A new technology developed for NASA called the Virtual Window that provides real-time 3-D images without the use of glasses or special helmets will be inducted this week into the Space Foundation’s 2003 Space Technology Hall of Fame.
Developed by Dimension Technologies Inc., of Rochester, N.Y., for NASA Ames Research Center, located in California’s Silicon Valley, Virtual Window was created to interpret large masses of data, such as those associated with the fluid flow around space shuttle launches. NASA engineers believed that a 3-D presentation of this information would help interpret the information. Funding was provided through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
“We are delighted that the Space Foundation has selected Virtual Window for induction into the 2003 Space Technology Hall of Fame,” said Carolina Blake, chief of the Commercial Technology Office at NASA Ames. Dr. Steven Zornetzer, acting deputy director of NASA Ames, along with representatives of Dimension Technologies, will accept the award.
Former NASA Administrator Richard Truly will present the awards April 10 during the 15th anniversary Space Technology Hall of Fame dinner at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.
To achieve the 3-D images, Dimension Technologies Inc. developed a series of flat panel liquid crystal display (LCD) screens that can switch instantly from 2-D to 3-D. The display has numerous other commercial applications, such as computer games, protein analysis and surgical imaging.
Two other NASA field centers, NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, will be inducted into the 2003 Space Technology Hall of Fame. Adam Kissiah Jr., a retired KSC engineer, will be honored for his development of the digital hearing aid technology that led to the cochlear implant. Former Marshall Space Flight Center engineers John Richardson and Joseph Howard Kerr helped develop the technology for the VisiScreen Ocular Screening System, used to detect abnormalities in the human eye.
In cooperation with NASA, the Space Foundation established the Space Technology Hall
of Fame in 1988 to honor the innovators who have transformed space technology into commercial products, to increase public awareness of the benefits of space spin-off technology and to encourage further innovation.
Headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to vigorously advance and support civil, commercial and national security space endeavors and educational excellence.
For more information about the Space Foundation or the Space Technology Hall of Fame on the Internet, visit:
