Space Products & Innovation
Travel, Lifestyle, and Entertainment
Space Products and Services – TSR 2014
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.
For the Dune Enthusiast: the Stillshower?
The everyday activities that dominate life are host to space products and services that play unexpected roles. Just as the shift from baths to showers saved water, the new OrbSys Shower promises to go a step further. A mostly closed-loop system, the OrbSys Shower immediately purifies the soapy, used water, cycling it from the drain back into the shower head for reuse.
Space Products and Services – TSR 2013
It’s Tricky: Snowboard Video Game Courses Used NASA Topographic Maps
EA Sports’ SSX snowboarding game used data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite. The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Map was a joint project between NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry; the map was released into the public domain in 2009.
ESA Tech Helps Cross the “Uncanny Valley” in Cinema
Expertise derived from space programs can also be applied in cutting-edge entertainment applications. IKinema, an ESA spinoff company, found a way to apply components of satellite guidance software to the challenge of rendering realistic human movement for movies and computer games. Calculating fluid, human motions can require significant computing power and therefore requires very efficient computer programs.
See Your Speed While Shredding the Slopes
Another innovative use of GPS technology that yielded an unconventional product is Recon Instruments’ head-up display (HUD) for skiers, called MOD Live. The display mounts into conventional ski goggles and provides useful information within the user’s field of view.