Through the years, NASA’s aerospace research and development has launched many well-known technologies that we use here on Earth, as well as in space. And although it’s an urban/outer space myth that Tang, Teflon, and Velcro were originally invented as part of the US space program, as of 2012, NASA has documented nearly 1,800 spinoff technology transfers from its research efforts. Some of the most well-known and widely used include temper foam or memory foam, cochlear implants to aid hearing, Mylar or space emergency blankets, and the DustBuster.
Now, NASA has released Bringing NASA Technology Down to Earth, an online software catalog listing more than a thousand computer codes that can be accessed and adopted at no charge. Some code in the catalog is available to the general public, and some is restricted for use by other federal agencies. The code represents NASA’s solutions to a wide array of complex mission requirements and extends the White House mandate to federal agencies to transfer government source code to the public whenever possible to spur innovation.
The NASA software catalog is organized into fifteen broad subject matter categories, from aeronautics—including autonomous systems and robotics and air traffic management, modeling, and simulation tools—to operations, including ground software, telemetry, the Global Positioning System, and extravehicular activity.
“Our design software has been used to make everything from guitars to roller coasters to Cadillacs,” Daniel Lockney, technology transfer program executive with NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist, told Wired. “Scheduling software that keeps the Hubble Space Telescope operations straight has been used for scheduling MRIs at busy hospitals and as control algorithms for online dating services.”
However, it’s not quite as simple as downloading code from a website to build your own Mars Curiosity rover in your back yard. The NASA Technology Transfer Portal has the latest updates and revisions to the software catalog, as well as contact information and instructions for requesting the software.
