Necessity is, we are told, the mother of invention, and when humans attempt to survive in the decidedly inhospitable environment that’s beyond Earth’s atmosphere our inventive spirit knows no bounds.
America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has spent billions engineering ‘life support systems’ to go where no other life has yet been found. In what NASA dubs as 'spinoff’ some of that vast investment in space technology has trickled back down to earth. Prompted by Curiosity Rover’s recent touchdown on the barren, waterless surface of Mars, we wondered what designs for space have found their way into our earthbound built environment.
Insulation
Aerogel, originally developed in 1931 only found a more commercially viable manufacturing process after 1992 when NASA became involved. Aerogel has since been made available to mere mortals. Its claim to fame is that it has the lowest thermal conductivity and lowest life cycle energy of any insulation product on the market. Put in simper terms, 3mm of Aerogel Insuladd can keep you alive at -50°C.
To get the same thermal benefit from fibreglass you apparently need a layer 30 times thicker. A silica gel is suspended in solvent, which when removed, leaves the remaining structure with just one per cent silica and 99 per cent air; one of the reasons why it is known as ‘frozen smoke.’ Available in sheets 1440 mm wide Aerogel can be handled and installed just like standard insulation. But as good as Aerogel is, sometimes simply slowing the passage of air is not the best solution.
Heat barrier technology originally developed by NASA 40 years ago to deal with temperatures over 120°C, by reflecting radiant heat, has found its way into window films and foil sheeting. More than 83 per cent of the radiant light spectrum can be deflected, resulting in cooler buildings in summer, with air conditioning needs cut by half.
Paint
NASA Engineers have been engaged in the creation of several innovative paint products, which have impressive insulative qualities. The Kennedy Space Centre helped develop Insuladd, a powered additive that can be mixed into normal household paint, internal or external. Gas filled, icrospheres of ceramic form a radiant heat barrier when the paint dries, effectively converting ordinary paint into a heat reflecting thermal film.
The expertise to engineer such paint no doubt drew upon earlier collaborative work with Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions. In this instance, micro-beads, about the size of a single grain of flour have their gas removed resulting in tiny vacuums.
Mixed with other coatings the spheric shapes are said to behave like ball bearings, slipping over one another allowing coatings to free flow.
These balls of high thermal resistance can be deployed in any form of paint, coating, adhesive, masonry, or plasterboard finish.
Air Conditioning
For over 20 years Mainstream Engineering Corporation has worked with NASA in developing thermal control technology for spacecraft.
Back on earth that research spawned enhanced air conditioner performance and filtration. One household product is Mainstream’s Qwikproduct PuraClean, a liquid spray that increases air filter efficiency by over 250 per cent, a benefit for allergy and asthma sufferers.
Still in the Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning arena, NASA was very influential in the development of heat pipe technology, whereby thermal energy is transferred from one end of a pipe to another via the continual evaporation and condensation of a coolant fluid. Drawing on heat pipe research that NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was undertaking to control humidity in buildings, one business in the USA was able to attain a 75 per cent cost reduction in their air conditioning costs.
Water Treatment
Initially developed to provide purified water to a three man crew onboard the Apollo spacecraft for two weeks, silver/copper ionisation has found its way to the person-on-the-street through technology that provides an alternative to chemical disinfectant treatments.
In the original system, which was a tad bigger than a cigarette pack, bacteria was mauled by silver ions, whilst the copper ions overcame algae. Since those heady days in the 60’s more sophisticated ionisation systems have developed using NASA’s techniques to apply the technology to everything from cooling towers through to water recycling systems, and even the lowly spa.
Bedding
Quilts of Denmark offer down doonas and pillows labelled TempraKon, as they have built-in temperature control. The technology is derived from Outlast phase change fabric, originally deployed by NASA to help astronauts cope with extremes of temperature.
Phase change materials (PCM) act like microscopic thermal mass. They absorb heat generated by a human body, then as the body begins to cool they release the heat back again, thus providing a buffing microclimate, which is said to reduce over-heating and sweating. (On a related tangent BASF also use PCMs in their Micronal product which gives lightweight plasterboard and ceiling panels the same ability to absorb and release heat, as much thicker and heavier materials like concrete and brick).
Tempur or memory foam was initially conceived as a way of improving the comfort and protection of pilot’s seats. The foam ‘flows’ to take on a reverse image of the pressure applied against. Once that pressure is removed the foam slowly returns to its original shape. Distributing body weight pressure evenly improves blood circulation. Tempur-Pedic is the best known bed mattress that has commercialised NASA’s memory foam for household use.
Lighting
Whilst NASA is currently researching the use of low energy LED lighting to grow lettuce and salad greens on spacecraft, some of their earlier lighting work is already with us. Photoluminescent materials absorb light and re-radiate it, without need of wiring or electrical power (other than existing ambient light). High-performance photoluminescent materials are up to 100 times brighter than “glow-in- the-dark” novelty items. Their glow can be retained for up to twelve hours.
Benefiting from tests conducted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the company LunaPlast developed photoluminescent technology into both rigid or flexible products, most commonly used as emergency signage and directional markers for illuminating the hallways of hotels, office buildings and schools.
Such non-powered signage represents a massive reduction in environmental impact. For example, the over 100 million exit signs in the USA consume 30-35 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) hours of electricity annually. Not to mention that some installations should be effectively maintenance free for about 30 years.
Australasia is well represented by companies developing photoluminescent technology, like Christchurch, New Zealand, based firm Ecoglo who have a wide range of signage products.
Metals
The Consumer Electronics blogosphere has been agog with the possibilities that might open up with Apple Inc. joining forces with Liquidmetal Technologies. As yet built environment applications haven’t been seriously explored. But they are probably not too far off, as imaginative architects, engineers and designers cotton on to the properties of this totally unique material.
Characteristics that have been described as having “the elasticity of plastics and the strength twice that of titanium.” Liquidmetal does not crystallise as it solidifies, resulting in a material known variously as a vitrified metal, Vireloy, or metallic glass.
Researchers are exploring the application of these amorphous metals for coatings, which offer a combination of corrosion protection, reduced friction and hardness. Tests have shown them to be up to 20 per cent harder than chrome, yet without the environmental issues that are otherwise part and parcel of working with hexavalent chromium.
