Up next in 10
The NASA inventions (or NASA spinoffs, as they're known inside the space agency) in this episode of The List Show pop up throughout our daily lives. Did you now that NASA helped give us scratch-resistant lenses, memory foam, and the image sensors used in smartphone cameras? Erin (@erincmccarthy) touches on those NASA inventions and more in this not-so-out-of-this-world episode of The List Show. In case you forgot, The List Show is a trivia-tastic, fact-filled show for curious people. Subscribe here for new Mental Floss episodes every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZ5qUqpW4hW4zdfuBxMSJA?sub_confirmation=1 Don't miss a video! Subscribe NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss?sub_confirmation=1 About Mental Floss: Mental Floss is where curious people come for trivia-tastic information. Mental Floss produces lists of fun facts, debunks common misconceptions, and tells untold stories from history, science, culture and more. Website: http://www.mentalfloss.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mental_floss Facebook: https://facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine Copyright Notice: This video and YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are property of Mental Floss. You are authorized to share the video link and channel, and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to this YouTube Channel is provided. 2025 Mental Floss 11 NASA Inventions We Use Every Day | Mental Floss https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Did you know that the cordless vacuum you use to suck up your cat's hair has its origin
0:04
on the moon? Hi I'm Erin McCarthy and this is The List Show
0:08
Back in the 1970s, NASA's Apollo astronauts were busy taking samples of the moon's crust
0:12
to send back to Earth. They didn't have a problem scooping up dust from the surface, but to get a better picture
0:17
of the lunar soil, they needed to design a new drill to retrieve core samples
0:21
The new machine had to be small and lightweight to fit on the lunar lander, and it had to
0:25
have its own power source. NASA hired Black & Decker to create the tool, and the company developed a computer program
0:31
to optimize the drill's design. It ended up being so successful that the company continued
0:36
using the program in new consumer products. In 1979, they released the Dustbuster, a cordless
0:42
lightweight, handheld vacuum built on the same principles as the Moon drill. It weighed only
0:46
about two pounds and recharged its batteries in its own charging bracket. Black & Decker also
0:50
developed cordless power tools, hedge and grass trimmers, and medical devices based on the
0:55
Dustbusters technology. Since NASA was established in the 1950s, the technology it developed for space
0:59
has been licensed to companies to make products. They're called spinoffs in NASA lingo, and today
1:04
we can find them in cars, baseball helmets, and even our phones. I'm going to share a few of them
1:09
with you today. Take freeze-dried food. Though NASA didn't invent the process, they're one of the
1:22
major reasons the technology took off. In the 1960s, NASA began developing space food
1:27
for its astronauts. The food had to be nutritious, but also lightweight, shelf-stable, and easy
1:32
to eat in space, meaning no crumbs that could fly around in zero-Gs and clogged delicate
1:37
equipment. They started off with food in what were essentially toothpaste tubes, but eventually
1:41
went to the Army Natick laboratories. The lab had been working on freeze-dried meals
1:45
for the military and had developed a product that required boiling water and waiting 20
1:49
minutes for the food to become edible. NASA needed a product that could be reconstituted
1:53
in 10 minutes with room temperature water. And under NASA's funding and direction, that
1:57
became a reality. While the food lab continued to experiment with freeze-dried items for
2:01
astronauts, NASA licensed the technology to other government agencies. In the mid-1970s
2:07
Texas organizations launched a program to provide nutritious freeze-dried meals based on NASA's tech for elderly residents. And in New York, a company called Skylab Foods
2:16
developed NASA-style freeze-dried meals for seniors and homebound individuals. Possibly the most famous astronaut food of all time, freeze-dried ice cream, may or may
2:25
not have ever made it to space. It's said the ice cream went up on Apollo 7, but when crew member Walter Cunningham
2:30
was asked about these reports, decades later he said, "...they don't know their a**es, obviously. We never had any of that.
