Dedicated to probing the unknown, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has designed its fair share of unusual studies. Tasked with keeping astronauts safe, they threw lunar dust at oysters and had a man sniff at 800 space-bound items.

Curiosity also saw their scientists turn photographs into music and create oceans in cups. NASA’s problems are often equally weird. From cussing crews to the threat of a rogue Martian colony, the agency is proof that real life is better than fiction.

10 NASA Followed A Weird Iceberg

In 2018, a photograph surfaced that many would have dismissed as a fraud if not for its source—NASA. It showed an iceberg resembling a floating tabletop. The flat rectangle had sides so perfect that it looked surreal. Scientists call these oddities tabular icebergs. They snap off ice shelves, and many are straight-edged.

NASA scientists reckoned that this one’s flawlessness meant the iceberg had a recent birth. The blunting forces of nature eventually destroy a tabular’s perfect shape.

Curious about its origins, they used satellites to find the parent. When the images revealed its source—and subsequent journey—it became clear that the sheet had endured a lot of abuse. This tabular beauty fell from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica.^[1]

However, it was not born geometric. The tabular drifted north into a narrow passage so violent that scientists have likened it to a nutcracker. Anything that moved along this route was smashed between a mammoth iceberg and an ice shelf, a process that often whittled clean-cut shapes.

The satellite pictures confirmed that the channel, not the Larsen C shelf, produced the perfect tabular.

9 The Nasalnaut

By the time 2018 rolled by, George Aldrich had hit his 44th year as a NASA chemical specialist. He is also the proud recipient of the Silver Snoopy Sniffer Award. This is a real NASA award for people who smell things before the objects go into space. It may sound ridiculous, but offensive smells are problematic in space.

If astronauts get stuck with a bad odor in a confined area, they could become sick or less productive. To prevent this, NASA has an odor panel. Five volunteers snort at objects destined for space and give them a rating between 0 and 4. NASA is so serious about preventing bad smells that any object with a grade higher than 2.5 is abandoned.

Before sniffing anything, the panelists undergo a medical examination to ensure that their noses are in fine order. NASA staff call George Aldrich “NASA nose” and “Nostrildamus,” but Aldrich likes “nasalnaut.” After 800 smelling missions for the space agency, he certainly is.^[2]

8 The Failed Robot

During the 1960s, NASA wanted the perfect spacesuit. Human feedback was not reliable because NASA required numbers and degrees. They didn’t need to hear: “Gee, the elbow is a bit stiff.”

Engineer Joe Slowik created a robot instead. The articulated dummy could perform a range of humanlike movements. Adorably, it could even shake hands. Unfortunately, it leaked oil. Try as they might, the problem could not be fixed. To stay mobile, the machine’s hydraulic valves had to be small, but this also compromised their integrity against the pressurized fluid.

Back then, a spacesuit cost the modern equivalent of $750,000. In 1967, the robot was fired before it could ruin any suits. The following year, it was briefly employed by bionics researchers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Then it was auctioned off before being donated in 1986 to the National Air and Space Museum in Maryland.^[3]

For decades, the staff did not know who built it or why. Only when Mike Slowik, the creator’s son, recently contacted the museum did they learn about the robot’s NASA history.

7 Earth’s Adoption Agency

In 2017, NASA tried a trusted conservation method. Copying the fundraising tradition of adopt-a-rainforest and adopt-a-puffin, the agency made Earth available for adoption. The project was designed to raise awareness for the Earth sciences and environmental issues.

The “Adopt the Planet” project divided the global surface into 64,000 hexagons. Each measured 88 kilometers (55 mi) wide. Anyone could sign up and get a randomly assigned tile. The proud new parent also received an adoption certificate and decades’ worth of Earth science data about their block.^[4]

The project celebrated Earth Day and aimed to have the entire surface adopted by the time it arrived on April 22. However, it also raised awareness of NASA’s dedication to studying Earth and space despite facing severe budget cuts from the White House.

6 NASA Dosed Animals With Dust

Lunar exploration awakened a new fear. If noxious germs returned with the astronauts, humanity risked exposure to pathogens for which they had no immunity.

After 1999, the agency decided to run safety tests. They were weird. To assess lunar contamination on nonhuman life on Earth, scientists ground up some of NASA’s precious Moon rocks. The dust was divided. One-half was baked to ensure that the material was sterilized. Meanwhile, the other half remained natural and potentially dangerous.

