Publicly financed space exploration is winding down in coming years due to budget cuts at NASA. Fortunately there are some private initiatives, as well as probes by China, the United Kingdom and Russia, are in the works, but some are decades away from being launched.
The last U.S. Mars rover is set to land on the red planet in August. The craft, named Curiosity, is the biggest rover yet, the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Three of the first four basketball-size units have expired in their usefulness the fourth will die shortly.
Curiosity is tasked with searching for any signs of early microbial life in the planet’s polar regions and in recesses that may have been lakes eons ago. The U.S. also has two dozen deep space probes up and running. Along with Curiosity, they should continue to provide scientific knowledge for five more years or so.
But NASA can always revel in past glories, besides the only moon landings they are believed to have had a hand in the following creations:
- CAT scanner: this cancer-detecting technology was first used to find imperfections in space components.
2. Computer microchip: modern microchips descend from integrated circuits used in the Apollo Guidance Computer.
3. Cordless tools: power drills and vacuum cleaners use technology designed to drill for moon samples.
4. Ear thermometer: a camera-like lens that detects infrared energy we feel as heat was originally used to monitor the birth of stars.
5. Freeze-dried food: this reduces food weight and increases shelf life without sacrificing nutritional value.
6. Insulation: home insulation uses reflective material that protects spacecraft from radiation.
7. Invisible braces: teeth-straightening is less embarrassing thanks to transparent ceramic brace brackets made from spacecraft materials.
8. Joystick: this computer gaming device was first used on the Apollo Lunar Rover.
9. Memory foam: created for aircraft seats to soften landing, this foam, which returns to its original shape, is found in mattresses and shock absorbing helmets.
10. Satellite television: technology used to fix errors in spacecraft signals helps reduce scrambled pictures and sound in satellite television signals.
11. Scratch resistant lenses: astronaut helmet visor coating makes our spectacles ten times more scratch resistant.
12. Shoe insoles: athletic shoe companies adapted space boot designs to lessen impact by adding spring and ventilation.
13. Smoke detector: NASA invented the first adjustable smoke detector with sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms.
14. Swimsuit: NASA used the same principles that reduce drag in space to help create the world’s fastest swimsuit for Speedo, rejected by some professionals for giving an unfair advantage.
15. Water filter: domestic versions borrow a technique NASA pioneered to kill bacteria in water taken into space.
Science fiction writers have written that when mankind stops looking at the stars we begin our inevitable decline and fall from grace. We may now have the opportunity to find out if they were correct or not.