2:36
Whether astronauts ever enjoyed it or not the styrofoam bar of freeze chocolate vanilla and strawberry ice cream was a big hit with kids and today it can be found in gift shops and theme parks around the world
2:48
Some NASA innovations are so ubiquitous we don't even realize we're wearing them
2:53
Fabrics developed to keep astronauts protected from the inhospitable environment of space
2:57
have made their way into athletic wear and outdoor apparel. A bioengineer at Johnson Space Center launched a brand called TechniClothes in 1982 using
3:05
spacesuit cooling system technology. The line of headbands and running shorts, aimed at joggers
3:11
featured small pockets where cooling gel packs could be inserted to transfer heat away from the
3:15
skin. Another product based on NASA materials was the SupportHer Bra, a stretchy knit sports bra
3:20
designed to prevent abrasion and a mammary bounce. More recently, NASA technology has been used in
3:26
UV-blocking cooling fabrics and swimwear and casual apparel, and astronauts on the International
3:30
Space Station tested performance fabrics as part of the Space Tech Study. They evaluated the
3:35
textiles' ability to wick sweat, resist bacterial growth, and control odor—all important considerations
3:41
for anyone potentially colonizing Mars. You can see right through some of NASA's inventions
3:46
And that's the point. When its spacecraft windows fogged up before launches, NASA developed a
3:51
fogless coating for the glass that was later licensed to more than 60 companies. Made of liquid
3:56
detergent, deionized water, and fire-resistant oil, the solution is used to keep scuba masks
4:01
ski goggles, car windows, fireproof helmets, and eyeglasses fog-free. Speaking of glasses, NASA also helped create scratch-resistant lenses
4:09
When the FDA mandated in 1972 that all eyeglasses had to be shatter-resistant
4:14
manufacturers replaced glass lenses with plastic. The downside was that plastic got scratched easily
4:19
In a completely unrelated series of events, NASA scientist Theodore J. White Even Jr. was working
4:24
to improve water purification systems on spacecraft. To that end, he developed a way
4:29
to apply a specific kind of thin plastic coating. NASA realized this innovation had other applications
4:35
including making scratch-resistant coatings for space helmet visors. With the help of sunglasses
4:39
company Foster Grant, the technology was soon applied to plastic lenses, to the tune of 5 million
4:44
pairs of sunglasses in just three years. Today, anti-scratch coating is included in almost all
4:49
eyeglass and prescription sunglasses purchases. For the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, the crew landed
4:54
on the moon to explore sites of interest. To make their work easier, NASA designed a portable
4:58
workbench on wheels dubbed the Modularized Equipment Transporter, or MET. Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell, who dragged it across the lunar landscape, called it the
5:08
rickshaw. The rickshaw's tires were engineered by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for
5:12
the Johnson Space Center to withstand the harsh lunar environment. They remained rubbery at
5:17
minus 195 degrees Fahrenheit Here on Earth at the time summer tires would go stiff and lose traction in winter Studded winter tires were one attempt to solve that problem but they introduced their own issues like chewing up road surfaces Once the Special Moon tires had been developed
5:31
Goodyear and other manufacturers began offering winter tires that were formulated to stay pliable
5:36
at cold temperatures. And the Goodyear tires included another NASA innovation. Their cords
5:41
which give stability to the tire's shape, were made of the same super-strong material as in the
5:46
parachute lines of NASA's Viking Lander, which touched down on Mars in 1976
5:51
NASA was the driving force behind developing a shock-absorbing foam in the mid-1960s to make
5:55
airline passengers safer. After creating seat cushions with this foam, engineers realized it
6:00
would not only protect passengers in case of a crash, but also be more comfortable on long flights
6:05
because it distributed the sitter's weight evenly. It was called slow spring-back foam
6:09
but when a NASA-affiliated company began licensing the product to other manufacturers
6:13
It was renamed Tempur Foam. NASA calls Tempur Foam its most recognized and widely used spin-off
6:19
Tempur Foam has been used in Little League baseball helmets, the Dallas Cowboys football helmets
6:24
and in other sports equipment to protect athletes. The foam gives support to hospital beds for
6:29
patients and cushions prosthetic limbs for people and thoroughbred horses. It's also used in
6:34
motorcycle and helicopter seats. One of Tempur Foam's benefits is that it can match the contour
6:38
of the object pressing against it and then return to its previous shape once the object is removed
6:43
