2003 Technology Transfer Repor t

Office of Technology Transfer

NASA Goddard 

Space Flight Center
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Introduction

2003’s New Focus: Spin-In and Spin-Out

As Chief of Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer,

I would like to thank you for reading this report on our

2003 successes and how we achieved them.

As you might know, 2003 has been a year of exciting

change for NASA’s technology transfer efforts. We

refocused our goals and set new standards for excellence

in evaluating our performance. Our goals now are stated as:

• To form partnerships with industry and academia to develop new

technology that supports Enterprise programs

• To commercialize and transfer NASA technology to U.S. industry, enhancing NASA’s technology and commercial objectives

These ambitions might be summarized as our “spin-in” and “spin-out” goals.

• Spin-in: Industry, academia, and other government labs serve as valuable

resources for NASA Enterprise programs. Often their technologies can be

adapted to address space mission needs, allowing NASA to achieve its

goals faster and more efficiently. Similarly, technologies developed at one

NASA Field Center for a specific project might be widely applicable to

other Enterprise programs.

• Spin-out: Space program technologies often can benefit other industries

and play an important role in the U.S. economy. Although the structure of

our economy has changed dramatically since NASA’s founding in 1958, the

value and applicability of our R&D activities to the economy have

remained constant. Whether NASA works in tandem with private industry

or the commercial sector turns to NASA for technological assistance, aerospace technologies have found their way into new products and services.

As you will see in this report, Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer already

is working toward—and achieving—spin-in as well as spin-out successes.

And in 2004 we expect these successes to increase further. For more information on how to participate in our success, please see the contact

information on page 26.

Sincerely,

Nona Cheeks

Chief, Office of Technology Transfer

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Table of Contents

2 Our 2003 Successes

8 Achieving Our Success

9 Involving Innovators

19 Outreach to Potential Partners

26 How to Contact Us

T e chnology Transfer Report
2

Our 2003 Successes

At Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer, we have been focused on

achieving spin-out success for many years. Finding commercial, academic,

and other government applications for space program innovations—and

making that transfer a success—benefits the U.S. economy, the lives of the

citizenry, and the U.S.’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.

We also recognize the value of spin-in to NASA and its Enterprise programs.

By ensuring that Goddard’s innovations make their way into other Field

Centers as well as by accessing technologies in the commercial, academic,

and government sectors, we advance NASA research and accelerate the

achievement of NASA missions.

These pages summarize Goddard’s spin-in and spin-out successes for 2003.

Successes
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Commercialized Retroreflectors Make 

Their Way Back to NASA

In 1997, the Cassini spacecraft was sent to Saturn. On board was the

Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), an imaging instrument that used an

innovative retroreflector technology developed at NASA Goddard. In 1999,

Goddard inventor James Lyons spun-out his retroreflector technology,

creating a new company called PROSystems (http://www.retros.com/),

which is short for Perfect Return Optical Systems.

In 2003, PROSystems sold its precision hollow retroreflectors and hollow roof

mirrors to NASA Field Centers (as well as several commercial companies):

• Researchers at Langley Research Center are using PROSystems retroreflectors to advance lidar technology, which is one of the critical technologies

that help NASA with its Earth Science and Space Science strategic

missions.

• Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory purchased PROSystem’s small

hollow reflectors for various white light interferometer experiments. The

devices simplify the experiments by eliminating the dispersion normally

seen in solid retroreflectors.

As this spin-in success story demonstrates, the commercial sector often is

well positioned to turn a NASA technology into a commercial a product.

Then, not only is NASA able to focus on its space missions, but it also

benefits by being able to easily purchase a quality product that advances

those missions.
4

Goddard’s Award-Winning HHT Tested throughout

NASA as well as in Business, Academia, Other

Government

Officially called the Computer Implemented Empirical Mode

Decomposition Method, the Hilbert Huang Transformation (HHT)

technology provides more precise analysis of natural processes than

traditional data analysis methods, such as the Fast Fourier Transform

(FFT) method. HHT can be applied to diverse areas, such as earthquakes,

surface temperatures, speech/sound/ noise, and heartbeats. Recognized

by the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board as “one of the most

important applied mathematical methods in NASA history,” HHT has won

five awards, including the prestigious NASA Government Invention of the

Year Award (see page 12).

