M2M - The Industry
While I can't imagine that anyone does not recognize one of the most famous quotes in history, the title of this blog is a play on the famous line said by Neil Armstrong when he stepped foot on the moon over 40 years ago. For a lot of people, it was a huge achievement that defined a generation.
For those of us who were not alive when it happened, it may seem that it does not have as much of an impact on us....but we could not be
Do a Google search for "technology from the space program", and you will be surprised as to how many things we take for granted today were either created by NASA or greatly improved by the space program....
Here are just a few:
• Cordless tools (developed by Black and Decker, improved on by NASA)
• Memory foam
• Panoramic TV and photography
• Scratch-proof lenses
• Temperature controlled clothing for athletes
• The "Jaws of Life" for removing accident victims
More close to us in the world of IoT, the space program has had a strong benefit to us. Here are a few ways that our industry has
I wrote previously about how companies like GE are using biotelemetry to improve the ability to predict the physical health of pilots by detecting the presence of certain hormones/chemicals on the skin of the pilot. While this technology did not exist in Apollo 11, the ability to gather such information is definitely based on what NASA developed.
LED technology
I had some problems finding exactly how NASA helped, but it appears that
Home health monitoring
Some elements of what is now part of the IoT boom in personal health (blood pressure monitoring and in-ear temperature monitoring) have a direct link to the space program. Others including the ability to monitor one's temperature and heart rate remotely, such as what is used in many advanced telematic's based clothing, may not have actually originated with the Space program but were definitely vastly improved by use in the Apollo series.
Personal alarming
Much of today's work alone technology (used heavily by remote workers, prison
Telemedicine
While the bandwidth to do things such as full remote exams and even possibly remote emergency surgical procedures was decades away, the origins to today's ability to do a lot of remote medical procedures/exams has a direct link to the technology used by "Houston" to keep an eye on the astronauts while they were in space.
"Enhanced" GPS
Ok, before I get a ton of emails...NASA did NOT invent GPS, that was the US department of Defence. However, NASA's labs were key in the development of Differential GPS, which greatly improves the accuracy of GPS. Industries such as agriculture, construction, military and urban planning should thank them!
The Bottom Line
Just over a month ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Jim Lovell (from Apollo 13) speak at an event. He spoke about how discouraged he was with the trend over the past decade or so to even further reduce the funding for the space program. He spoke about how it gave us many great things that we use today and how it gave an entire generation of young minds something to inspire them to pursue a career in mathematics and science. While I did agree with his thoughts at the time, it wasn't until I did some research for this blog that I truly understood what he meant....much of what I do today might not have been possible (at least not now) if it were not for the 1960's promise to put a man on the moon.
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**Important note**
While preparing for this blog, I did a fair amount of research from a variety of sources. There were some sources that did not totally agree with other sources regarding the actual role NASA played in each of these inventions. I tried to pick examples where there was little disagreement with NASA's role/involvement, but the list is not meant to be an exact history/list. Rather it is an overview as to the importance that the Space program has had on our industry.