NASA releases 56 technologies to the public domain

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Sabre
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NASA releases 56 technologies to the public domain

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Engineers Australia
Engineers around the world can now sift through a trove of 56 formerly-patented technologies from NASA, after the space agency released them into the public domain for unrestricted commercial use.

The 56 newly-released technologies are just the latest addition to NASA’s searchable database that contains thousands of expired NASA patents that are already in the public domain.

NASA scientists developed these technologies for its space missions, including things like propulsion methods, rocket nozzles, thrusters, aircraft wind designs, and technologies to improve rocket safety and performance.

However, many other technologies have non-aerospace applications, and may be used free of charge. In addition to cutting down the time needed for research and development, these technologies eliminate the time, expense and paperwork that is often associated with licensing intellectual property.

Of particular interest may be the technologies related to advanced manufacturing processes, sensors, ways to mitigate dangerous gases, a new way to make a tougher type of aerogel, and a technique to make the carbon nanotube manufacturing process 20 times cheaper than it already is.

The nanotube manufacturing process, for example, utilises an arc welding process to apply high electrical current to a carbon anode and a graphite cathode, forming a high quality single wall nanotube on the first 5cm of the graphite anode. This method eliminates the use of metal catalysts, which can be difficult to remove later on, increasing the cost of manufacturing. Compared to current single wall carbon nanotubes, which cost approximately $1000 per gram nanotubes made using the NASA method would cost $50 per gram.

Also included in the latest batch of technologies to be released is an apparatus and method for packaging and integrating microphotonic devices, a self-sealing, smart and variable area nozzle to control the flow in gas turbine engines, a way to use fibre optics to determine nitrogen and oxygen concentrations in liquid fuel tanks, and a reverse-bias protected solar array with integrated bypass battery.

According to Daniel Lockney, NASA’s Technology Transfer program executive, the hope is that by making the technologies available on the public domain, the agency can help foster a new era of entrepreneurship.

“By releasing this collection into the public domain, we are encouraging entrepreneurs to explore new ways to commercialise NASA technologies,” he said.

The technology release may also facilitate new collaborations between NASA and the private industry, by familiarising commercial space programs with NASA’s capabilities.

Because the aim of the release is to encourage entrepreneurship and development, the technologies were rigorously reviewed by NASA officials prior to their release, to ensure that companies who wish to utilise them will still need to invest considerable effort into development before the end solution in marketable.
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Re: NASA releases 56 technologies to the public domain

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Sabre (Julian)
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Good choice putting $4,000 rims on your 1990 Honda Civic. That's like Betty White going out and getting her tits done.
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