NASA at 60; A driving force for innovation in materials science and technology

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Today, NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, US Federal Agency) celebrates its 60^e anniversary. Founded on 29^e July 1958, NASA started operating on 1^st October of the same year. Sixty years ago, the United States and the Soviet Union at the time were engaged in a so-called "race to space"; the competition between these two nations will become the first to escape Earth's gravitational pull and prove the strength of their technology and innovation.

Although space science can sometimes seem quite foreign (excuse the pun) to most people, we have many reasons to thank NASA. The race for space and the politics that reigned at the time were an important engine for innovation in science and technology, and in particular in materials science and engineering, space exploration leading to new challenges requiring new solutions. These solutions should not be limited to those who traveled and worked in space, as stipulated in the 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Law, which established NASA and its founding principles. the whole of humanity. So how exactly did NASA's 60 years of work help us?

A huge amount, it is found. From basic materials science solutions that we have used on Earth to futuristic solutions that could one day improve the quality of life for millions of people, NASA has certainly been a center of innovation over the past six decades. for materials that immediately come to mind. Although NASA has been responsible for the innovative use of teflon and velcro, these two materials are often misused in NASA's research and development, even though they only popularize them. Similarly, the story of NASA spending millions of pounds developing a pen that could work in space when Soviet cosmonauts were just using a pencil was also a myth. Pencils create a problematic graphite dust when used, which can seriously damage equipment in the space, not to mention the fact that they are almost lit in an environment where it is also possible to store fairly flammable fuels. . The space pens used by the two space agencies were actually developed by a company called Fisher, which incorporated some non-Newtonian fluid dynamics into the mix; the ink is kept under pressure, the direction of writing should not be important as it does not depend on the gravity to work, but the ink is the particularly smart part, remaining solid until # 39 it is slightly agitated by the rolling ball that moves, liquefying just enough ink to be able to deposit on a surface, while allowing the pen to remain under pressure and without leaks. Fisher created this to solve a problem that had not been encountered before, but while the pens were not a product of NASA's Space Race or development team, many other everyday objects were .

You may never have thought about what your sneakers might have to do with space, but if you wear a pair of Nike Airs, you may be intrigued to discover that the "Air" part comes directly from NASA technology. Mr. Frank Rudy, an aerospace engineer and researcher at Nike, developed the famous bubble soles using the same molding technique he used to create astronaut helmets for Apollo missions when he was in charge. he was employed by NASA. The shock absorbing property of interconnected inert gas bubbles has been incorporated into sports shoes in order to increase the comfort of the wearer. To this day, Nike Air is still a major selling point for the brand.

The comfort created by NASA does not stop at sneakers. Have you ever slept on a memory foam mattress? You may feel as though you were sleeping on a cloud, but you are actually sleeping with a material originally created by NASA to spread the weight of astronauts more evenly: they are propelled out of the Earth with potentially painful G forces. make their trip in space more comfortable and much safer. The dense viscoelasticity of the polyurethane foam means that it can be shaped at times, depending on the pressure applied to it, but once the strength of the shape is removed, it returns to its original shape. This means that your mattress and pillow continue to support your weight evenly throughout the night, even when you wriggle in your sleep here on Earth.

Have you ever wondered about the link between swimsuits and space shuttles? Well, unless you're as curious about fluid dynamics as I am, you may not have it, but the first ones are benefiting from the fluid dynamics. For optimum speed in the water, the swimmer ideally wants to minimize any drag between them and the water that would slow them down. There are many who strive to reduce their drag coefficient to the point of eliminating all the hair, but for SpeedoUSA, it was not enough. In 2004, they contacted NASA and asked them to help them develop a swimsuit that would significantly reduce the swimmer's drag. NASA's knowledge of fluid dynamics has allowed them to launch large items in the air, minimizing drag to make the process as economical, efficient and safe as possible. Both teams tested the dynamics of water fluids through newly developed materials and designs, before creating the LZR Racer swimsuit, with as few drag-inducing features as possible.

Certainly, a visit to the dentist will not have too many links with space technology. After all, the teeth are already designed to withstand hot and cold temperatures, a pH range and great strength. And yet, the influence of NASA's research team has even reached the inside of your mouth. The transparent polycrystalline alumina may seem a bit like the transparent aluminum of Star Trek, but this material was developed by NASA scientists to track missiles by their thermal signatures, but this material smooth, sturdy and Clear has actually found new life as an invisible orthodontic material. braces are made of. In fact, many space materials have found their way into the dentist's toolbox, with structural reinforcement materials being used as fillings and implants.