They sprinkled the dust into aquariums full of fish. For shellfish, they dusted oysters and shrimp. Mice, chosen as land mammals, were injected with the powder. Birds were represented by the Japanese quail and got the shot. Insects, like cockroaches and flies, ate the bits with their food.

After a month, the menagerie was fine. Except for the oysters. Most of them died whether they were in clean or lunar water. The microscopic analysis also found that the Moon rocks had no microorganisms. Apparently, lunar soil is harmless and the oyster die-off was blamed on testing them during their breeding season.^[5]

5 The Solar Wind Trap

The Genesis spacecraft was an ambitious project. When it launched in 2001, it carried an array with high-purity materials, including gold, sapphire, silicon, and aluminum.

The bling had a purpose. Their composition could trap solar wind. These charged particles are released by the Sun’s corona and could reveal more about our star’s own composition and the solar system’s earliest elements.

For years, Genesis circled Lagrange point 1, where the gravity of the Sun and Earth are in perfect balance. The craft collected the precious particles and returned to Earth in 2004.

The excitement quickly turned into horror when both parachutes on the capsule failed. Genesis smashed into Utah at 310 kilometers per hour (193 mph). The crash was blamed on two sensors that were designed to react to gravity and deploy the parachutes. Somebody had installed them backward.

The impact wrecked several arrays and contaminated the solar samples. Luckily, several others were intact and gave scientists their particles and the sought-after glimpses into the Sun’s components.^[6]

4 NASA Created Mini Primitive Seas

Around four billion years ago when life first appeared on Earth, solar radiation battered the planet’s surface. Since the deadly rays could not fully penetrate the sea, life probably started in the ocean.

Deep hydrothermal vents have ecosystems independent of the Sun’s energy. They rely on chemicals and heat instead. One theory suggested that hydrothermal environments could have sparked life.

To test this, NASA astrobiologists recreated primordial seafloors in beakers in 2019. Two molecules from hydrothermal conditions—pyruvate and ammonia—were added with other minerals to the water.

To reflect the conditions of the ancient sea, the scientists removed the oxygen, tweaked the alkaline pH, and added iron hydroxide. Additionally, the water was heated to 70 degrees Celsius (158 °F), the average temperature around a vent.^[7]

Once a tiny squirt of oxygen was added, alanine and alpha hydroxy acid lactate formed. Alanine is an amino acid, and the other is its by-product. Combined, they can create organic molecules that could lead to life. It remains a mystery how that first miracle happened, but the beakers proved that hydrothermal conditions had the right stuff to spawn it.

3 NASA Hypnotized A Cursing Astronaut

The early space race was avidly followed by the US public. As a result, NASA wanted a family-friendly image. There was one problem. Most of the astronauts were rough ex-military types. They dropped f-bombs and other profanities, marring NASA’s wholesome reputation.

The agency dealt with this by editing footage. The films that aired to the public were sanitized, and the agency made a huge effort to keep its struggle with cussing astronauts a secret. For this reason, the name of one offender has never been identified with certainty. The man cursed like he was aiming for the championship.

NASA decided that hypnosis was the answer. Before his mission, a psychiatrist planted the urge to hum whenever he felt like cussing. While the astronaut’s name remains unconfirmed, only one man hummed like a champion while skipping over the Moon’s surface—Commander Pete Conrad.^[8]

2 Music From Hubble Photos

In 2019, NASA found a way to turn space into a musical. First, they chose a photograph taken by the famous Hubble Space Telescope. Taken the year before, the image was special. The snap captured around 1,000 galaxies together, leading researchers to call it a “galactic treasure chest.”^[9]

The image was programmed to produce various notes, guided by the differences in location and type of object. Short sounds represented stars and compact galaxies. Spiral galaxies tooted longer and more complicated noises. Lower sounds were produced by objects near the bottom of the picture, and frequencies turned higher closer to the top.

The time bar moved from left to right, and the music played. It was eerie, unsettling, and haunting. Near the center, the bar hit a galaxy cluster called RXC J0142.9+4438. The density created a swell in midrange tones described by some as the photograph’s best music.

1 The Problem With Martian Law

Mankind’s dream of colonizing Mars is a feverish one. Everyone from NASA to private companies wants to settle the Red Planet. An emerging problem is Martian law. At the moment, there is no such thing.

NASA studied people in long-term isolation in a project designed to mimic life as a human Martian. The stresses of the confined space suggested that Earth law might not survive on another world, especially if it mirrors the current laws on space stations.

