Space Technology Hall of Fame Inductees to Be Honored At the National Space Symposium
Colorado Springs, CO. The Space Foundation and NASA have announced the winners of the 2000 Space Technology Hall of Fame award. Advanced Lubricants, DirecTV, and Light Emitting Diodes for Medical Applications will be inducted and honored during the Space Technology Hall of Fame dinner on April 6th, as part of the 16th National Space Symposium held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, April 3-6, 2000. Hall of Fame inductees are chosen for taking space technologies and adapting them to enhance life on earth. Steve Eisenhart, Space Foundation Director of Communications and Public Affairs, expressed the Foundation s pleasure with the choices for this year s awards: "It is significant that the judges chose these three technologies because of their diversity of impact upon all of us, ranging from recreational to informational and educational to medical."
Advanced Lubricants were originally designed to lubricate the track system of the shuttle mobile launch transporter. The innovating organizations, John F. Kennedy Space Center and Sun Coast Chemicals of Daytona, Inc., took the technology used to create the lubricant to also create spin-off products such as greases, air conditioner compressor fluid, brake fluid, and penetrating spray, all created to be environmentally safe.
Taking technology from developing satellites for military and telecommunications customers, Hughes Space and Communications Company and DirecTV, Inc., developed a system that would offer residential consumers direct-to-home television service. As a result, DirecTV entered the homes of millions of consumers through a small receiver dish and a network of satellites and a broadcast center, forever changing the way people watch television.
To enhance plant growth experiments in space, The Wisconsin Center for Space Automation & Robotics created light emitting diodes (LEDs). Quantum Devices, Inc. then took the LEDs and adapted them to medical application by developing a light source that could be used in a surgical environment. Other innovating organizations that have lead to the application of light emitting diodes for medical applications are Marshall Space Flight Center, the Children s Hospital, and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The Space Technology Hall of Fame was established in 1988 through a joint venture of the Space Foundation and NASA to honor innovators who have transformed technology developed for space use into commercial projects; to increase awareness of the benefits of space spin-off technology; and to encourage further innovation. Each year, various technologies are nominated and go through a rigorous selection process before final selection and induction into the Hall of Fame. To date, more than 30 technologies have been inducted.
For additional Symposium or Hall of Fame information, visit the Foundation s web site at http://www.spacefoundation.org.
Contact:
Julie Howell of Space Foundation,
719-576-8000,
julie@ussf.org
Julie Howell of Space Foundation,
719-576-8000,
julie@ussf.org
E-mail: julie@ussf.org
Web site: http://www.spacefoundation.org