The humble shows do not seem to be a particularly new invention, since they have been made since at least the 13th.^e Century, but in the 1970s, a regulation was adopted that states that all glasses must be unbreakable. The lenses traditionally made of glass had to be created with a new material, but in the era of plastic, this was not a problem. Problems have arisen while using the glasses. The glass was very scratch resistant, but the plastic did not have the same anti-scratch properties. Enter the scientists from NASA. In a perfect example of material created for an application, but finding many other unexpected uses, scratch resistant films were first created during research on water purification techniques, before become resistant coatings for astronaut helmets. applied to plastic lenses for glasses in the 1980s.

Aside from my reduced size, one of the biggest obstacles for me to become an astronaut lies in the limited food choices. Those of us who have ever visited a science museum may have bought, on a whim, an aluminum bag containing a freeze-dried candy labeled "Food for astronauts", but the contents of this sheet do not was not very attractive. The astronauts actually lived on food in this form, but the first trips into space did not even have that luxury, being content with tubes of food that they had to introduce into their mouths to eat. The food freeze-drying process was developed by NASA to help improve astronaut food options, especially as missions lengthened and hot water in the space became a possibility. It has been proven that this freeze-drying process developed by NASA is less destructive for materials, especially those that would degrade at higher temperatures than more traditional dewatering techniques. As such, the process has been applied to a range of other industries, including the pharmaceutical industry. Researchers at the International Space Station are currently studying the potential differences between carrying out the process under microgravity conditions and the Earth's, to determine if NASA's work was "for the benefit of all", to determine if this process could be further improved.

With these examples, and many more, NASA's positive contributions over the last 60 years, it is encouraging to see that they are also looking to improve our future. From the development of robotics that could be used to create better prostheses to investigations of microencapsulation technology in low-gravity atmospheres that could herald the future of how drugs are introduced into our bodies, the impact Space science will certainly continue to be felt here Earth. With the emergence of new players in the field of space research such as SpaceX and Blue Origin who seem to be fighting for their own space race, space continues to be a driver for new scientific and technological innovations, but it all started with NASA years ago today. It's at least sixty others. Happy 60^e birthday, NASA!

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Today, NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a federal agency of the United States of America) celebrates its 60^e anniversary. Founded on 29^e July 1958, NASA started operating on 1^st October of the same year. Sixty years ago, the United States and the Soviet Union at the time were engaged in a so-called "race to space"; the competition between these two nations will become the first to escape Earth's gravitational pull and prove the strength of their technology and innovation.

Although space science can sometimes seem quite foreign (excuse the pun) to most people, we have many reasons to thank NASA. The race for space and the politics surrounding it at the time were a powerful driver of innovation in science and technology, particularly in materials science and engineering, because Space exploration brought new challenges that required new solutions. These solutions should not be limited to space travelers and space workers, however, as stipulated in the 1958 Aeronautics and Space Act, which establishes NASA and whose founding principles are the following: the whole of humanity. So how exactly did NASA's 60 years of work help us?

A huge amount, it is found. From basic materials science solutions that we have used here on Earth to futuristic solutions that could one day improve the quality of life for millions of people, NASA has certainly been a center of innovation over the past six decades, but maybe not at all. for materials that immediately come to mind. Although NASA has been tasked with using teflon and velcro in a new and innovative way, these two materials are often poorly attributed to NASA's research and development work, even though they have simply become popularized. Similarly, the story of NASA spending millions of pounds developing a pen that could work in space when Soviet cosmonauts were just using a pencil was also a myth. The pencils create graphite dust problems when used, which could seriously damage space equipment, as well as the fact that they light up practically in an environment conducive to the storage of relatively flammable fuels. The space pens used by the two space agencies were actually developed by a company called Fisher, which incorporated some non-Newtonian fluid dynamics into the mix; the ink is kept under pressure; the meaning of the writing should not be important because it does not rely on gravity but the ink is the most clever part, remaining solid until the roll shakes slightly when 39, it is used, liquefying just enough ink to be able to deposit on a surface, while allowing the pen to remain under pressure and without leaks. Fisher created this to solve a problem that had not been encountered before, but while the pens were not a product of NASA's Space Race or development team, many other everyday objects were .