The latter normally see an unquestionable authority from one commander. This might not sit well with the highly educated individuals who are expected to arrive first on Mars. They are more likely to prefer a democracy.

Then there are the issues of their legal status, the ways in which crime will be punished, and the hornet’s nest surrounding Martian mining rights. NASA still needs to finalize laws for the Red Planet, but many feel that the colonists are going to add their own mercurial force to how they are governed.^[10]

We expect a leading organization in the international space race to develop insane tech, spearhead invaluable innovation, and come up with solutions to problems so far above the mental capacity of us mere mortals we might fail to comprehend. However, sharing technology is not everyone’s business. Naturally, NASA also has to solve everyday problems that we take for granted here on Earth, made more complicated by the absence of oxygen and gravity or the dangers of temperatures far below freezing.

Luckily for us, NASA is quite generous in how they share their inventions, which makes it possible for us to use them to better our own lives in the process. Here are ten innovation spinoffs developed by NASA that changed many lives here on Earth

Related: Ten Most Expensive NASA Programs

10 Breast Cancer Detection

Working in space has many downsides. One of which is exposure to radiation. It was found that astronauts working on the International Space Station (ISS) were exposed to radiation equal to as many as 1,000 chest X-rays.

Although we are constantly exposed to various levels of radiation here on Earth, radiation in large quantities can be quite cancerous. Intensive preventative care and detection technology were therefore required to prevent their colleagues from developing terrible life-threatening cancers. NASA invested in research to study how sections of DNA can measure a person’s radiation exposure and assess the damage.

The BioScan System has been proven to be able to scan, find, and confirm the presence of cancer in the breasts by detecting the cancerous cells’ ability to recruit an alternative blood supply—a clear red flag of malignant lesions.^[1]

9 Safety Grooving Highways

Hydroplaning during rainstorms is a condition that causes the tires of a car rolling or sliding along the slippery road to be lifted away from the surface due to water pressure. This leads to a loss of control of the vehicle and is considered the main reason uncontrolled skidding happens during inclement weather.

As you can imagine, hydroplaning is a terrible thing to happen to a spacecraft returning to Earth at insane speeds, so NASA jumped to task. In the early ’60s, safety grooves in the runway were proposed, which would channel the water off the surface, providing better traction.

It wasn’t long before the innovation was used to improve the roads Americans travel on every day, leading to a reduction in almost 85% of wet-weather accidents since the implementation of the grooves.^[2]

8 Apollo-Era Life Rafts

Space travel has become more sophisticated over recent years, with shuttles landing on Earth in one piece, with designated runways. But there was a time when it wasn’t as easy, and pods would find themselves deep in the ocean in a maneuver called a splashdown.

NASA teamed up with a man named Jim Givens, who was working on a similar invention, something that would keep the astronauts afloat while the search for them in the vast ocean continued. The collaboration developed an inflatable raft system that could be deployed once they hit the water.

The Givens Raft has been adapted for commercial use and, after many years of use and adaptations, has saved upward of 450 lives that would have been claimed by the sea.^[3]

7 Airplane Winglets

When a fuel crisis in the 1970s threatened global air travel, the entire industry almost collapsed. Adversity breeds opportunity, so a band of NASA engineers and scientists came together to explore new fuel-saving technologies.

The Aircraft Efficiency Program was a 10-year program to develop various aeronautical technologies in the hopes of making future craft up to 50% more fuel efficient. It was to be completed by 1985 but was extended.

In partnership with Boeing, they initiated a winglet flight test based on the findings of Richard Whitcomb and proved a 7% increase in lift-drag ratio with a 20% decrease in induced drag. This finding led to an overall reduction in fuel consumption and millions in fuel savings since the winglets were introduced.^[4]

6 Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator

The first Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator was developed by Dr. Michel Mirowski, a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins School for Medicine. It was implanted by Dr. Levi Watkings of the same institute.

But the life-saving technology we know today is derived from NASA’s space circuitry technology and can prevent erratic heart action known as arrhythmias. The implanted unit consists of a microcomputer power source and two heart sensors that can deliver corrective electrical shocks in the event of an irregular heartbeat.

The discovery of polymers also made it possible to implant pacemakers in complicated cases of congestive heart failure, and it all started with an attempt to build a passenger jet that could break the sound barrier.^[5]

5 Invisible Braces

Some of us are lucky enough to have avoided those uncomfortable wire tracks that slowly pull our teeth together like some contraption from the Stone Age. Still, many people around the world will have to adorn braces at some stage in their lives.

