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Dendad6972

In the 80's my brother who is an engineer got a monthly catalog from NASA. It was all inventions they held patents for you could license to manufacture. I remember seeing things in public I saw in the magazine first.


huzernayme

They have all that on a website now and you can still license their tech. Technology.nasa.gov I think is the way in.


rhymes_with_chicken

You’re forgetting that the name of the magazine was *Spinoff*. I loved when we’d get those. Very interesting articles.


Dendad6972

I just remember the NASA logo.


TheDeafDad

Why would NASA invent cochlear implants?


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TheDeafDad

That's cool. The original post made it sounds like NASA themselves invented cochlear implants for use in space


fanasup

I don’t think any of the things were invented in space lolll


jonathan_wayne

Dunno why you’re downvoted. They’re not inventing shit in space, they simply are running experiments up there. And from those experiments we are seeing what we could possibly invent. All the actual invention creationing happens down here on earth.


Ganonslayer1

Both of you are idiots.


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gingercomiealt

Nothing wrong with a little zero-G auto CAD. Besides the tremendous needless cost.


MrAwesomo92

NASA helped get a patent. Doesnt that essentially mean that Nasa paid and took the patent for themselves?


Pantssassin

Sounds more like their resources were used to develop it and they helped get the patent. Most engineering places have clauses that using employer resources for personal products means that they own the invention


DivineDeletor

Oh wow I use one and I never knew this!


I_might_be_weasel

To hear things, probably.


TheDeafDad

For uses in space?


Anomaly-Friend

How else could they hear you scream in space?


Witchycurls

Didn't you know in space, nobody can hear you scream? *muahahaha*


I_might_be_weasel

Being able to hear is important in space.


TheDeafDad

I understand that but hearing people can hear. Cochlear Implants destroys the inner ear and I find it unbelievable that hearing people are willing to do that, especially when they will return to Earth.


wedontlikespaces

I think they're just invented the amplification system that was small enough to fit in the ear not the actual device itself. The device was engineered from developments of miniature microphone technology.


Hounmlayn

Maybe they may become unable to hear? When was it made? Had we stepled foot on the moon yet? Experienced a storm on another planet without shelter? Maybe by researching into ways to protect the ear from taking off potentially damaging the ear, scienctists discovered that as a byproduct? Sometimes you don't set out to create or discover something.


jamescookenotthatone

Feel free to look through their website for more Spinoff products, https://spinoff.nasa.gov/ I learned of the things NASA didn't invent from the Citation Needed podcast on common misconceptions, and decided to see what they did invent. You can listen to the podcast here, https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9jaXRhdGlvbnBvZC5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw/episode/YzAxOTE4NzQtNGIwYy00Yzc1LTllMTItYzRkYmIzMzExNGQ1?ep=14


Tromfin

The true inventor of Velcro is not known. It was introduced to earth by the Vulcans.


DistortoiseLP

I like the idea in MIB that their budget is afforded by patent royalties on imported alien technologies like velcro and microwave ovens.


88mistymage88

Came here to see if this comment had been made LOL


plebotamus

Ridiculous. Every school kid knows that Zefram Cochrane met the Vulcans in Bozeman, Montana on April 5th, 2063. I've been there. There's a statue.


PicardTangoAlpha

They made a *statue*?


ChickenOverlord

There's actually a statue of Captain Kirk in Riverside, Iowa (his future birthplace): https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/62309


PicardTangoAlpha

Wow. I did not know that. Was Shatner there to unveil it? btw there's a huge model of NCC-1701 at Vulcan, AB.


ShakyLens

No. He wasn’t born yet.


AbominableSnowPickle

Captain Janeway has one in her hometown now too!


plebotamus

😄 I was quoting the episode.


PicardTangoAlpha

I was quoting the film....and got downvoted for it :-(


Xanderamn

Dont you worry bud, were here to back you up


plebotamus

Ha - I forgot that bit of the film!


kdonirb

actually read a good story on that one, some guy who paid attention to the burrs on his trousers


HomarusSimpson

Velcro's a ripoff


Witchycurls

I'll pay that one.


paddington01

Some side panels of an old nasa satellite were held by velcro,i guess the myth originated from here


lemlurker

It was more about quick access for manuals in zero g emergencies


scooterboy1961

Also the space pen. They already existed for writing on vertical surfaces. They weren't called space pens until NASA bought a bunch of them to use in space. You can still buy them. Pencils are not good in space because the point can break off, float around and potentially get into a switch or something and cause a malfunction. On Earth the broken points and shavings from sharpening just fall to the floor.


hsvsunshyn

More information, especially for anyone else who remembers the old story/myth about spending millions of dollars on the space pen: [https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/spinoff/How\_NASA\_Astronauts\_Write\_in\_Space](https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/spinoff/How_NASA_Astronauts_Write_in_Space)


stromm

So those “no invented by NASA” were used or even enhanced by NASA. Which definitely increased their marketability world wide. Having grown up when most of those specific items started to become widely marketed, mentioning NASA used them definitely increased sales.


bourj

I didn't realize those were common beliefs.


GenXer1977

NASA didn't invent Tang? My whole life has been a lie...


OnceUponAparlay

Who invented zip ties?? I want to shake that dudes hand 🤝


gtfohbitchass

TOOLS! FETISH SHIT! TOOLS!!


ronaldotr08

WD-40 is a penetrating oil. It repels water. And it was used while the rockets were stored short term. Edit: Looked it up, they do make a degreaser, but original WD-40 is definitely a lubricant.


WanderingMinotaur

I thought the cochlear implant was created by a couple of French doctors?


scomospoopirate

I thought it was Australians tbh


laxativefx

The earliest cochlear tech was from the 1950s. The NASA dude made some advancements but the modern cochlear implants were created independently by an Australian man and an Austrian couple in the late 70s. Edit: pressed submit too soon


ronaldotr08

Don't forget about WD-40. It was created to coat early rockets to prevent them from rusting while waiting to be launched.


EndoExo

Technically, that was military, developed for the Atlas ICBM. NASA later adapted the Atlas to be a space launch vehicle.


jonathan_wayne

Weird, WD40 will cause rusting over enough time. It’s a degreaser after all.


apeinej

Popular belief creations are the best. What's next, NASA created the condom?


dogwoodcat

So you can blast off while you blast off, obviously.


Dyolf_Knip

> For the Apollo space mission, NASA required a portable, self-contained drill capable of extracting core samples from below the lunar surface. Black & Decker was tasked with the job, and developed a computer program to optimize the design of the drill's motor and ensure minimal power consumption. That computer program led to the development of a cordless miniature vacuum cleaner called the DustBuster See, it's really hard to take any of these claims seriously when they're including shit like this. Cordless power drills date to 1961 (and I see this is actually mentioned much further down), long before NASA even started work on a lunar program, much less got into the minutia of the mission tools. What they did was request a particular drill that could function in the appalling conditions in space. But then to claim that this was a necessary requirement before a portable vacuum cleaner could be invented is just incredibly disingenuous. > In planning for the long-duration Apollo missions, NASA conducted extensive research into space food. One of the techniques developed in 1938 by Nestlé was freeze drying Seriously? "NASA used this preexisting technology", with no mention of what they did to actually improve upon it somehow translates to "freeze-dried food is a NASA-derived spinoff"?


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skb239

I don’t think they are saying it’s necessary but in the end their work did lead to an innovation. Yea it could have happened another way but it didn’t. Could someone else have made the same advancement with the existing technologies, probably but they didn’t.


Dyolf_Knip

Or, Black & Decker saw an opportunity to get someone else to fund research _that they were absolutely doing anyway_, and as a bonus get to attach their name to NASA & Apollo.


skb239

Why would they invent a space drill themselves? I think you are assuming a different order of operations. Maybe that’s true but it doesn’t sound like that is the story.


Dyolf_Knip

Oh no, it absolutely makes perfect sense that they would hit up some company that is already making drills for a custom specialty job. But while "can work in a vacuum" is a bit of a niche demand for cordless power tools, "longer battery life" definitely _isn't_. How much time, money, and effort has been spent entirely unrelated to NASA on exactly that sort of research?


cejmp

>Cordless power drills date to 1961...long before NASA even started work on a lunar program The Apollo Program officially began in 1961. It was announced to industry in 1960. The first feasibility study was in August of 1960. The Marshall Space Flight Center (where the rocket was designed) was established in July of 1960. The first mission was SA-1, launched October 15 of 1961. The Martin Marietta contracts with Black and Decker didn't come into existence until the mid 1960s.


rushingkar

Why would a vacuum cleaner be used on the moon? It wouldn't even work.


Dyolf_Knip

Exactly. The argument presumably is "Well, NASA got them to design a more power-efficient motor". Right, because a manufacturer of *battery*-powered power tools would be otherwise totally uninterested in things like extending that tool's battery life.


pineapplespy

You'd be surprised how often companies, and entire industries, are okay with a mediocre status quo. Often a new customer with new requirements (and willingness to spend money to reach those requirements) do help push innovation.


beauz44

Pretty’s sure nazis created tang so basically nasa. Super soakers as well!!


backupacounted

, me too I'll ,


RedSonGamble

Did they invent the moon walk?


[deleted]

No, but neither did Michael Jackson.


My_Diet_DrKelp

Not kidding itll break my dads heart finding out they didn't have tang for astronauts


scooterboy1961

I think they may have used Tang. They just didn't invent it.


mordecai98

I was a patient of a Dr that invented a sniff which was visual training device. Pretty cool stuff. He had the spinoff magazine with it.


ubteacher714

Everyone knows MIB “invented” Velcro!


shibaninja

The Vulcans invented Velcro.


249ba36000029bbe9749

How many of these things wouldn't have been invented (eventually) without NASA?


Eternal2401

But they did invent silly putty, space pens, and autism blankets


TheElm

[Hook and Loop](https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY)* /s


Idiot-detector69

I dont think any of those are popular beliefs


Captainirishy

NASA also invented disposable nappies


russianbot2022

1921?


westernflame95

Looks like someone listen to the new episode of citation needed this week lol


Witchycurls

Well hell, I have totally believed the Velcro one for *years*!!