotic Intelligence 

As NASA plans long-term missions on the Moon, the agency could use robots to perform routine tasks, allowing crew members to dedicate more time to science and exploration. However, robotic motion control requires complex technology and advances in features like robotic decision-making and object recognition. These are the challenges a Boulder, Colorado-based robotics company is […]

NASA Equips Astronauts, Industry with Robotic Intelligence 

As NASA plans long-term missions on the Moon, the agency could use robots to perform routine tasks, allowing crew members to dedicate more time to science and exploration. However, robotic motion control requires complex technology and advances in features like robotic decision-making and object recognition. These are the challenges a Boulder, Colorado-based robotics company is […]

NASA Equips Astronauts, Industry with Robotic Intelligence 

As NASA plans long-term missions on the Moon, the agency could use robots to perform routine tasks, allowing crew members to dedicate more time to science and exploration. However, robotic motion control requires complex technology and advances in features like robotic decision-making and object recognition. These are the challenges a Boulder, Colorado-based robotics company is […]

NASA-Supported Space Tech Advances Earthly Construction

An innovative 3D printing process that advanced NASA’s approach to outfitting a lunar habitat is making buildings on Earth beautiful, efficient, and strong.  Instead of building structures layer by layer, Branch Technology Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has developed a process the company calls Freeform 3D Printing, which creates shapes with lightweight lattice structures that can be filled or covered. The company uses the technique to manufacture […]

NASA Technology Brings Golden Age of Exploration to Earth

As NASA fosters technologies needed to live and work farther away from home than ever before, the agency’s Technology Transfer program has the sole mission of getting those innovations into the hands of companies, entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, everyday people. The agency’s Spinoff publication has captured this endeavor for half a century, sharing stories of space […]

NASA-Developed Printable Metal Can Take the Heat

Until now, additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, of engine components was limited by the lack of affordable metal alloys that could withstand the extreme temperatures of spaceflight. Expensive metal alloys were the only option for 3D printing engine parts until NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, developed the GRX-810 alloy. The primary […]