almost like it has memory. As you might have guessed, temper foam, aka memory foam
6:49
is a key component of the Tempur-Pedic mattresses and dozens of other bedding products
6:54
Another NASA invention we see regularly is aluminized mylar. This super lightweight
6:59
silvery sheet is shiny on one side to reflect heat. When it faces inward, it keeps heat in
7:04
Satellites were dressed up in mylar to reflect solar radiation. Mylar also insulated spacesuits
7:09
It was eventually licensed to sports outfitters to make lightweight, heat-conserving space blankets
7:14
jackets, ski parkas, and emergency equipment. Marathoners often wrap themselves in mylar
7:19
sheets after they complete a race, presumably to stay warm and or let everyone know they just ran
7:24
over 26 miles. You might also see the material in mylar balloons, which stay inflated a lot longer
7:29
than latex balloons because the mylar is far less porous than latex. Aluminized polymer sheets were
7:35
also a crucial part of the Apollo missions. They insulated the command modules, and the
7:39
astronauts inside, from solar radiation and space temperatures that could swing between
7:43
400 and negative 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The shiny film was so efficient at reflecting
7:48
radiation that companies began using it as insulation in homes and commercial buildings
7:53
The Quantum International Corporation, which I have been assured is not an evil organization
7:57
in the Marvel Universe developed its radiant barrier products using NASA Mylar sheeting to both reflect solar radiation and keep interior temperatures either warm or cold of like how a thermos can keep coffee hot or water cold for hours The Radiant Barrier technology has been adapted for use in commercial refrigerated trucks and
8:14
passenger vehicles, too. NASA added its tech to an early laptop in the mid-1980s
8:19
On a space shuttle mission in 1983, NASA astronauts first used the Shuttle Portable
8:23
Onboard Computer, or SPOC. This small navigation-monitoring computer was adapted from a commercial machine called
8:28
the Grid Compass, which featured a flat screen, full-sized keyboard, and a clamshell-style
8:33
hinged construction. NASA modified the design, incorporating components that would eventually end up in consumer laptops
8:40
such as fan-based cooling. They also added some flourishes that didn't find much use on computers here on Earth
8:46
like Velcro strips on the bottom to keep it from floating away. Based on its partnership with NASA, the Grid Compass became popular with other government
8:52
agencies and the military, as well as energy and telecommunications companies. Before we get to our last NASA invention for today, let's dispel the myth that NASA invented
9:01
the space pen. As the legend goes, NASA realized that normal pens wouldn't write in the microgravity
9:06
environment of space, so it spent zillions of dollars trying to invent a pen that did
9:10
The Soviet space program, meanwhile, gave their cosmonauts pencils, supposedly illustrating what happens when common sense takes a backseat to bureaucracy
9:18
In reality, the Fisher Pen Company invented the pen that writes upside down in 1965, and
9:22
it addressed a real need. Compared to pencils, pens pose less risk of breaking or sending stray graphite dust near
9:29
critical components aboard a space shuttle. Fisher's space pen worked so well that NASA and the Soviets ended up buying the pens for
9:35
their programs. Now that that's out of the way, our final NASA invention is one that a lot of us use
9:39
every day—the camera in your smartphone. It started with the Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Image Sensor, or CMOS, which
9:47
NASA had developed to capture high-quality images on spacecraft. A NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer named Eric Fossum, who had refined the CMOS's
9:55
capabilities over several years, licensed the invention and began to partner with companies
10:00
like Kodak and Intel to create custom sensors. The sensors found a home in DSLR cameras and in the GoPro, where a lightweight, high-def
10:07
video camera could shine. But it took mobile phones to really make the technology ubiquitous
10:12
Its small size and low-power requirements made it a perfect fit for cell phones
10:16
By 2013, more than a billion CMOS image sensors had been produced, with many ending up inside
10:22
of smartphones. It's probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that this NASA innovation helped launch
10:27
the careers of thousands of Instagram influencers. But on the other hand, there was that whole one giant leap for mankind thing, so I guess
10:34
let's call it even. Our next episode is all about lost treasures
10:38
If you know about a famous film, painting, or, you know, actual pirate treasure that's
10:42
lost to humanity, drop it in the comments for a chance to be featured in that episode
10:45
We'll see you then
#education