Why You Should Follow NASA's Lead With Composite Materials

When you’re looking for the most advanced and capable materials for a new product you’re designing, why not look to the world’s leaders in advanced technology? NASA has been at the cutting edge of technological innovation since it was established in 1958 because it takes incredible innovation to achieve aerospace feats.

IMAGE: UNSPLASH

NASA’s Celebrated History Of Innovation

If the credentials of landing people (and vehicles) on the moon and landing a rover on Mars, as well as countless other unprecedented aeronautics achievements, isn’t enough to convince you of NASA’s expertise in technological solutions, you should refresh yourself with some of their many useful inventions.

When you think of NASA, the first thing that comes to mind is probably its incredible history of space exploration and rocket technology. What you might not know is that NASA is the origin of many products that people around the world use today daily.

This is because NASA needs to invent products necessary for space exploration, which are often helpful in everyday situations. Here is a list of products that you probably didn’t know were invented by scientists and engineers at NASA:

Memory Foam
Freeze-dried Foods
Scratch-resistant Eyeglasses
Insulin Pumps
Baby Formula
LED Lighting
Lifeshears and Other Firefighting Equipment
Water Filters
Artificial Limbs
Dustbusters

NASA Invention Myths

While there’s no denying that NASA has been responsible for many of the most important inventions that people in generally use every day, there are a few inventions that did not originate with NASA, although many people think they did. These include:

Tang
Velcro
Teflon

NASA And Composite Materials

One of the most fruitful sources of product innovation in recent years has been regarding composite materials. Composite materials are complex products that are developed when two other materials are combined to create a material that exhibits properties beyond that of either source material.

Historical Composite Materials

It is no surprise that NASA has employed composite materials throughout the space program’s history, given that composite technology is thousands of years old, beginning at least as far back in human history as the first mud and clay bricks crafted by ancient Egyptian engineers.

Modern Composites And Carbon Fiber Technology

Today’s composite materials are much more complicated than the ancient origins of composite technology. One of the most valuable resources employed in spacecraft vehicles, launch vehicles and satellites is carbon fiber composite materials because they offer:

Light Weight
Environmental Stability
Extremely Durable Reinforcements
High-Temperature Resistance

Carbon Fiber In The Public Sector

As in the case of many valuable innovations of the past, NASA remains at the forefront of technological achievement. While NASA did not invent carbon fiber composites, the American space program has relied on carbon fiber materials since the Apollo missions to achieve things never possible in the past.

Carbon Fiber composites are also used by many industries that rely on building innovation to break new ground. Whether you’re working in marine, military, sporting equipment, aerospace or any other business that relies on technological innovation, you are likely to benefit from the capabilities of carbon fiber. Contact a composite manufacturer to learn more about how you can apply carbon fiber materials to improve your products.