Up until the late ’80s, braces were made from a very noticeable metal that held your teeth together. Sometimes, they added colorful rubber bands for some flash. NASA, in conjunction with others, invented translucent ceramics that became a popular component in “invisible braces,” which went on to be a bestseller in the world of orthodontics.

It’s not the only way NASA has influenced the world of orthodontics, with the use of alloy, ultrasound, and X-rays to detect and improve overall dental health.^[6]

4 Smoke Detectors

Although smoke detectors have been around for a while, it wasn’t until the 1960s that they were adjusted and made available for home use. The device was cheap, easy to install, widely used, and frustrating as heck. Legislation made it compulsory, but the frustrating part was that false alarms became a common thing.

Around the time smoke detectors became a household item, NASA was busy finding ways to prevent false alarms in Skylab and other space labs. So they, working with Honeywell Corporation, set out to invent a new technology that was sensitive to differences in smoke and other fumes. They also fashioned the detector into a handy plastic unit that could be adjusted according to needs.

The smoke detector has saved thousands of lives since its invention (not to mention reducing the cost of false alarm callouts), with the adjustable smoke detector likely preventing many people from going insane.^[7]

3 Cell Phone Camera

When you dip your chin, tilt your shoulder, and bend one of your legs ninety degrees for your next selfie, hold out a thought for NASA as they contributed to the development of the cell phone camera.

NASA did not develop the cell phone camera, but what they contributed was key technology that helped with its creation. Active pixel sensors are a key element in digital imagery, which NASA developed for space travel. This tech, in turn, gave rise to what’s known as complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors (CMOS).

CMOS image sensors originated from NASA’s desire to create fast, cheap spacecraft but also led to the development of charge-coupled devices, which allowed for high-quality digital photos by the late 1980s. Eric Fossum further pushed for even smaller and lighter machinery using the CMOS tech to create active pixel sensors. Say cheese!^[8]

2 Tracking Systems

Initially used on low-orbiting satellites and distant geostationary satellites, the cross-use of tracking technology has come a long way.

Since the 1970s, NASA has provided aid and expertise to the Cospas-Sarsat program, which is an international satellite-aided search and rescue effort. By utilizing the Search and Rescue System Satellite Aided Tracking System (SARSAT), multiple search and rescue type beacons have been developed (for example, the current 406 Beacon), enabling explorers to venture on land, air, and sea with a sense of security not previously known.

It is estimated that over 50,000 people worldwide in life-threatening situations, have been rescued by the inventions of the SARSAT beacons.^[9]

1 Plant Texting

If you do not already have enough notifications on your phone, it might soon be possible to receive texts from your thirsty plants demanding water.

BioServe Space Technologies, a company sponsored by NASA, has developed a leaf sensor of sorts that can detect whether your plants require water using electrical pulses. The world was quick to realize its agricultural benefits, and massive funding has subsequently led to amazing advancements in the field.

For those who do not have the greenest of fingers, it is quite possible that in the near future, your plant can be fitted with a custom device to alert you to low water levels. We will leave it to you to decide whether you want the thought of your plant dying of thirst while you are away hanging over your head.^[10]

It’s late at night on November 23, 2021, and you looked to the skies to see…something. At 10:20 pm, NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. After liftoff on a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, the spacecraft set out to travel millions of miles on a planetary defense test to…smash into an asteroid. The cost: $308 million! For intentionally destroying the craft, its only purpose: to see if it can alter the trajectory of that asteroid. (Couldn’t we get Bruce Willis and crew to do it for less?)

On October 1, 1958, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) became operational. The administration’s goals were grandiose right from the start: expand human knowledge of space, lead the world in space-related technological innovation, develop vehicles that can carry both equipment and living beings into space, and collaborate with international space agencies to achieve the most incredible scientific advancements possible.

NASA has accomplished each of these objectives during the last 60 years, and it continues to seek solutions to some of science’s most vexing questions as it adapts to a changing world. But at what cost?

In this list, we’ll take a look at some of NASA’s most expensive programs to date. While it may be easy to pick a favorite among NASA’s many accomplishments, the price tag might leave you wondering if the expense was really worth it.

Related: 10 Historical First Images Captured Of Space

10 Galileo, Estimated Cost: $1.6 Billion

Galileo, named after the great Italian scientist, began its journey toward the Solar System’s largest planet in 1989. In December 1995, it became the first-ever spacecraft to orbit the planet Jupiter. While the planet itself is fascinating (Galileo even witnessed the massive impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9), crucial information was gathered about its moons. One of which, Europa, with its seas of water hidden behind an icy crust, is one of the contenders to house life in our solar system.