HHT is playing a valuable role in advancing NASA’s “Return to Flight” mission.

Goddard has provided HHT to Kennedy Space Center as part of its nondestructive evaluation analysis for the composite heat shield—reinforced

carbon-carbon (RCC)—that is expected to be used on future Space Shuttle

missions.

At the same time, to ensure that the value of HHT would be disseminated

throughout academia, industry, and government labs, Goddard’s Office of

Technology Transfer created a comprehensive Web site (http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov/ HHT/HHT.htm). Using this site, researchers and developers can register their interest and—pending approval from NASA—receive

limited license to download the HHT software for evaluation and testing.

As of December 31, 2003, more than 120 parties had requested the HHT

software, including the Universities of Oklahoma, Delaware, and Vermont;

government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the

Federal Highway Administration, and the National Centers for Environmental

Prediction of the National Weather Service; and more than 20 companies.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Innovative Earth Science Image Processing

SoftwareAdvances Space Science and Dental

Research

In developing the Hierarchical Segmentation Software (HSEG), Goddard

researchers provided a new approach to image analysis. Rather than

focusing on individual pixels, HSEG focuses on image regions—and how

they change from a coarse-to-fine perspective. The software automatically organizes an image’s pixels into regions based on their spectral

similarity. Pixels that are not adjacent still might belong to the same

region type if they share a similar spectral value (e.g., lakes separated by

land). More information about HSEG is available online

(http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov/hseg/ index.cfm).

Although originally developed for NASA’s remote-sensing applications, HSEG

has proven its value well beyond the realm of Earth science. Within NASA,

HSEG is being used to help identify and extract magnetospheric radio-echo

and natural plasma-wave signals recorded by the Radio Plasma Imager (RPI)

on the NASA IMAGE mission—that is, the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora

Global Exploration—which was launched in March 2000 and still sends back

valuable data. Other uses within NASA are being explored.

HSEG also has been licensed to Bartron Medical Imaging

(http://www.bartron.ws) of New Haven, Connecticut. In July 2003, Bartron

sold its first Med-Seg device—an advanced biological imaging unit—to the

University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine (SDM). Within the context

of the Med-Seg device, HSEG reduces distortion and provides better

resolution, assisting in the diagnosis and management of diseases that are

imaged using digital X-rays. Researchers at the SDM will use Med-Seg to

advance their understanding of tooth decay, periodontal disease, and conditions causing bone demineralization. Bartron’s future development for MedSeg will focus on cancer as well as neurological and cardiovascular diseases.
6

New Walker—Based on Goddard Technology—Revolutionizes 

Physical Therapy

In March 2003, Enduro Medical Technology launched a new rehabilitative device that

helps patients with degenerative illness, traumatic injuries, or other afflictions to

participate in standing and gait therapy in a safe, secure, fall-free environment.

What made the East Hartford, Connecticut, company’s introduction of this product—

the Secure Ambulation Module (SAM)—so exciting was that its origins were at NASA.

The SAM walker consists of a wheeled apparatus with a

pelvic harness that bears some or all of the patient’s body

weight and controls the pelvis without impeding hip movement during ambulation therapy. The harness is dynamically

connected to cable-compliant wire joints, which were

invented at Goddard for use in sounding rocket assemblies

and robotics. Goddard’s cable-compliant mechanisms are

a highly effective alternative to rigid connections,

providing customized structural stiffness, facilitating

coupling operations, and mitigating shock and vibration

damage. Technology details are available online

(http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov/compliantcable/

index.cfm).

Clinical tests of SAM in 2003 demonstrated its effectiveness,

and Enduro received valuable design feedback. Newly

updated SAM devices will be delivered to therapy facilities

in Florida and Connecticut early in 2004.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Goddard Software Launched into Space in 1995 

and Commercially in 2003

At the 2003 International Telemetering Conference, DesignAmerica debuted

its newest product: the Advanced Spacecraft Integration and System Test

(ASIST) software. ASIST originated at Goddard as a real-time command-andcontrol system for spacecraft development, integration, and operations. It

was included on various spacecraft—the X-Ray Timing Explorer 1995), the

Tropical Rainforest Measurement Mission (1997), the Far Ultraviolet

Spectroscopic Explorer (1999), and the Microwave Anisotropy Probe

(2001)—as well as specific instruments, such as the Composite

Infrared Spectrometer used aboard the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn

and its largest moon, Titan.

