It’s an extension of the open innovation model NASA’s been building--a growing trend witnessed by others like Tesla and Ford. NASA is looking to crowdsource resources from the private sector, paving the way to a wide array of new inventions such as cleaner home energy and taking a tour of Matt Damon’s coordinates on Mars.
With the announcement of this new Technology Transfer Program, NASA explained that it will open up its patent portfolio with “no up-front payment” (meaning NASA waives the initial patent licensing fees, and there are no minimum fees for the first three years), allowing all manner of inventors, entrepreneurs, and tinkerers to start experimenting with NASA-owned IP.
“The Startup NASA initiative leverages the results of our cutting-edge research and development so entrepreneurs can take that research — and some risks — to create new products and new services,” NASA’s chief technologist David Miller said.
At its heart, NASA’s core competency obviously lies in the space program, but its influence on the human experience is vast. Insulin pumps, water filters and memory foam are just some of NASA’s inventions that have changed the way the majority of Earth’s residents live their lives.
So exactly what type of inventions stand to be developed from NASA’s new foray into the open innovation space? Some hints lie inside NASA’s public patent portfolio, which contains an astounding array of technologies, some of which you’d expect and others that are pretty surprising.
The portfolio shows an airplane that can fly in low-density atmospheres like
But what about the other side of NASA? The one that gave us insulation, smoke detectors, and even the Super Soaker?
In the propulsion category, which also happens to be one of the fastest-growing patent categories in the automotive space, NASA has developed electric propulsion technologies. This technology is focused on powering spacecraft by giving them “the ability to switch propulsion system to ion-thruster mode or Hall-thruster mode depending on whether the principle need is efficiency or thrust power.”
While the core technology was designed for rocket ships, one can’t help but wonder if there may be an application for this kind of thinking in a more terrestrial setting. With the EPA’s CAFÉ standards setting a 54.5 miles-per-gallon requirement for automotive fleets by 2025 and manufacturers racing to develop cleaner vehicles, it stands to reason that car companies may turn to NASA’s patents to unlock the answers to alternatively-powered vehicles.
Elsewhere, access to battery charging is now a huge consumer focal point, thanks in large part to the success of Tesla, which is by far the leader in the market. But public access to NASA’s battery charge equalizer could be the field’s ultimate--well, equalizer. The technology has already been applied to hybrid-electric vehicles and grid-energy storage.
In a market that is desperately crying out for a more affordable, accessible home energy storage solution, could someone harness this technology to make individual homes run on their own storable electricity? With an aggressive R&D model and the proper application of NASA’s IP, could someone challenge Tesla for market share in the energy storage space?
Future invention possibilities are endless by making NASA’s portfolio accessible to the world. Whether it comes in the form of space travel, zero-emissions cars, an entire city being run on self-sustaining solar power or something we can’t yet imagine, NASA truly has made the future open.
