The Space Foundation today announced the selection of four
“down to earth” technologies for induction into the Space
Technology Hall of Fame. Three were spawned by NASA efforts,
and the fourth by the work of the U.S. Air Force Research
Laboratory.

The 2004 Hall of Fame winners range from a medical technology
that enables thousands of people to see better to software able
to determine satellite orbits with pinpoint accuracy.

The four products incorporating space-based technologies being
inducted this year are LADARVision 4000 (LASIK eye surgery),
the MedStar Medical/Health Monitoring System, Precision GPS
(Global Positioning System) Software System, and Multi-Junction
(MJ) Space Solar Cells. Each brings to Earth a different life-
enhancing benefit from space technology.

“For 16 years, the Space Foundation has honored extraordinary
space technologies that enhance the quality of life on earth
through its Space Technology Hall of Fame program,” said NASA
Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “The 2004 Hall of Fame honorees are
a shining example of how the exploration of space returns
incredible and sometimes unexpected benefits for all of us on
earth.”

Space Foundation President & Chief Executive Officer Elliot G.
Pulham said, “Our 2004 honorees represent space technologies
that save lives, enable thousands of people to see better,
power modern global telecommunications and make travel safer
for millions. They are great examples of why what we do in
space matters on earth.”

The inducted technologies and innovators will be honored at the
16th Space Technology Hall of Fame Dinner, to be held April 1
at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo. The awards
dinner, co-sponsored by The Boeing Company, is the capstone
event of the 20th National Space Symposium, March 29-April 1.
Jim Albaugh, President & Chief Executive Officer, Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems, will be the evening’s corporate
host.

The Space Foundation, in cooperation with NASA, 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
technology, and to encourage further innovation.

The 2004 Space Technology Hall of Fame Inductees are:

LADARVision 4000:

Fewer and fewer people now need eyeglasses or contact lenses
thanks to laser vision correction surgery. Laser-Assisted In
Situ Keratomileusis or LASIK is the most widely performed
surgical procedure. It uses a laser and eye-tracking device to
reshape the cornea and is based on technology used to assist
spacecraft in delicate docking maneuvers. This enables LASIK to
provide unmatched precision.

MedStar Monitoring System:

The cost of caring for the chronically ill continues to grow.
In-home care is part of the solution, and statistics show
significant patient health improvements through closer in-home
monitoring. Cybernet’s MedStar System allows health care
professionals to remotely monitor patients, and evolved from
research funded by NASA, the National Institute of Mental
Health, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The research
result was a miniature physiological monitoring device capable
of collecting and analyzing a multitude of signals in real
time, which also is used to monitor astronauts on the
International Space Station.

Precision Global Positioning System (GPS) Software System:

In 1985 NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) began developing
software to determine satellite orbits with pinpoint accuracy.
This work led to the development of a sophisticated system that
incorporates special GPS algorithms and now uses the Internet
to deliver information enabling real-time positioning accurate
to a few inches anywhere in the world for terrestrial users and
for space-borne users in low Earth orbit. The Federal Aviation
Administration has adopted JPL’s software in their GPS-based
navigation system to improve air travel safety for millions of
travelers.

Multi-Junction (MJ) Space Solar Cells:

Responding to the need for higher efficiency solar cells, the
Air Force Research Laboratory sponsored research and
development efforts to produce high efficiency multi-junction
space solar cells. MJ solar cell technology provides a direct
replacement for lower efficiency single-junction cells. The end
results are reduced space mission lifecycle costs, reduced
customer costs for telecommunication, weather forecasting and
many other services crucial to our daily lives on Earth.