You may never have thought about what your sneakers might have to do with space, but if you wear a pair of Nike Airs, you may be intrigued to discover that the "Air" part comes directly from NASA technology. Dr. Frank Rudy, an aerospace engineer and researcher at Nike, developed the famous bubble sole using the same rubber casting technique that was used to create astronaut helmets for Apollo missions when he was employed by NASA. The shock absorbing property of interconnected inert gas bubbles has been incorporated into sports shoes in order to increase the comfort of the wearer. To this day, Nike Air is still a major selling point for the brand.

The comfort created by NASA does not stop at sneakers. Have you ever slept on a memory foam mattress? You may feel like you are sleeping on a cloud, but you are actually falling asleep on a material originally created by NASA to better distribute the weight of astronauts if they are driven out of the Earth by G forces. potentially painfully high. make their trip in space more comfortable and much safer. The dense viscoelasticity of the polyurethane foam allows it to mold to shape in a matter of moments, depending on the pressure applied to it, but once the strength of the shape is removed, it slowly returns to its original shape. This means that your mattress and pillow continue to support your weight evenly throughout the night, even when you wriggle in your sleep here on Earth.

Have you ever wondered about the link between swimsuits and space shuttles? Well, unless you're as curious about fluid dynamics as I am, you may not have it, but the first ones are benefiting from the fluid dynamics. For optimum speed in the water, the swimmer ideally wants to minimize any drag between them and the water that would slow them down. Many of them strive to reduce their drag coefficient to eliminate all the hair, but for SpeedoUSA, that was not enough. In 2004, they approached NASA and asked them to help them develop a swimsuit that would significantly reduce the swimmer's drag. NASA's knowledge of fluid dynamics has allowed them to launch large items in the air, minimizing drag to make the process as economical, efficient and safe as possible. Both teams tested the dynamics of water fluids through newly developed materials and designs, before creating the LZR Racer swimsuit, with as few drag-inducing features as possible.

Certainly, a visit to the dentist will not have too many links with space technology. After all, the teeth are already designed to withstand hot and cold temperatures, a pH range and great strength. And yet, the influence of NASA's research team has even reached the inside of your mouth. The transparent polycrystalline alumina may seem a bit like the transparent aluminum of Star Trek, but this material was developed by NASA scientists to track missiles by their thermal signatures, but this material smooth, sturdy and Clear has actually found new life as an invisible orthodontic material. braces are made of. In fact, many space materials have found their way into the dentist's toolbox, with structural reinforcement materials being used as fillings and implants.

The humble shows do not seem to be a particularly new invention, since they have been manufactured for at least 13 years.^e Century, but in the 1970s, a regulation was adopted that states that all glasses must be unbreakable. The lenses traditionally made of glass had to be created with a new material, but in the era of plastic, this was not a problem. Problems have arisen while using the glasses. The glass was very scratch resistant, but the plastic did not have the same anti-scratch properties. Enter the scientists from NASA. In a perfect example of material created for an application, but finding many other unexpected uses, scratch resistant films were first created during research on water purification techniques, before become resistant coatings for astronaut helmets. applied to plastic lenses for glasses in the 1980s.

Aside from my reduced size, one of the biggest obstacles for me to become an astronaut lies in the limited food choices. Those of us who have ever visited a science museum may have bought, on a whim, an aluminum bag containing a freeze-dried candy labeled "Food for astronauts", but the contents of this sheet do not was not very attractive. The astronauts actually lived on food in this form, but the first trips into space did not even have that luxury, being content with tubes of food that they had to introduce into their mouths to eat. The food freeze-drying process was developed by NASA to help improve astronaut food options, especially as missions lengthened and hot water in the space became a possibility. It has been proven that this freeze-drying process developed by NASA is less destructive for materials, especially those that would degrade at higher temperatures than more traditional dewatering techniques. As such, the process has been applied to a range of other industries, including the pharmaceutical industry. Researchers at the International Space Station are currently studying the potential differences between carrying out the process under microgravity conditions and the Earth's, to determine if NASA's work was "for the benefit of all", to determine if this process could be further improved.

With these examples, and many more, NASA's positive contributions over the last 60 years, it is encouraging to see that they are also looking to improve our future. From the development of robotics that could be used to create better prostheses to investigations of microencapsulation technology in low-gravity atmospheres that could herald the future of how drugs are introduced into our bodies, the impact Space science will certainly continue to be felt here Earth. With the emergence of new players in the field of space research such as SpaceX and Blue Origin who seem to be fighting for their own space race, space continues to be a driver for new scientific and technological innovations, but it all started with NASA years ago today. It's at least sixty others. Happy 60^e birthday, NASA!