Regrettably, Galileo’s fascinating journey couldn’t continue forever and, like most extraordinary things, unfortunately, had to come to an end. Galileo was terminated after nearly eight years in orbit by launching it into Jupiter’s atmosphere to avoid contaminating any of Jupiter’s moons with microbes that may have caught a ride from Earth.^[1]

9 Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, Estimated Cost: $2 Billion

The AMS-02 or Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is an actual, highly complex piece of equipment that can be found on the International Space Station—delivered there by the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011. The AMS-02, created by Nobel Laureate and particle physicist Samuel Ting, is as advanced as anything you’ll find in a particle accelerator on Earth. It was designed to detect antimatter and find data that could help solve the puzzle of dark matter.

AMS-02 has collected data from over 175 billion cosmic ray occurrences during its lifetime and is still operational—despite its initial planned lifecycle of three years. In our quest to better understand our world, the considerable experiment has revealed antimatter in the form of both antiprotons and positrons. Antiprotons are protons’ antimatter complements, whereas positrons are electrons’ antimatter counterparts. Researchers discovered that high energy positrons are produced by various astronomical sources, such as cosmic ray collisions and dark matter, as opposed to high energy electrons, providing insight into the origins of these particles.^[2]

8 Hubble Space Telescope, Estimated Cost: $2.5 Billion

The Hubble Space Telescope, named after Edwin Hubble, one of the best astronomers of the twentieth century, had a rocky start after being sent into orbit with an error that reduced the quality of the images it captured. The miscalculation was minuscule (on the range of microns, or approximately one-fiftieth the width of a human hair). Still, it happened to be devastating for the delicate piece of technology. As such, NASA had to send in astronauts to repair the flaw by inserting tiny mirrors into Hubble’s optical field. Hubble started working without a hiccup after that, and over the next two decades, the telescope has provided us with the most incredible photographs ever taken of our universe.

Hubble examines the cosmos 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That means it has witnessed some fantastic cosmic phenomenon every day of the year—for the past 31 years—including your birthday. If you haven’t looked at your birthday image on NASA’s website yet, we strongly advise you to do so because it makes for fascinating viewing.^[3]

7 Curiosity, Estimated Cost: $2.5 Billion

Curiosity is beyond a doubt the most advanced probe to ever visit our planetary neighbor Mars, although it is by no means the first. At any moment of the day, you have the opportunity to look at the current terrain Curiosity is investigating as well as the weather it might be experiencing, and it’s incredible to see. Curiosity’s objective was to learn more about the planet’s geology and climate in order to address one of astronomy’s most pressing questions: is Mars suited for human life? And if it isn’t, was it suitable at some point in our past?

Up to this point, the answer to the first question is a definite no, while the answer to the second looks to be inconclusive. However, the notion that a high-tech robot is currently scouring the terrain and gathering data on another world is good enough, in our opinion, to justify the $2.5 billion price tag.^[4]

6 Cassini-Huygens, Estimated Cost: $3.26 Billion

NASA launched the Cassini-Huygens mission in 1997 to explore Saturn, the most magnificent of the gas giants in our planetary system. The spacecraft was named after Italian and Dutch astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christian Huygens. After a seven-year trip, Cassini was launched into orbit above Saturn and gathered vital information about the planet’s rings, satellites, and atmosphere.

Cassini’s passenger, the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe, detached from the primary craft on Christmas Day 2004 and successfully landed on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. This was the first landing accomplished in the outer Solar System and the first landing on a moon other than our own. Cassini ran out of fuel after 20 years in space. NASA sent the spacecraft on a bold final mission to Saturn’s atmosphere to protect moons that might have circumstances favorable for life. On September 15, 2017, Cassini plummeted into Saturn’s atmosphere after nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, delivering research data to the very end.^[5]

5 Global Positioning System, Estimated Cost: $12 Billion

The U.S. Air Force operates the Global Positioning System (GPS), a space-based radio navigation system controlled by the U.S. government. It can identify any three-dimensional location to meter-level exactness and time to 10-nanosecond reliability anywhere in the world—24 hours a day, 7 days a week. GPS is made up of three segments: the control segment, space segment, and user segment. To facilitate higher spacecraft autonomy and more sophisticated Earth tracking applications, NASA’s commitment to spearhead the future in scientific discovery, aeronautics research, and space exploration necessitates the proactive development and implementation of several GPS applications.