ASIST clearly proved its value throughout NASA. However, further

development and support of the ASIST software was best handled by the

private sector. DesignAmerica of Annapolis, Maryland had been a key

developer of the ASIST development team. As a result, ASIST was licensed to

DesignAmerica in October 2003. DesignAmerica now strives to ensure that

ASIST fully benefits the government and aerospace communities.

Other Spin-Out Successes

The Office of Technology Transfer achieved additional spin-out successes by licensing several Goddard 

technologies to commercial companies and academic institutions:

Technology Licenses

Process for Producing High-Quality Optically Polished Nu-tek Aberdeen, Maryland

Surfaces on Bare Aluminum Substrates

Gear Bearings Advanced CAD ACM Service Corp. Peoria, Illinois

Regional Applications Center Software: RODIN Global Science and Technology Greenbelt, Maryland

Technology Space Act Agreements

Process for Producing High-Quality Optically University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona

Polished Surfaces on Bare Aluminum Substrates

The Turbotrap: A Method for Containing a Gas Global Systems & Technologies Oxon Hill, Maryland

in an Open Container
8

Processes

Achieving Our Success

Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer is proud of its achievements in

2003. And we look forward to creating even more spin-in and spin-out

success stories in 2004. We achieve these successes via two paths:

involving innovators and outreach to potential partners. This section

describes the activities along these two paths.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Raymond Ohl

Sharon Orsborne

Fernando Pellerano

Thomas Perricone

David Petrick

Robin Pfister

Jeffrey Piepmeier

Samuel Placanica

Paul Racette

Glenn Rakow

John Riley

Nelson Rubin

Arthur Ruitberg

Richard Schnurr

Rajeev Sharma

Harry Shaw

Salman Sheikh

Eric Stoneking

Wesley Sweetser

Ronald Toland

Jacob Trombka

George Voellmer

John Vranish

Philip Ward

Thomas Winkert

Luke Winternitz

John Wood

Mark Woodard

Said Zewari

Involving Innovators

Goddard’s innovators—the scientific and technical staff working toward NASA mission

goals every day—are a key starting point for technology transfer. They know the technical challenges that must be overcome for NASA missions to be successful—that is,

the opportunities for a spin-in of outside technology. They also are intimately familiar

with Goddard’s technical strengths and technology portfolio, having developed these

innovations themselves. These technologies may be transferred to other Field Centers

to maximize the return on NASA’s R&D investment—achieving additional spin-in

successes—or spun-out to private businesses, universities and colleges, and other

government labs.

Without the participation of Goddard’s scientific and technical staff, the Office of

Technology Transfer could not achieve its goals. We thank these innovators for their

involvement.

Michael Barthelmy

Michael Beamesderfer

Jeannette Benavides

Thomas Bialas

Gregory Boegner

Clifford Brambora

Kristi Brown

Jason Budinoff

Robert Candey

Victor Chambers

Reine Chimiak

Gregory Clarke

Carmel Conaty

Donald Coyle

Steven Curtis

Keith Deweese

Terence Doiron

Denise Duignan

Amy Fedorchak

Gene Feldman

Jeffrey Ferrara

Yury Flom

Samuel Floyd

David Folta

Edward Gaddy

Parminder Ghuman

Rene Gosselin

Gregory S. Greer

Thomas Grubb

Bernard Harris

Jessica Hauss

Edward Hicks

Jeffrey Hosler

Carl Hostetter

Connie Houchens

Norden Huang

Steven Hughes

Brian Jamieson

Cameron Jerry

Murzy Jhabvala

Jeremy Jones

Hollis Jones

Virginia Kalb

Richard Katz

Daniel Kaufman

Edward Kim

David Le Vine

Douglas Leviton

Donald Lokerson

Richard Lyon

David Mangus

Mark Matsumura

Andrew Maynard

Charles McClain

Timothy McClanahan

Johnny Medina

Ronald Mink

James Morrissey

Gary Mosier
10

spotlight: Focus on Spin-In

During 2003, the Office of Technology Transfer began

working more closely with the Chief Technologist in

Goddard's Technology Management Office to find ways to

effectively achieve their mutually compatible goals. With its

new focus on spin-in, the Office of Technology Transfer helps ensure that Goddard and the other

NASA Field Centers get the technologies they need, either from within NASA or from outside labs

and companies. This spin-in emphasis fits perfectly with the Chief Technologist's goals.

Goddard’s Chief Technologist develops the Center’s roadmap for technologies as applied to NASA

missions, sponsoring early R&D activities as appropriate. In addition, the Chief Technologist

coordinates with the R&D chiefs from other NASA Centers and other government laboratories,

looking for opportunities to partner and collaborate. Sponsoring and helping set up the exchange

fellowship program further benefits research and technology knowledge sharing within Goddard.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

New Technology Reporting Program

Every year, the Office of Technology Transfer hosts its New Technology

Reporting (NTR) Program to recognize the contributions of Goddard

innovators to technology transfer. More than 100 people attended the 

April 9th event.

In addition to bestowing several awards (see pages 12 and 15), the Office

takes this opportunity to elaborate on a particularly significant technology

transfer success story. In 2003, the success story was the launch of the

Secure Ambulation Module (SAM) by Enduro Medical Technology (see 

page 6). A video documenting this success story in detail is available online

(http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov) as well as via CD-ROM from the Office

of Technology Transfer.
Awards

Awards provide an excellent medium for encouraging Goddard’s innovators to

participate in technology transfer as well as promoting Goddard technologies to

potential partners. The Office of Technology Transfer submits Goddard inventions

for awards bestowed by outside organizations as well as awards given by NASA’s

Inventions and Contributions Board (http://icb.nasa.gov). In addition, the Office

created its own award to recognize an innovator active in technology transfer:

the Kerley Award.

“I am gratified to learn that 

Dr. Huang is working on

algorithms that are going to

allow us to conduct nondestructive testing of the Shuttle

orbiters, [a key need identified

by the Columbia Accident

Investigation Board]. His method

is going to help advance that

particular objective in ways that

we could not have imagined just

six months ago. It now has

tremendous capacity for immediate application for which we

are most grateful.”

Sean O’Keefe, NASA Administrator

Peter Hildebrand,

Chief of the

Laboratory for

Hydrospheric

Processes, accepts

the Kerley Award

on behalf of

Norden Huang,

who was unable to

attend the event.

Also pictured (left

to right) are

Veronica Johnson,

meteorologist for

NEWS4; Alison

McNally, Associate

Center Director; and

Nona Cheeks, Chief of Goddard’s

Office of Technology Transfer.

HHT Wins Kerley Award and NASA’s Government

Invention of the Year

Named after the late James Kerley, a Goddard scientist who championed

technology transfer, the Kerley Award is presented annually to recognize

a Goddard researcher’s commitment to new technology reporting and

the technology transfer process. The winner for 2003 was Norden Huang,

who has been exceptionally active in the transfer of his Hilbert-Huang

Transformation (HHT) technology (see page 4). Huang’s award was

announced in April at the 11th annual New Technology Reporting

Program (see page 11).

Two months later, Dr. Huang and his HHT technology were honored with

the prestigious NASA Government Invention of the Year Award. This

award recognizes government employees who have developed a

technology that has provided a significant and identifiable benefit to a

NASA project or program, such as improving mission safety or saving

significant time and money. NASA’s ICB called HHT “one of the most

important applied mathematical methods in NASA’s history.”

12
SeaDAS Wins NASA’s Software Invention of the Year

Award

Goddard was gratified to be a winner of another prestigious NASA award in

2003. The ICB presented NASA’s Software of the Year Award to the SeaWiFS

Data Analysis System (SeaDAS). SeaWiFS is the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-ofView Sensor, an Earth-orbiting ocean color sensor gathering quantitative

data on global ocean bio-optical properties to monitor various types and

quantities of marine phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants).

Since the beginning of the SeaWiFS project in 1991, a primary objective has

been to provide the Earth science community with rapid and easy access to

the sensor’s data as well as the tools to work with the data. The SeaDAS

software package provides essential processing, display, analysis, and quality

control functions for the data users.

