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| Ingestible Toothpaste |
| A dental consultant to NASA developed a foamless toothpaste that is practical for the zero-gravity environment of space. Since it can be swallowed, it is also useful as a first toothpaste for children. |
| Inorganic Coating |
| NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida developed a coating to protect metal structures from sun, salt and water. The coating is nontoxic and nonflammable, bonds quickly to steel and lasts for more than 25 years. |
| Laptop Computer |
| NASA first used fans required to cool laptops in portable computers that monitored navigation. Computer technology also made giant strides when NASA used computer programs as analysis tools to design machinery, wrote code to analyze aerodynamic heating on the space shuttle and analyze polymers, and developed programs to predict the effects of component failure. |
| Senior Meals |
| Using experience NASA gained from human space projects, a meal system was developed to fill nutritional gaps for senior citizens unable to take part in meal service programs. |
| Jeweler’s Soldering Base |
| Jewelers can now work on heat-resistant bases made from the same material as space shuttle tiles, saving them from the risks of working on asbestos, which disintegrates at extremely high temperatures. |
| Scratch-resistant Lenses |
| Plastic lenses use NASA’s technique of plasma polymerization to make lenses lighter, cheaper, stronger and virtually shatterproof. |
