We go to space to explore, and the ultimate achievement in exploration is human missions to new frontiers. In particular, NASA is on a journey to Mars—a journey that will stretch the capabilities and resolve of our Nation. To prepare for the trip, much of the cutting-edge technology being developed by NASA right now is designed to help us put astronauts on the surface of the Red Planet in the 2030s. As we develop these technologies, NASA collaborates with American businesses to do its work. Every dollar spent on technology for space missions is a dollar spent on Earth, benefiting the economy.
But the Agency also makes sure these innovations go beyond their original uses to benefit the public as widely as possible. These secondary applications can be as surprising as the scientific discoveries made by our spacecraft: as you’ll see in the following pages, NASA technologies can be found in your mobile devices, in self-driving tractors that work the fields, and in the latest 3D printers used by makers and hackers. They are making brain surgery safer and spotting rainforest fires before they spread. Spinoffs are even more diverse than the broad array of NASA missions they come from.
This issue of Spinoff celebrates our Nation’s successes with robotics missions and looks to a future of human spaceflight and planetary exploration enabled by cutting-edge technology—with ever more down-to-Earth benefits sure to follow. Other products produced by NASA can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/550
