NASA in Your Home: How Space-Based Technology Improves Our Daily Lives

Did you know that the microchip in your cell phone’s camera was first developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use on spacecraft?

The cell phone camera is one of many “spinoffs,” or commercialized products that incorporate NASA technology or expertise that benefit the general public. Spinoffs have been part of our lives for decades: improved GPS, assistive eyesight technology, advanced dental imaging, and even sophisticated video game landscapes were all originally developed at JPL to study Earth and the universe.

Join us for a live talk as we explore how space-based technology becomes a spinoff, including a deep dive on the NASA-designed and -built instrument at the heart of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first two satellites. Called Tanager-1 and Tanager-2, the satellites will pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide sources in communities around the world from low-Earth orbit.

Host:
Gregory Smith, Office of Communications and Education, NASA JPL

Co-Host:
Rachel Zimmerman Brachman, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA JPL

Speakers:
Daniel Broderick, Manager of the Office of Technology Transfer at JPL
Dr. Andrew Thorpe, Research Technologist, NASA JPL

Original Air Date: June 20, 2024