MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Natalie Godwin (818) 354-0850

NEWS RELEASE: 2005-134 August 17, 2005

TECHNOLOGY OF TOMORROW: SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OFFS

The next time you pick up a cordless tool or look up at a
satellite dish, will you think of NASA? Perhaps not, but
chances are that you are enjoying one of the many benefits
of technologies developed as a result of space exploration.

The Global Positioning System software developed at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is used in large
scale tracking of airplanes and automobiles, while infrared
sensors designed to remotely measure the temperature of planets
and stars are being used to measure body temperature and help
surgeons map brain tumors.

In two free public lectures, Dr. Karina Edmonds, a senior technology
transfer specialist in JPL's Innovative Technology Assets Management
Office, will describe the latest innovations of JPL technologists
that have improved the quality of our lives, and in some cases changed
them greatly. The lectures will take place Thursday evening, Aug. 18,
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on Friday evening, Aug. 19,
at Pasadena City College.

"It's fascinating how many technologies originally developed for space
exploration have made their way into our lives," Edmonds said.
"Most people are amazed when they find out the number of things in
their everyday lives that have NASA origins."

The free lectures are part of JPL's Theodore von Karman Lecture Series.

Both will begin at 7 p.m. Seating is on a first-come, first-served
basis.
The Thursday lecture will be in JPL's von Kármán Auditorium at
4800 Oak Grove Dr., off the Oak Grove Drive exit of the 210 (Foothill)
Freeway. The Friday lecture will be in Pasadena City College's Vosloh
Forum, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd.

For more information, call (818) 354-0112. Thursday's lecture will be
webcast live and available afterwards at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/aug05.cfm .

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for
NASA.

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