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Know Before They Show

The time and productivity lost waiting for another person at a meeting or social event is another common problem addressed by smartphone GNSS apps. The Glympse app links people prior to an established meeting by collecting data on location, time, and who will attend.

Getting a Charge with mapZero

Beyond turn-by-turn navigation, GNSS abilities within smartphones are increasingly used to facilitate daily travel experiences. Owners of electric vehicles from cars to Segways are limited by the range of their vehicles, and that distance can vary substantially, depending on driving conditions.

Global Navigation and Google Glass Provide Direction

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), enable a variety of devices to receive geolocation data. Smartphone users have become accustomed to having this information available at all times, and companies continue to find new ways to provide access to their customers.

Better Breathing Through Chemistry: Airocide

Purification of air is also critical in space habitats, where breathable atmosphere must be conserved, and venting potentially harmful volatile organic compounds and ethylene gas is not an option. Airocide, a purification system created for the ISS, replaces traditional air filters with a chemistry-based solution: an ultraviolet light activates a series of titanium dioxide-coated rings that oxidize and destroy harmful compounds on contact.

Measuring Pollution with Aqua

NASA measures atmospheric nitrogen dioxide concentration using a sensor on the Aqua satellite, indicating the severity of air pollution. Applying these satellite measurements of air pollution to maps showing total population of urban areas, NASA scientists have identified a series of regional relationships between pollution and population.

ISS Technology helps with inexpensive water quality testing

Monitoring the quality of water is a corollary issue to water availability. Methods of testing for contaminants in water supplies aboard the ISS that do not require incubators or other expensive instruments have been adapted for terrestrial use by the nonprofit organization mWater.

2013 – Changing Context in Government Space Programs: National, Regional, and Local

As the commercial space sector matures, government space programs wrestle with defining the context and objectives for scientific and exploration activities while optimizing economic and societal return through space applications.…

2013 – An Evolving Space Industry: Commoditization, Differentiation, and the Rise of Regional Operators

The space industry is evolving, moving from a phase of testing and development in the mid-20th century, to limited satellite coverage and use by specialists in the late 20th century,…

2013 – China Space Stations

Another operational space station is the Chinese Tiangong-1. Launched in late 2011, Tiangong-1 is a prototype space station that is being used to develop technologies and techniques necessary for China to move on to a larger, permanently occupied space station in the future. Tiangong-1 was first occupied in June 2012.

2013 – QZSS

Japan already employs a ##-satellite GPS-augmentation system called MSAS, which stands for the MTSAT (Multi-functional Transport Satellite) Satellite-based Augmentation System. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is also creating the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), consisting of ## to ## quasi-GEO satellites that will address navigation issues specific to Japan’s geography. While these will be at similar altitudes as traditional GEO satellites, they will not actually be fixed over the Equator like typical FSS satellites.