NASA Spinoff - Technology Transfer Program

Mining & Minerals - Evaluations / Off-World Exploration, Mining, & Technology

Date posted: 05/22/17

Each year, Spinoff highlights NASA technologies that are benefiting life on Earth in the form of commercial products. They have profiled nearly 2,000 spinoffs since the publication began in 1976. Spinoff profiles NASA technologies that have transformed into commercial products and services. About 50 spinoff technologies are featured annually in the publication, demonstrating the wider benefits of U.S. investment in its space program. Spinoff is available online in multiple digital formats, and print copies are distributed to the public and to politicians, representatives at the United Nations, economic decision makers, company CEOs, academics, scientists, engineers, professionals in technology transfer, the news media, and many others. NASA has a long history of transferring technology to the private sector. The Technology Transfer Program was formally established in 1964 in response to a congressional mandate to facilitate the process, and the program has functioned under various names ever since, making it NASA longest continuously operated mission. Early publications about NASA inventions, made available to the scientific and engineering communities, resulted in feedback that indicated a broad interest in the private sector in acquiring and adapting NASA technology for commercial uses. As spinoff products began to emerge, NASA began preparing annual reports on these successes to present at congressional budget hearings. These black and white Technology Utilization Program Reports, published in 1973 and 74, generated so much public interest that NASA decided to turn them into an attractive publication for a general audience. Good read.