NASA News Briefs
NASA Plant Food Technology Improves Lawn and Garden Care
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| The Space Foundation has recognized ZeoPro as a Certified Space Technology. ZeoPro is a combination growth medium, fertilizer and soil amendment that enhances plant growth because of its patented nutrient delivery system. One of its primary ingredients is a slow release form of phosphorous and other key elements developed by NASA. |
“The Space Foundation is pleased to certify ZeoPro,” says Kevin Cook, director of space technology awareness for the Space Foundation. “ZeoponiX and distributor Advanced Soil Science are working to make the benefits of this environmentally-friendly technology available to every gardener.”
NASA developed a new kind of growth medium for plants (called zeoponic materials) that carries within itself the nutrients needed by plants and provides those nutrients in a very efficient manner. ZeoponiX holds exclusive rights to the NASA patents and further developed the technology in ZeoPro, an ecologically friendly product that enables indoor and outdoor plants to determine when they need nutrition, delivering a balanced diet of slow released plant nutrients.
ZeoponiX is working closely with Advanced Soil Science to make ZeoPro available to everyone who wants to make their home greenhouse, houseplant, flower bed, vegetable garden or lawn grow vigorously. ZeoPro uses essential plant nutrients more efficiently with various soil structures, while being environmentally responsible. Advanced Soil Science is the exclusive distributor of ZeoPro to the thousands of gardeners, retail garden centers, Internet retail garden supply companies and other horticultural outlets within the United States.
About the Space Certification Program
Since the dawn of the space era, the world’s best engineers at NASA and other space agencies have been developing advanced technologies that fuel space exploration and also result in a number of applications that improve life on Earth. The Space Certification Program, managed by the Space Foundation in cooperation with NASA, provides official recognition for qualified products and services incorporating those space technologies. For more information, visit www.SpaceConnection.org.
About the Space Foundation
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that vigorously advances civil, commercial and national security space endeavors and inspires, enables and propels tomorrow’s explorers. The Space Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C., and Cape Canaveral, Fla.
For more information, visit www.spacefoundation.org.
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NASA Ames Licenses Program and Data Management Software to Industry
NASA and JumpStart Solutions are working together to bring software developed for use in the nation’s space program directly to consumers and commercial markets.
Through a recently signed agreement, JumpStart Solutions, Cave Creek, Ariz., will license NASA’s Program Management Tool (PMT), Query Based Document Composition (QBDC) and NETMARK software. The Program Management Tool is a comprehensive, Web-enabled, business application tool. It is designed to monitor, disseminate and track the progress of research and development programs and to project milestones. The tool operates in conjunction with QBDC and NETMARK. NETMARK is an information-on-demand framework that manages, stores and retrieves unstructured and/or semi-structured documents. QBDC is a tool that enables content or context searches, either simple or hierarchical, across a variety of databases. NETMARK is a revolutionary concept in information management. Along with PMT and QBDC, NETMARK was invented and developed at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
JumpStart Solutions has indicated that it plans to integrate other technologies with PMT/NETMARK to provide project portfolio management and knowledge document management capabilities for its industry, university and other customers.
“We recently granted a non-exclusive patent and copyright license to an Arizona company to develop new software based on the Program Management Tool/NETMARK technology developed at NASA Ames,” says Martha Del Alto, technology partnership manager at NASA Ames. “This agreement represents a continuation of NASA’s commitment to transfer technology to the commercial marketplace.”
JumpStart Solutions LLC is a technology company that licenses and commercializes select, well-developed technologies sourced from federal government and university research centers.
For more information, contact Martha Del Alto, (650) 604-4865, mdelalto@mail.arc.nasa.gov.
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Ames Technology Helps Improve Industrial Plant Safety and Efficiency
NASA is partnering with industry to develop a new health monitoring system to increase safety and efficiency in complex industrial plants, such as power generation and water treatment facilities.
The new industrial plant health monitoring system will be based on the Inductive Monitoring System (IMS), a technology developed at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California’s Silicon Valley. The IMS technology uses artificial intelligence and data-mining techniques to build system-monitoring knowledge bases from archived or simulated sensor data to detect unusual or anomalous behavior that may indicate an impending system failure. The IMS currently is helping analyze data from systems that help fly and maintain the space shuttle and the International Space Station. Previously, the IMS has been used by NASA’s hybrid combustion facility, an advanced rocket fuel test facility, the RASCAL UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, and to monitor engine systems on an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.
“We recently granted a non-exclusive patent license to a local company to develop new software based on the IMS technology developed at NASA Ames,” says Phil Herlth, technology partnership manager at NASA Ames. “This agreement represents a continuation of NASA’s commitment to transfer technology to the commercial marketplace.”
“We have integrated the NASA technology into our Remote Manager software platform to provide a complete early warning and diagnostics software for the process industries,” says Peter Millett, CEO of iSagacity Inc., of Half Moon Bay, Calif. According to Millett, the NASA technology will greatly enhance the capabilities of its Web-based monitoring products, such as Remote Manager.
“The combination of the NASA technology with our algorithms already in place in Remote Manager provides an unprecedented capability to identify potential problems in almost any type of process before the equipment fails,” Millett says. “The problem in many industries has not been a lack of sensor data, but the ability to make sense of it all in a time frame that can support operations.”
iSagacity is an engineering and software company that provides a suite of software applications to monitor and analyze operating data from critical equipment and systems in the process industries.
For more information, contact Phil Herlth, (650) 604-0625, pherlth@mail.arc.nasa.gov. pherlth@mail.arc.nasa.gov.