GPS’s origins can be traced back to the Sputnik era, when researchers discovered how to track satellites using shifts in its radio signal, referred to as the “Doppler Effect.” The Global Positioning System’s space segment currently consists of more than 30 fully functional satellites, each equipped with a redundant atomic clock and a ground control network that monitors the network 24/7.^[6]

4 SLS and Orion, Estimated Cost: $23 Billion

The SLS, NASA’s Space Launch System, is a mega heavy-lift propulsion system developed by NASA that lays the groundwork for human space exploration beyond our solar system. The SLS is the only rocket with the power and capabilities to send the Orion spacecraft, complete with cargo and astronauts, to the Moon in a single mission, and it is set to launch in early 2022—for now.

NASA will use a configuration known as Block 1 for the launch of Artemis I, the first combined flight of SLS and Orion. The SLS will have a maximum thrust of 8.8 million pounds, 15% more than the Saturn V rocket. For Artemis I, the Block 1 configuration will send a crewless Orion spacecraft 40,000 miles further than the Moon (280,000 miles from Earth). Before NASA moves on to a crewed flight, engineers will monitor and modulate the integrated system performance of SLS, Orion, and its Exploration Ground Systems. If everything goes smoothly, the Artemis II mission will send astronauts on a flight to orbit the Moon, paving the way for the Artemis III mission to land astronauts on the Moon in 2024.^[7]

3 Apollo Space Program, Estimated Cost: $110 Billion

The Apollo Program began in the 1960s, within the same lifetime as humankind’s first-ever flight. (link 16) NASA created the Apollo Command Module specifically for this program. It was a capsule that could accommodate up to three astronauts. The astronauts traveled to and from the Moon in the Command Module. It was far more extensive than the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, and the astronauts inside had plenty of room to move about—depending on the notion of “plenty” as the crew space was about the size of a car.

The Lunar Module, a separate spacecraft, was utilized to land on the Moon. This craft transported astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back to orbit. The Lunar Module itself only could transport two astronauts. As such, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong famously became the first humans to walk on the Moon in July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission, just in time to keep President John F. Kennedy’s goal of placing a crew on the Earth’s natural satellite and safely returning them by the end of the decade. Perhaps the most outstanding achievement in history, the Apollo missions transported 24 people to the Moon (12 on its surface!) and remains the most ambitious expeditions ever attempted.^[8]

2 International Space Station, Estimated Cost: $150 Billion

The International Space Station is a technical marvel and a symbol of what people from many different countries can do when working together. The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest artificial object in space (it can even be seen with the naked eye if the conditions are perfect!). It provides one-of-a-kind conditions for conducting scientific experiments and studying the effects of long periods in space on humans.

The International Space Station’s first component was launched into orbit by Russia in November 1998. The Russian Zarya control module was launched by a Russian rocket. Two weeks later, in orbit, the Space Shuttle Endeavour, carrying the U.S. Unity node, made contact with Zarya. The crew then connected the Zarya module to the Unity node. More pieces were added to the station over the next two years in order to make it habitable for our astronauts. The first live-aboard crew made their way to the International Space Station on November 2, 2000, and astronauts from nations all over the world have called it home for limited periods of time ever since.^[9]

1 Space Shuttle Program: $209 Billion

The Space Shuttle Program in the 1970s gave birth to the world’s first orbital space shuttle that could be reused (instead of rockets, which could only be used once and were disposed of after each launch). It consisted of an external tank, two external rockets or boosters, and the famous orbiter vehicle, one of the most well-known feats of engineering ever constructed.

Five orbiters were built throughout the project’s three decades of activity: Atlantis, Endeavour, Discovery, Challenger, and Columbia. Unfortunately, the last two were destroyed during operations—the only significant mishaps in an otherwise successful sequence of missions.

The Space Shuttle Program cost between $196 and $209 billion (NASA’s official estimate) and had 135 launches, at the cost of more than $1.5 billion per launch. The Shuttle program was succeeded by the SLS (Space Launch System) just two months after the program’s last mission, which took place in July 2011.^[10]

NASA is well-known for its operations in space. It is hard to miss giant rockets streaking across the sky, bulletins about space meteors, and their stylish spacesuits. When not exploring outer space, NASA sponsors research that leads to spinoff technologies. Many inventions developed for space have an impact on Earth’s environmental efforts.

