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To: Thermalseeker
"So many technological advances we enjoy today grew out of the technologies developed for the Apollo and Gemini programs "

Which technologies?
78 posted on 01/27/2010 8:08:21 AM PST by Borges
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To: Borges
Which technologies?

If you were expecting me to say "Teflon" or "Velcro", don't expect me to bite.

However, high speed digital communications, one technology that I'm intimately familiar with, has direct ties to NASA technology from the Apollo program, along with many other advances in electronics technology. Advances, often rapid advances, in this area of technology were undoubtedly driven by the space program of the 1960's. Texas Instruments is a prime example. Motorola, too. The cell phone you probably use every day has it's roots in the heady days of the Apollo program. Those innovations in electronics and electrical engineering are far too numerous to begin to mention them all here, but those are good examples. Others include fluid pumping technologies on microscopic to Olympic sized swimming pool scale. As a result, major contributions to medical science and materials science needed to develop the systems of the Apollo project were also gained, either by the invention of new science and materials, or by bringing existing, little known science and materials into the mainstream of everyday life. The number of engineers alone in my generation that were produced after Apollo, myself included, are directly attributable to being inspired by the Apollo program as a child. I recall when I was an undergrad at Ga. Tech. One of my first engineering classes the professor asked the class how many people were there because they were fans of the space program. Nearly every hand in the class went up. This was in the early 1980's.

Look up "NASA Spinoffs" for more info.

98 posted on 01/27/2010 8:31:04 AM PST by Thermalseeker (Stop the insanity - Flush Congress!)
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