3-4 Space Technology

Spinoffs

A spinoff is an invention that was originally made for some purpose, but then found a use in some other part of life.

For example, most cell phones these days have the ability to show, on a map, your exact location. The technology to do this, the Global Positioning System (GPS), was examined in Satellites.

GPS was originally designed in the 1970s for the US military -- not for the general public to use. Starting in the 1980s, though, the GPS system could be used by everyone else, and its use has grown from there. So, we can say that GPS is a "spinoff" technology from the US military, and it has worked its way into our everyday lives.

Here are a few such technologies, but there are thousands more you can investigate. Sometimes the spinoff is a completely new idea, but sometimes it is an improvement on an existing idea.

LASIK Surgery

If you've ever heard about someone getting LASIK surgery done to correct their vision, it sounds pretty dramatic. A pulsed laser is precisely aimed at a person's eye, and the laser pulses burn off part of the focusing lens to reshape it. Of course, the laser needs to know exactly where the patient's eye is, at all times, in order for the laser to be aimed at the correct location.

The technology used to track a person's eye position, thousands of times per second, was originally developed to help vehicles attach to satellites in Earth orbit. Instead of using lasers, it used radar to track where the satellite was, many times per second, so the two objects could attach together.

Memory Foam

You can buy all sorts of devices that use memory foam -- mattresses, shoe insoles and pillows, to name three. It's a kind of foam that, when you push it, it springs back more slowly than you'd expect.

This type of foam was invented to improve crash protection for astronauts and airplane passengers, and was invented by NASA's Ames Research Center.

More Unbroken Potato Chips

This one might seem a little silly, but it just goes to show how far-reaching spinoffs are.

The European Space Agency (ESA) developed a new type of wind tunnel to study how spacecraft could re-enter Earth's atmosphere more safely.

However, a manufacturer of potato chips now uses the same technology to put chips into bags while breaking less of them. This means the consumer gets more whole chips, instead of a lot of little pieces at the bottom of the bag.

Canadarm and Candarm2

For NASA's Space Shuttle program starting in the early 1980s, Canada was asked to create a device that would let astronauts move things around easily outside spacecraft.

Canada's National Research Council (NRC), an arms-length government organization dedicated to scientific research, oversaw the creation of the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System... but the word Canadarm was just so much more catchy, so that's what it's generally called.

The picture above is of Candarm2 in 2020, working with a supply vehicle for the International Space Station. The original Canadarm design, of which five were made, was retired in 2011.

Manipulator arms like the Canadarms are controlled by an astronaut sitting inside a spacecraft, such as the ISS. The astronaut will use a remote control, not unlike a complicated video game joystick, to move it around.

Neurosurgery Precision

Based on the technology developed for Canadarm2, a robotic imaging system was invented that helps surgeons who are operating on peoples' brains to make that surgery more precise.

When you see this device, you can immediately see the connection to Candarm -- they look pretty similar!

Cancer Diagnosis

When diagnosing certain kinds of cancer, accuracy can save a person's life. This technology, also spun off from Canadarm, helps doctors create a more accurate picture of where cancerous tumours are.

In the future, this type of technology may find more uses across many kinds of medicine.

Remote Sensing and RADARSAT

Remote sensing is the science of collecting information about a place, without actually being in that place.

These days, that usually means a satellite collects information about something on the surface of the Earth. Examples of these include:

• direct images of land and water

• weather radar images showing clouds and storms

• measuring altitudes and creating topographic maps

• determining land use patterns

• measuring differences in Earth's gravitational field

In 1995, a collaboration between NASA (in the US) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) launched RADARSAT-1, a remote sensing satellite.

It had many uses, not limited to:

• Arctic ocean security

• monitoring offshore ice

• tracking forest cover and logging

• detecting oil spills on oceans

• mapping remote locations accurately

It was originally designed to last five years, but ended up lasting over 17 years, until 2013.

Currently, CSA uses the third generation of this technology, a three-satellite system called RADARSAT Constellation. You can read all about the many uses of this system at the CSA's website -- and you may be surprised by the variety of things for which it has a use.

Practice

The Basics

1. What is a spinoff technology?

2. Name three things that remote sensing can help people do.

3. How has space exploration improved eye surgery?

Extensions

1. It's often been rumoured that NASA developed Velcro for its space program. Is this true, or is it just a myth?

2. The James Webb Space Telescope uses some technology that is also used in eye surgery. Do some research to find what this connection is.