NASA’s budget was most significant during the Space Race (approximately 1957-1969). It had a peak annual budget of $5 billion, through which it developed several technologies that transformed into smoke detectors, smartphones, and more. Despite budget cuts, NASA and its partner agencies have continued to innovate.

Although NASA and its partners revolutionize and improve technology consistently, people ask, “How has NASA benefited life on Earth?” After all, we know that space travel is not the most environmentally friendly enterprise. So how has an agency that is renowned for its space travel contributed to the fight against environmental distress?

Let’s look at ten ways the NASA is improving life on Earth.

Related: 10 Everyday Things That Were Invented By NASA

10 EZVI

During the Apollo program, NASA cleaned rocket parts with chlorinated solvents. While effective at cleaning these components, this did not bode well for the natural environment around the launch pad. The solvents used belong to a class of chemicals (dense non-aqueous phase liquids) that were difficult to remove due to their weight compared to water and relative lack of solubility. To solve the pollution caused by the Apollo program, NASA scientists and engineers co-developed a new technology called Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron. This two-step treatment uses iron particles to dechlorinate the area, producing a non-toxic hydrocarbon. EZVI can be used to decontaminate both soil and groundwater due to its soluble membrane.

The technology has become one of NASA’s most licensed technologies due to the sheer number of sites contaminated by dense non-aqueous phase liquids. Its low cost and quick treatment time (2 to 3 months) make it a useful invention for groundwater decontamination.^[1]

9 Durable Wind Turbines

Mars is a harsh and unforgiving planet. The surface is an average of -62°C (-81°F) and can be even colder at the poles and during the wintertime. (LINK 4) Renewable power sources will be required to colonize the red planet, and a popular solution is a combination of solar and wind power due to the slightly longer days and infamous dust storms. Due to the harsh conditions, NASA needed to invent a turbine with resilient parts and as few moving pieces as possible. These same qualities also helped expand the reach of renewable energy to some of the harshest environments on earth. NASA initially tested the technology in the South Pole to reduce the amount of fuel that they flew in for research teams stationed there.

After a successful test at the South Pole, the technology has been deployed globally, including Alaska and Colorado. Northern Power Systems (the corporate partner for the spinoff technology) claims the technology has since been deployed and successfully endured extreme weather such as hurricanes and typhoons.^[2]

8 Canary-S

Dust bunnies have more bite when the dust comes from the lunar surface. Managing and filtering regolith is vital for any building where humans may work on the lunar surface as the small particles can damage the eyes and lungs. A small company called Lunar Outpost created a monitoring device dubbed the Space Canary to tackle this challenge. As part of NASA’s NextSTEP program, Lunar Outpost teamed up with Lockheed Martin Space to tweak the design for use in space and on Earth.

The redesigned Space Canary, now named Canary-S, has been independently verified to work for pollution monitoring in outdoor settings. Canary-S has been deployed to help protect firefighters from carbon monoxide poisoning, monitor emissions from oil and gas companies, and track local air quality at public schools.^[3]

7 Plant Sensors

If you’ve ever under- or overwatered a plant, you may have wished it could just tell you what it needed. Thanks to this next invention, plants can do just that. Research done by a NASA-funded researcher determined that how much water a plant has can be monitored by measuring the leaf thickness through electrical pulses. Later, this idea was turned into a commercial product by AgriHouse Brands. By connecting directly to a leaf on the plant, their sensor can send information back to the farmer regarding the plant’s health and alert them when the plant needs water.

The sensor’s real-time data on plant health allows farmers to water the plant only when needed. Precision agriculture saves water, time, and money. Soon, you may get a text from your houseplant requesting more water.^[4]

6 High Efficiency Lighting with Integrated Adaptive Control (HELIAC)

LEDs are not just for tricking out your room or making your car glow. Plants were not evolved to grow in space. Especially in the space station, the constantly changing day cycle and sub-optimal positioning can make plant growth more difficult. Traditional lights are energy-hungry and can radiate heat, which is unsuitable for more sensitive plants. LED lights address both of these issues with lower energy requirements and an almost complete lack of heat.

