COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — During a ceremony at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs Thursday, the Space Foundation will induct three NASA-developed technologies into the Space Technology Hall of Fame. A medical diagnostic software tool that measures the thickness of arteries, a non-invasive medical device that improves blood flow to the heart and brain, and a technology that safely removes petroleum-based pollutants from water or soil each are being recognized as important products that originated from space technology.
The medical diagnostic software tool initially was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. ArterioVision software is a diagnostic tool used in conjunction with a standard ultrasound to precisely measure the thickness of the two inner layers of the carotid artery. Arterial thickening can provide the earliest evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. ArterioVision technology is derived from video imaging communication and retrieval software used to process pictures from spacecraft imagery.
ArterioVision allows doctors to measure the age and health of a patient’s arteries and better predict and prevent the risk of heart disease and stroke. Medical Technologies International, Inc. of Palm Desert, Calif., the company that patented the software, will be inducted for ArterioVision along with JPL and the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.
The second technology inductee, ResQPOD, is a non-invasive medical device that helps improve cardiac output and blood flow to the brain during CPR compared to conventional resuscitation techniques. ResQPOD is used by emergency medical services and hospitals for patients suffering breathing problems, cardiac arrest or other conditions attributed to low blood pressure. It works by increasing blood flow to the heart and brain until the heart can be restarted.
Developed by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Army and private industry, the device is used to help astronauts reacquaint themselves with the feeling of gravity by quickly and effectively increasing the circulation of blood flow to the brain. Advanced Circulatory Systems, Minneapolis, Minn., and the KSC Biomedical Lab, Cape Canaveral, Fla., will be inducted as the innovating organizations behind the ResQPOD technology.
A third technology inductee, the Petroleum Remediation Product (PRP), safely and permanently removes petroleum-based pollutants from water or soil. The delivery system of this water treatment process grew out of NASA biological encapsulation research and experimentation in the orbital production of microspheres.
The PRP uses microcapsules, tiny balls of beeswax with hollow centers, which absorb and bind with petroleum or other hydrocarbon products. The microspheres serve as nutrients to assist naturally occurring microbes in soil or water to biodegrade contaminants.
NASA’s JPL proved the feasibility of encapsulating live cells, while technology developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for experiments in orbital production of microspheres gave the basic design of the delivery system. Industry scientists worked with researchers at NASA to develop the technology. Universal Remediation, Inc. of Pittsburgh has developed a number of customized products using this technology to treat environmental contamination.
The technologies being recognized by the Space Technology Hall of Fame are possible, in part, because of NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program. The program, managed at NASA Headquarters in Washington, works to transfer NASA technology for broad public benefit. It also provides needed technology and capabilities for NASA’s mission directorates, programs and projects through leveraged investments and partnerships with industry, academia, government agencies and national laboratories.
There are Innovative Partnership Program offices at all NASA centers that facilitate new and innovative partnerships, provide technology solutions for NASA missions, and help NASA accelerate technology maturation.
For more about NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program, visit:
For a complete list of all Space Technology Hall of Fame inducted technologies, organizations, and individuals, visit:
