Day 34 - Spin Offs

I blogged about my fascination for 'all things space' in my last blog post. When I was growing up {not that I've stopped growing now ;) } I used to have these conversations with my Dad where he would chide me for my 'love' of space efforts. I would follow closely the shuttle launches and the activities of the astronauts. I loved the fact that we had started work on the ISS and would look out for the images from Hubble telescope whenever the newspapers carried them.

The discussions with my Dad would typically center around the fact that billions of dollars were being spent on these frivolous space antics while the same money can be used to do so much more on Earth. He would always question what good does this space research serve to humanity. At that time I usually did not have an answer for him.

Over the years this question has bothered me too and I have tried to find out the practical uses of space technology. Has the billions of dollars spent on space research and travel contributed anything to us living presently on earth?

Well, Dad......it has!! A lot of things that we use today in our daily lives and take for granted have actually come from space research.

Here are some:

• Invisible Braces: Dental braces that are almost invisible but serve the purpose were developed by Unitek using TPA which was developed in conjunction with NASA Advanced Ceramics Research Division. TPA is strong enough to withstand use and is translucent, making it a prime material for invisible braces. Because of their instant popularity, invisible braces are one of the most successful products in the orthodontic industry.

• Scratch Resistant Lenses: Spectacles that you use today are usually made of plastic so that they don't shatter when they fall. But plastic scratches easily, doesn't it? So how come your spectacles don't? The answer is again NASA. Because of dirt and particles found in space environments, NASA needed a special coating to protect space equipment, particularly astronaut helmet visors. Recognizing an opportunity, the Foster-Grant sunglasses manufacturer licensed the NASA technology for its products. The special plastics coating made its sunglasses ten times more scratch-resistant than uncoated plastics.

• Memory Foam: Do you feel comfortable on your bike seat or when you sleep on your mattress at night? NASA ­helps some people sleep better at night. Temper foam found in Tempurpedic brand mattresses and similar brands was originally developed for space flight and later repackaged for the home. The open cell polyurethane-silicon plastic was created for use in NASA aircraft seats to lessen impact during landings. The plastic has a unique property that allows it to evenly distribute the weight and pressure on top of it, which provides shock absorbency. Even after being compressed to 10 percent of its size, the memory foam will return to its original shape .

• Ear Thermometer: Ever wondered where the ear thermometer that you use to measure your kid's temperature was invented? Who thought of it and how does it measure temperature when it does have mercury? Diatek, which developed the first of these kinds of thermometers, took advantage of NASA's previous advancements in measuring the temperature of stars with infrared technology. Together with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, the company invented an infrared sensor that serves as the thermometer. Aural thermometers with these infrared sensors take your temperature by measuring the amount of energy your eardrum gives off into the ear canal. Since the eardrum is inside our bodies, it acts as an accurate sensor for the energy, or heat, inside of our bodies that increases when we get sick.

• Shoe Insoles: The spring in your step when you wear athletic shoes may literally come from NASA's technology for astronauts who went to the moon. The space suit designed for the Apollo missions included specially-made boots that put a spring in astronaut's steps while providing ventilation. Athletic shoe companies have taken this technology and adopted it to construct better shoes that lessen the impact on your feet and legs. In the mid-1980s, shoe company KangaROOS USA applied the principles and materials in moon boots to a new line of athletic shoes. With help from NASA, KangaROOS patented a Dynacoil three-dimensional polyurethane foam fabric that distributes the force on your feet that happens when you walk or run [source: NASA Science and Technology Information]. By coiling the fibers within the fabric, the KangaROOS absorb the energy from your foot hitting the ground, rebounding it back to your feet.

• Long distance telecommunications: Oh, by the way the phone call that you make to your cousin or aunt in US is thanks to the technology that NASA developed over decades. Before humans were sent into space, NASA built satellites that could communicate with people on the ground about what outer space was like. Using similar satellite technology, around 200 communication satellites orbit the globe each day.

• Water Filters: An everyday thing like the water filter that you use actually comes from space research technology. Cool, isn't it? The ability to convert contaminated water to pure water is an incredibly important scientific achievement.Astronauts needed a way to cleanse water they take up into space, since bacteria and sickness would be highly problematic. NASA wanted to know how to clean water in more extreme situations and keep it clean for longer periods of time.
  
  If you look at a water filter, you can usually detect small chunks of charcoal inside of them. Sometimes, when you first use a water filter, you'll even notice tiny black flecks from those chunks. This charcoal is specially activated and contains silver ions that neutralize pathogens in the water. Along with killing bacteria in the water, the filters also prevent further bacterial growth. Companies have borrowed from this same technology to bring us the water filter systems millions of people use at home every day.

There are many more such technology innovations in daily life that have come from space research - cordless tools, Firefighter suits, Battery that drives the electric car, the new swimming costumes that are breaking records and many more. You can read about them at the NASA's Spinoff site.

So, hey Dad........space technology investment is not really a waste of money!! Phew!

Day 33 - My fascination for space

Since I was in the 6th or 7th standard I have always been fascinated by space and its limitless potential. I moved from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in the 6th standard and joined school mid-way. A group of friends used to discuss Kepler's laws and Saturn's rings and I could not join in the conversation. So I started to read up about them and got hooked for life. I went back and told them about the gaps in Saturn's rings and from them on I was hooked to the stars.

As I grew older my fascination grew for space travel and its potential to free human race from the Earth. In this fertile environment came STAR WARS from George Lucas. Imagine a 9 year old boy who is just discovering space and liking it, sitting inside a theater and seeing his imagination come to life. Space travel, fights, aliens of different kinds, humans.......WOW......and in all that such imaginative characters as Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt! Star Wars laid the foundation of my scifi fascination. Even today I am a huge kid when it comes to Star Wars and all my friends and family know that.

I have dragged my friends to Star Wars movies where they have rolled their eyes while I have been engrossed in the movie. In fact when Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith was premiered in India and I had the tickets, my wife could not come with me. So I called up a friend and I told her that I can take you to this movie but you have to understand that I may not talk to you when the movie is going on and I may potentially ignore you completely. I had goose bumps when Anakin Skywalker finally becomes Darth Vader.

In my workplace a small corner of my desk is occupied by the characters of Star Wars and this will only grow.

This fascination was also fueled by TV series like Star Trek at an early age and then Farscape later on.

The next logical step was books and Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke gave wings to my imagination. I still call them my gurus. While Asimov's Foundation and Robot series painted the life opera and the fight of good-v/s-evil on a galactic canvas, Clarke's Odessey and Rama series raised ethical questions about humans and aliens. I loved (and still do) them immensely and even today will pick up scifi book over any other.

My fascination is such that three of my '10 things to do before I die' have something to do with space!

You may call it an escapist thing or you may label it as a dream to break free, but for me space and space travel is about the immense potential for human life to go beyond the 'cradle' of Earth and explore this huge galaxy and universe that has been given to us. I find it absolutely impossible that we are in this obscure corner of this lonely galaxy and that we are the only intelligent beings in the universe.

Skeptics say that we have not found any inkling of intelligent life out there in the universe. But this is similar to us being a small tribe in the deepest jungles of Amazon and thinking that we are the only ones when just a few thousand Kms away there are skyscrapers, neon lights and technology far beyond our imagination. We just need to find the path that will lead us from the deepest Amazon jungle to a village nearby and from them to a city and a town and the capital of the country. What the Amazon tribes count in footsteps, we count in light years.

Its just a matter of time!!