To develop a sustainable alternative light source for plant growth, NASA teamed up with Orbital Technologies Corporation. This company developed the High Efficiency Lighting with Integrated Adaptive Control. It works by stringing together a series of 4-cm-square (1.5-inch-square) LED light panels. These panels can be individually adjusted, which allows for energy savings in two ways. The first way they save energy is the LED panels can optimize the light they emit for specific plants during specific growing phases. The second way the HELIAC system saves energy is by detecting if plants are in front of them and only turning on when they detect a plant. Not only do these LEDs look cool, but they also may soon power an indoor farm near you.^[5]

5 Self-Driving Farm Tractors

You may be asking yourself, “How can John Deere be good for the environment?” Tilling the land is necessary for growing food, but historically, this process has been inefficient. Since farmers have to drive by eye, they often overlap the rows by about 10 percent. Row overlap wastes seeds and fertilizer and leads to longer total job time. Self-guided tractors can dramatically reduce the amount of overlap and increase the expected yield of a given plot.

John Deere was able to do this by tapping into NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab’s GPS-correction software and global data. After connecting their device to the network, they could plot courses for the tractors that are accurate within a few inches. Furthermore, they no longer needed to install large, expensive radio towers.

Combined, these innovations in remote sensing allow farmers to plot accurate courses for their tractors, resulting in lower resource usage and higher yields.^[6]

4 DigitalClone

The idea of a DigitalClone is to create a digital twin of components or systems. A digital twin is a replica of a real-world object or system used to predict certain events. Recently, this has been popularized by NVIDA’s Earth-2 digital twin.

Back in the early 2000s, Sentient Science attempted to do the same thing for mechanical components. Their focus was on turning the data they collected regarding material performance into a predictive model of component wear and tear. Although this may not seem like an environmentally friendly spinoff, the implications are. Companies can use accurate digital twins to simulate component use and predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance can reduce the repair cost and extend the lifespan of simulated systems.

Companies or government agencies can also use the technology to simulate systems much faster than traditional physical testing. Digital testing further reduces the environmental impact of component and system testing. Sentient Science has used its DigitalClone technology extensively in the renewable field—specifically for wind turbine gearboxes. They estimate that their technology helped lower wind energy’s cost to 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour as of 2016.^[7]

3 Smart Fertilizer

Plants need nutrients to grow well, but traditional fertilizer methods are wasteful. A standard application schedule for fertilizer is monthly, but the plants do not absorb a lot of that fertilizer. Florikan developed a more intelligent solution. Instead of large quantities of fertilizer applied monthly, Florikan’s technology is a single application of fertilizer that releases nutrients in stages. This approach uses only one-third of the amount used in traditional application practices.

There are two key environmental benefits of this technology. The first benefit is that reducing the amount of fertilizer used reduces the amount of nutrient runoff. In large quantities, nitrogen (a key nutrient in fertilizer) is correlated with algal blooms that harm marine life. The second environmental benefit is a reduction in the amount of fertilizer used. Since fertilizer is limited, reducing the amount used is vital for conservation efforts.^[8]

2 WATEX

Water is a critical element for life on Earth. Freshwater reserves are under increasing stress, as evidenced by droughts experienced in the Southern Plains and the Western United States. It isn’t just a western country issue either. The BBC reports that water scarcity affects about 40 percent of the global population. Experts also estimate that water-related conflicts could rise as water access becomes more difficult.

Not all is lost, however. Satellite imagery and specialized software can help governments and researchers find hidden freshwater deposits underground. Based on a combination of several data sources, satellite imagery, and the algorithm developed by Radar Technologies International, WATEX can create a 3-D map of areas that are likely to have water.

It is even able to do so in war-torn regions without risking cartographers. A crowning achievement of the WATEX system was the discovery of 66 trillion gallons of water beneath Turkana. The technology has also found water in Afghanistan, Angola, and Sudan. As fresh water becomes more scarce, innovations like this may help us avoid complete disaster.^[9]

1 M-2000

No, this is not an early terminator model. Ships have to routinely undergo dry-docking and maintenance to ensure they are sea-worthy. The traditional method of stripping paint is grit blasting, which produces toxic airborne particles. Grit blasting also results in trips to the landfill, further adding to its environmental impact. M-2000 is a robotic paint stripper that aims to replace grit blasting for contaminant removal.

In contrast to grit blasting, UltraStrip’s M-2000 strips paint using a high-powered water jet. The jet is strong enough to cause paint chips and water to be the only byproducts. The robot uses a vacuum to capture these byproducts and then recycles the water while keeping the paint chips safely secure in a separate container. The process is estimated to be 200 percent more effective than grit blasting for contaminant removal, which leads to fewer repainting episodes. Robotics will likely play an increasingly important role in environmental conservation in the coming decades, as M-2000 has shown.^[10]