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GSFC Signs Partnership Agreements
The Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. has announced the signing of four partnership agreements.
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Under a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), researchers from Goddard and NIST will be able to work together using joint expertise and NIST’s state-of-the-art nanotechnology fabrication facilities to further their individual and joint research goals.
OTT facilitated the development and signing of the agreement, which enables collaboration between Goddard and NIST researchers to further advances in nanotechnology. The agreement is also expected to save taxpayer money by enabling Goddard scientists to use NIST’s new $350 million research facilities rather than duplicate these facilities at NASA.
“By having access to these state-of-the-art facilities and capabilities at NIST, Goddard can focus its resources on the validation of these miniaturized technologies to accelerate their maturity for spaceflight applications supporting scientific research and NASA’s vision for space exploration,” says Goddard’s chief technologist Peter Hughes.
The agreement calls for the two organizations together to define and manage research projects in nanoscience and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device design, technologies, operational protocols, fabrication technologies and device metrology for use in chemical and biological detectors, power generation, thermal management systems, radio frequency electronics, electro-optic devices and distributed sensor networks.
The collaborative research could have far-reaching benefits for many scientific areas. “Specific progress can be made in radiation-tolerant memory devices for all space missions, biological sensors to detect the presence of life at distant bodies, and multi-functional materials for next-generation robotics and vehicles,” Hughes says. “The applications and target mission uses in this emerging technology area are diverse, compelling and exciting.”
Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development
In the future, the Maryland state motto could become “To Boldly Go” with some of NASA’s forthcoming exploration efforts having a very home-grown feel. That’s because of the agreement Goddard signed with DBED to attract high-technology companies to the state.
The agreement enables collaboration between Goddard and DBED. The mutually beneficial agreement will help bolster economic growth in Maryland while helping to support NASA missions. The agreement also will help supplement Goddard’s research skills by facilitating technical exchanges with local organizations to study new aerospace trends, methods and challenges that may benefit NASA missions. “DBED can certainly help us bolster the skills and expertise at Goddard by bringing technology collaborators with similar research interests to the state,” says OTT chief Nona Cheeks. And by leveraging local technical labor and education resources, Goddard may also strengthen its strategic technical advantage.
The State of Maryland stands to reap significant benefits from the agreement as well. With a strong interest in stimulating local economic growth, DBED can leverage collaboration with Goddard to demonstrate educational, financial and business resources that technology companies require. “We can help each other,” says Cheeks. “DBED can help us find scientists in industry that may help us further our missions. And at the same time, by demonstrating the need for those researchers in Maryland, we can help DBED meet some of its economic milestones.”
The agreement calls for the two organizations to collaboratively develop outreach programs, workshops and other meetings related to Goddard’s technology needs. Goddard also will provide DBED with information related to its facilities and technological expertise that will be of interest to technology companies. In turn, DBED will facilitate collaboration between Goddard researchers and regional labs, as well as academic and business organizations, to develop joint technology ventures.
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Researchers at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) conduct laboratory experiments to study and measure cross-sections for electron impact excitation in multiply-charged ions. This process is the source for all light from the sun; however, most cross-sections for producing light in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range are known only from theoretical calculations. Experimental data are needed to validate the theoretical methods, to understand the processes, and therefore to explain the distributions in the intensities and wavelengths of the sun’s light.
Because such experiments require mirrors that can reflect and focus light over a wide range of wavelengths, SAO turned to Goddard as the space-optics leader. Not only had Goddard researchers developed an innovative coating that allows a mirror to efficiently reflect light from the red wavelengths down to the EUV range, but Goddard had the thin-film coating facility to do it.
“Goddard is the only place in the country that does this kind of coating,” explains SAO physicist Larry Gardner. “We could have tried to make do with a commercial coating, but they’re significantly less efficient. If we weren’t able to access Goddard’s facilities, it would have taken us four times as long to get the data we need. It has a big impact on our ability to do the experiments.”
This work was performed under a new type of Space Act Agreement—that is, a Simplified SAA. “The Simplified SAA represents a new, faster process for routine work of a limited scope,” says Scott Owens, who is technology coordinator for Goddard’s Optics Branch. “This template agreement can be routed through the legal and financial systems in a matter of weeks.”
University of Baltimore
Liberal arts, law and business students at the University of Baltimore now have the opportunity to work directly with Goddard researchers and technologies through the school’s Lab to Market program. As part of the program, students assess Goddard technologies and collaborate with university faculty and Goddard researchers to develop commercialization plans and potential licensing opportunities.
The agreement will enhance NASA’s strategic technology objectives, providing Goddard with assessment information about potential applications and licensing opportunities for possible technology transfer efforts. As described by OTT’s Monica Montague, “Goddard can benefit tremendously from the assessments the university students will conduct for our technologies. Using their insights, we’ll be able to better understand additional applications and licensing opportunities.”
The University of Baltimore’s Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) facilitates the commercialization of technologies from federal labs using a cross-disciplinary team approach. The Lab to Market program has been added to this list of collaborative efforts that teach hundreds of students to apply their knowledge and skills to real technologies.
Through the partnership with Goddard, the students gain hands-on experience with technology assessments and market-development plans. The agreement enables students and faculty to choose a set of Goddard technologies to work with for a semester. Teams of at least four students analyze an assigned technology using intellectual property (IP) audits, brainstorming, security analyses, economic feasibility, development of return on investment and other collaboration with researchers. Final reports from the teams are made available to Goddard and include arguments for their analyses, technology/market assessments, identification of IP issues, competition, market analyses, potential applications and other valuable data.
For more information, contact NASA Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer, (301) 286-5810, techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov.
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