Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Hey, NASA! So What Have You Done For Me Lately?


NASA has just released its annual report of the benefits that came from the Space Shuttle program in the last year. Entitled Spinoff 2011 it details 44 advances that benefit us all. They include everything from ventilator technologies sustain critically injured patients to modeling programs increase aircraft design safety, from retrofitting gas vehicles into hybrids to NASA missions that inspire online video games. One is even based here in Madison.

High-Pressure Systems Suppress Fires in Seconds
By applying principles from a new kind of rocket engine—developed by Orbital Technologies Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin, under SBIR contracts with Marshall Space Flight Center—to fire hose nozzles, company subsidiary HMA Fire improved the performance of its ultra-high pressure fire suppression systems, which extinguish many fires in significantly less time and using less water than traditional systems.

Pretty great stuff. So what do we do now that there is no Space Shuttle Program?You can find out more about Spinoff 2011 here: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2011/index.html

Oh, and that online video game? It's called Moonbase Alpha and you can find out more about it here: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2011/cg_4.html I'm headed that way now. See you on the moon.

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