4 Amazing Things NASA Invented, and 4 You Think It Did

In the 1990’s, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory team was looking for ways to shrink cameras down for interplanetary travel. They came up with the camera-on-a-chip, also known as the CMOS sensor. Today, CMOS sensors are found in most of the world’s camera phones. Answer: NASA Miracle.

NASA once gave a contract to Marietta Laboratories to experiment with microalgae as a kind of three-in-one food source, oxygen engine, and an organic waste disposal toolkit. The space food work didn’t pan out, but Marietta would give us the technology to make nutritional supplements for infant formula. Answer: NASA Miracle.

 

In the 1960s, an inventor named Paul Fisher came up with a remarkable pen that would work in zero-gravity. NASA used them in the Apollo 7 mission. The pen was a success, but when Fisher came up with it, he wasn’t working for NASA. Answer: NASA Myth.

Tang’s NASA link dates back to John Glenn’s 1962 Friendship 7 mission. The storied astronaut did drink Tang in space, but it was invented for consumers, not the space program. Answer: Myth.

Lockney says that he gets this one all the time. NASA uses Teflon in heat shields, in space suits, and even in cargo holds. But Teflon was invented in 1938. That’s long before NASA was around. Answer: Myth.

It all started when Edwin Saltzman was riding his bike. Whenever big trucks passed, he’d get hit with a mighty wallop of air. Since he worked at NASA, which has made a study of wind resistance on aircraft, it was pretty easy to design a more aerodynamic truck. And by the late ’70s his designs were everywhere. Answer: Miracle.

Yes, NASA has used Velcro in its missions. No, they didn’t invent it. A swiss engineer named George de Mestral came up with it in the late 1940s. Answer: Myth.

OK, maybe this isn’t exactly a Miracle, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless. Back in the 1990s, NASA teamed up with a company called International Flavors and Fragrances to grow a rose in space. The scent of that rose was synthesized and then bottled in a “out-of-this-world” perfume called Zen. Answer: Miracle.