I 💓 innovation all the way to the moon and back

On the 46th anniversary of man first walking on the moon, in several of my regular radio segments I took a look and 11 gadgets and tech things we have today that are directly attributable to space missions, which include:

The microwave which started its life in 1945 with Dr Percy Spencer working on a new radar technology that allowed him to see really small particles in space. The story goes that one day, as he was peering into space, he realised the chocolate bar he had in his pocket had melted and being the clever scientist he was eventually figured out that the microwave signals he was using caused it, long story short much innovation, much thought and voila the microwave oven was born.

Baby Formula started its life as an experiment to create artificial oxygen in space. The algae that was used in this experiment didn’t quite do what it was supposed to, but some bright spark found that it had the same fatty acid properties found in breast milk and a new product was discovered.

Latex Foam was created to cushion the impact of spacecraft landings and now cushions the sleeps of millions of people around the world as a latex mattresses and pillows.

Shoe insoles humble beginnings saw it invented and intended solely (pun intended) to even out the spring of astronauts on the moon, but that’s before some bright spark took the idea and started a whole new industry here on Earth.

We needed water in space and what we took with us might be a bit stale by the time we got around to drinking it, so voila the charcoal water filter was invented and we still use it today.

One of the hottest dental trends right now is invisible dental braces, but who would have known it started its life as translucent polycrystalline alumina (TPA) and originally used to protect heat-seeking missile trackers, that is before somebody got the bright idea that this transparent flexible casing would be just the right thing to straighten out crooked teeth.

Some of the more straight forward kit built for space and used on earth in pretty much the same way as intended are scratch resistant UV blocking sunglasses, wireless headsets, joysticks, cat-scanners, and smoke detectors

Space has given us many of today’s cool and now ordinary toys and inventions, but the kicker is as always it then took somebody with a commercial eye and an aha moment to see the innovation and possibility in what was right in front of their eyes. So if there’s a lesson in this story, it’s what’s sitting right in front of you now that you can turn into the next big thing?

Have a listen to these segment now and then let’s discuss your next big idea

Phil Whelan – Hong Kong Radio 3 (16 minutes 10 secs).

David Dowsett – ABC Wide Bay (7 minutes 30 seconds)

Phil Staley – ABC Far North (18 minutes 43 seconds)