I’ve been wanting to do this for a while… it’s just a partial list of technologies developed or spun off by NASA.  Most people really have no idea how huge of an impact NASA has had on our lives.

Satellites These are "obvious," but have you ever thought about how much they do for us?  They track the hole in the ozone layer, keep an eye on global warming, monitor global deforestation, watch for wildfires, track whale populations, radar map the entire planet, and much more.  Oh, yes--  they also do all that satellite TV, satellite radio, satellite communications, satellite imagery,
satellite weather forecasting, GPS, and such.

Energy Everyone is now beginning to understand how important it is to conserve energy and generate it cleanly, but NASA has been working on this for decades.  It’s infeasible to haul a bunch of fossil fuels into orbit to power a space station, so they’ve been coming up with better, cheaper, and more efficient ways of generating power.  From solar panels to alternative fuels,
flywheel energy storage (used in electric cars) to better batteries, NASA is way ahead of the game on this one.  They have also put an equal amount of focus on reducing the amount of energy needed to do things.  Low-energy microprocessors, energy saving air conditioners, super-efficient electric motors, and energy efficient computer monitors.

Medical Keeping people alive in space is far from easy.  To do so, NASA has invested in a lot of medical research, and it has paid off in many unexpected ways.  Ultrasound scanners, programmable pacemakers, portable X-rays, MRI scanners, breast cancer detection and non-surgical biopsy, in-ear thermometer, bone analyzers, voice-controlled wheelchairs, invisible braces, artificial hearts, surgical clean room apparel, and ocular screening for kids are just some of the medical technologies that have come out of NASA.

Food and water When you pay a price for every pound of supplies you have to lift into space, you try to take Recycling as far as possible.  In manned spaceflight, that means recycling and purifying waste water, freeze-drying or vacuum-packing foods, and even recycling and filtering the very air we breathe.  NASA has been at the cutting edge of these technologies for decades, now viewed as keys to reducing the human “footprint” here on Earth.  NASA even developed the technology used in the portable heaters and coolers you can buy on the shelf today.

Electronics It may be true that the Hubble telescope runs on computers that went out of date almost 20 years ago, but that’s only because of the old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” NASA’s newest satellites, spacecraft, and ground stations are all on the cutting edge, and NASA continues to research new ways to push the boundaries even further.  They pioneered everything from virtual reality to your flat screen TV, they continue pushing to make computers smaller and faster, and they’ve pushed digital cameras to a whole new level. They’ve also written some pretty amazing software to help them run everything, and even that has been spun off. Their “Ground Processing Scheduling System,” for example, uses artificial intelligence to keep the Shuttle ground processing running smoothly, and the same software is used by
countless major companies around the world to manage their supply chains or other complex production processes.

Materials Materials research is the study of, well, materials.  It’s
extremely important, but it’s also very risky for a private company, because you really never know what you might come up with.  NASA can find a use for pretty much anything, and so they research all kinds of materials.  They pioneered carbon fiber composite, advanced plastics, aerogel (the world’s lightest solid), advanced lubricants, alternative fuels, and many different optical coatings (anti-fog, anti-glare, auto-tinting, scratch resistance), just to name a few.  Modern athletic shoes use materials designed for the Apollo moon boots, and if you add NASA aerodynamics to NASA materials, you get better golf balls AND better golf clubs.

Safety Since space is such a dangerous place, it stands to reason NASA has researched a lot of safety technologies.  A few would be shock absorbing helmets, smoke and flame detectors, fire resistant materials, firefighter oxygen tanks and radios, radiation detectors and insulation, pollution measurement and control, air purification, emergency response robots, personal alarm systems and lightning detectors, the Jaws of Life, self-righting life rafts, Doppler radar, corrosion protection coatings, protective clothing and robotic hands.

Manufacturing Last but not least, much of NASA’s research has been used to make other things better or cheaper or simply possible.  Many breakthroughs are used in modern manufacturing: automated welding systems, microlasers, magnetic bearings and magnetic liquids, engine lubricants, interactive computer training, high-pressure waterstripping, telemetry systems, the advanced welding torch, self-locking fasteners, cordless tools, joystick controllers, and new engine/auto/aircraft design.  Like you, I don't think about those things every day, but suffice it to say, many of the non-NASA spin-off products today we take for granted wouldn’t be available without them.

So those are just a few (a very few, really) of the things we have to thank NASA for.  I don’t know about you, but I see a LOT on that list that I wouldn’t want to have to live without, I see a few things on that list that I’d like to see developed further, and I’m certain that there are many more things NASA will discover in the future that will make our lives even better.

Liz is an IT Analyst, photographer, and an iPhone Programmer from Seattle, Washington. She offers this quotable quote: "Space must be the future of humanity, else no life on Earth will have have any future at all." This article was originally written on her at ImperfectSense (in response to a Twitter user who suggested that NASA should be dismantled in favor of other government spending).