Feedback from the research community on SeaDAS’s performance has been

extremely favorable. It has been accepted as the standard ocean color

satellite analysis system by the international research community (over 500

user sites in nearly 50 countries) and other space agencies. The software also

has been used by many commercial entities, including ORBIMAGE, which is

developing commercial products from SeaWiFS data, and SeaSpace and

Integral System, Inc., which use SeaDAS as part of their direct-broadcast

ground stations.

O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003
14

Goddard Researcher Selected

as Tech Museum Laureate

In 2003, Goddard’s James D. Spinhirne

(pictured to the right) was selected as one of

25 laureates for The Tech Museum Awards:

Technology Benefiting Humanity. Chosen as

one of five finalists (out of 96 nominations) in the

“Environment” category for his Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL),

Dr. Spinhirne attended the October 15th awards gala

hosted by Al Roker of NBC’s Today show in San Jose,

California.

MPL is a ground-based lidar system that enables

autonomous monitoring of atmospheric clouds and

aerosol scattering. Unlike previous lidar systems, MPL is an eye-safe,

small, simple, reliable, long-range system that operates unattended

and is significantly enhancing atmospheric

research. For more information on MPL and its

use, see http://mplnet.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

To be selected as a Tech 

Museum finalist, applicants 

must demonstrate:

• That the use of technology

significantly improves the

human condition in one of five

universal areas: economic development, education, environment, equality, and

health 

• Evidence that a serious problem or challenge with broad significance is

addressed

• A noteworthy contribution that surpasses previous or current solutions 

• A novel application that represents a breakthrough or a creative

adaptation of an existing technology

• Its potential to serve as an inspiration or model for others

More information about The Tech Museum is available online

(http://www.thetech.org/techawards/index.cfm).
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Patent Awards

At the New Technology Reporting Program in April (see page 11), Goddard’s

Office of Patent Counsel presented Patent Awards—including plaques and

checks for $500 to $1,000—to six innovators, who had U.S. patents issued for

their Goddard technologies in 2002:

• Kenneth Blumenstock 

• Edward Cheung 

• Norden Huang 

• Michele Manuel 

• Geary Schwemmer 

• Harry Shaw 

In 2003, nine Goddard technologies received U.S. patents:

U.S. Patent No. Technology Name

6,538,796 MEMS Devices for Spacecraft Thermal Control Applications

6,566,854 Apparatus for Measuring High-Frequency Currents

6,584,874 3-D Sprag Ratcheting Tool

6,593,879 Using the Global Positioning Satellite System to Determine

Attitude Rates Using Doppler Effects

6,594,582 GPS Compound Eye Attitude and Navigation Sensor and

Method

6,626,792 Gear Bearings

6,631,325 Computer Implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition

Method Apparatus, and Article of Manufacture Utilizing

Curvature Extrema

6,640,949 1-Way Bearing

6,648,522 Fiber Optic Connector Polishing Fixture Assembly

Goddard also submitted 8 patent applications and 11 provisional patent

applications in 2003. It is expected that patents will be issued to these

technologies in the coming years.
16

NASA Tech Briefs Awards

NASA Tech Briefs is a monthly publication reporting new, commercially

significant NASA technologies. To encourage Goddard innovators to publish

their technologies, the Office of Technology Transfer provides cash awards

for publishing in NASA Tech Briefs.

In 2003, the following technologies were published in NASA Tech Briefs:

• Eye Safety Camera Attached to a Theodolite to Obtain Boresight 

Pointing of High-Intensity Visible Lasers and/or Invisible Infrared

Lasers (GSC-14469-1) The simple addition of a charge-coupled-device

(CCD) camera to a theodolite makes it safe to measure the pointing

direction of a laser beam. (January 2003)

• Mechanical Tube Bending Tool for Precise Bends (GSC-14412-1) This

relatively simple, manually operated tool enables precise bending—

typically, within ±0.5° of the specified bend angle—of a metal tube located

in a confined space, with a minimum of flattening of the tube and without

significant gouging of the tube surface. (April 2003)

• Neutral Axis Spring Concept for Providing Torque Margin to Composite 

Thin-Wall Integral Boom Hinges (GSC-14640-1) Neutral-axis springs

could be used to augment the unfolding torques of hinges that are

integral parts of thin-wall composite-material booms used to deploy

scientific instruments from spacecraft. (September 2003)

NASA Tech Briefs is available online at: http://www.nasatech.com
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Attendance at Conferences

Presenting their technologies at regional or national conference is an

excellent professional opportunity for Goddard’s scientific and technical

staff. Because of the value these presentations also offer in terms of

outreach to potential partners (see page 19), the Office of Technology

Transfer helps arrange innovator participation at these events.

In 2003, the Office of Technology Transfer helped 7 Goddard innovators

present 10 technologies at 4 professional conferences. For more information

on the Office’s participation in technology conferences, see page 25.
18

Goddard Tech Transfer News

In Spring 2003, the Office of Technology Transfer redesigned, renamed, and

refocused its quarterly periodical distributed to Goddard’s management

and scientific and technical staff. Goddard Tech Transfer News provides

information of interest to Goddard innovators:

• Explanations of each step of the technology transfer process

• Awards, upcoming conferences, and other opportunities to gain

recognition for their innovations

• Programs that provide funding for research projects

• Profiles of researchers active in technology transfer

By understanding that their innovations and expertise are national assets

that can be used to achieve NASA’s space program goals as well as to

develop new products and processes that benefit the U.S. in other ways,

Goddard’s innovators will more actively participate in the technology

transfer activities that make these potential benefits a reality.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Outreach to Potential Partners

In order to be successful in achieving our spin-in and spin-out objectives,

the Office of Technology Transfer must conduct extensive outreach to

potential partners in industry and academia as well as at other government

laboratories and NASA Field Centers. Through this outreach, the Office can

convey:

• Goddard’s needs for technology or guidance on achieving NASA mission

goals – spin-in

• Goddard innovations and expertise that are available to solve their

technical challenges – spin-out

The Office of Technology Transfer undertakes a variety of outreach activities

to communicate effectively with potential partners. This section describes

these activities in 2003.
20

Agreements for Use of Goddard Technologies and

Facilities

The Office of Technology Transfer uses several vehicles to make Goddard

innovations available for use by outside organizations:

• Space Act Agreement (SAA)

Under an SAA, the external partner and Goddard work together on joint

research that meets the technical needs of both parties. For instance, a

private company might work with Goddard to integrate a NASA technology into its existing product line while providing expertise on how the

original technology can be improved to benefit NASA.

• Software Use Agreement (SUA)

This agreement allows Goddard-developed software to be used by other

parties for specific purposes. In some cases, the duration of the agreement

is limited so that the user can test it on a preliminary basis, followed by a

license agreement for longer term access to the software. In 2003, the

Office of Technology Transfer began coordinating SUAs via online

processing, as part of its efforts to transfer the Hierarchical Segmentation

(see page 5) and Hilbert-Huang Transformation software (see page 4).

• Prototyping License

The prototype licensee develops application-specific prototypes of a

patented Goddard invention for other organizations wanting to evaluate

the technology for their own use. If the technology meets their needs,

those organizations sign a license with Goddard to use it on a more ongoing basis. The prototype licensee helps to reduce time to market for the

potential licensee while improving Goddard’s opportunities for licensing.

• Exclusive/Nonexclusive License

An organization may apply for an exclusive, an exclusive in a field of use, a

co-exclusive, or a nonexclusive license to use or manufacture a Goddard

technology. In most cases, royalties (e.g., a percentage of sales) are paid to

Goddard.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Making Goddard Technologies Available

Potential partners can find out about available Goddard technologies and

expertise via various sources:

• Technology Opportunity Sheets

The Office publishes these one-page descriptions of available Goddard

technologies throughout the year.

• Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer Web Site 

The Office’s online offerings include featured technologies, virtual tours 

of Goddard facilities, and access to other NASA technology sources 

(http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov).

• NASA TechFinder

This is an online clearinghouse for technologies available from any NASA Field

Center (http://technology.nasa.gov/).

• NASA Tech Briefs

The Office helps Goddard innovators publish their technologies in this monthly

periodical read by original equipment manufacturer (OEM) design/development engineers and managers (http://www.nasatech.com).

• Nanotech Briefs

In 2003, the Office prepared an article on nanotechnology research at 

Goddard—and the collaborations related to it—for the inaugural issue of this

new electronic periodical.

The Office of Technology Transfer also hosts and attends events where potential

partners can hear more about available Goddard technologies (see page 22).
22

Hosting and Attending Events

In addition to attending professional conferences,

Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer hosts a variety of events to disseminate information about available Goddard technologies—as well as NASA’s

scientific and technical needs—to potential

partners. In 2003, the Office hosted or helped

organize five such events.

NASA Medical Technology Summit

On February 11–13, 2003, NASA hosted nearly 200 attendees from industry,

academia, and government agencies at the NASA Medical Technology

Summit: Forging Partnerships to Commercialize Emerging Medical

Technologies. By introducing industry leaders to NASA’s most exciting and

innovative medical technologies, the summit sought to stimulate joint

development and licensing partnerships with industry.

Among the more than 20 NASA technologies featured at the summit were 

3 developed at Goddard:

• The Hilbert-Huang Transformation method (see page 4), which can be used

to analyze heart rate, blood pressure, and other biological signals

• Single-walled carbon nanotubes, which can be used in pacemakers,

implantable biosensors, hearing aids, and other medical devices

• Sol-gel filled fiber optics, which can be used in biosensors 

In addition to hearing presentations on these and other NASA technologies,

attendees were able to meet one-on-one with inventors and technology

transfer staff. Goddard inventors participated in eight such meetings. The

Office of Technology Transfer is following up with the National Institutes of

Health and companies that expressed interest in Goddard’s inventions.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

National Association of Seed and

Venture Funds (NASVF) Conference

In November 2003, NASA was a co-sponsor for the NASVF

conference in Baltimore, Maryland. In keeping with the theme

of the event—Innovations in Early-Stage Investing—NASA

explored ways to foster ventures and collaborations to

capitalize on the enhanced economic growth, competitiveness, and quality of life opportunities created by NASA’s

cutting-edge research and technological innovation.

Investment by seed and venture funds accelerates the R&D

that leads to commercial products—products that might be

procured to advance government missions (i.e., spin-in).

Goddard played an active role in this event, presenting the Hilbert-Huang Transformation (HHT) method

to tech-savvy investors, who then evaluated it as an investment opportunity. Several suggestions were

made on positioning the technology in a start-up environment, and potentially interested companies

were identified. The Office of Technology Transfer is pursuing these leads.

Technology Briefing on the 

Hilbert-Huang Transformation

(HHT) Method

The Office of Technology Transfer hosted a briefing

on Goddard’s HHT Advanced Analysis Software in

March 2003. Attended by 50 representatives from

companies, universities, and government agencies,

the briefing included presentations exploring the

potential applications for the HHT technology:

• Biomedical signal analysis 

• Speech analysis 

• Machine tool fault detection 

• Vibrometers 

• Data processing 

These presentations were followed by one-on-one meetings, where seven

organizations discussed possible partnerships with the inventor and

Goddard technology transfer staff. Now, the Office of Technology Transfer is

exploring possible partnership opportunities with the FBI, the Federal

Highway Administration, and Bartron Medical Imaging, which has already

successfully spun-out another Goddard technology (see page 5).
24

NASA Tech Briefs Nanotech 2003

Conference

Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer played a

leading role in helping organize the NASA Tech Briefs

Nanotech 2003 Conference held in Boston in late

October 2003. Originally conceived as an opportunity

to feature a single Goddard technology, the event

grew into a 2-day conference. Staff in the Office of

Technology Transfer designed the content of the

program and found more than 40 speakers from

government, academia, and industry. Six of these

speakers were from Goddard, and three of these were

innovators discussing their technologies and NASA’s

nanotech goals (see page 25). In addition, Goddard

previewed a 10-minute video being prepared by the Office

of Technology Transfer on various nanotechnology research projects

underway at NASA. That video will be completed in 2004.

Greater Washington Nanotechnology Alliance 

Special Topics Symposium

The Office of Technology Transfer and Goddard researcher Dan Powell

attended the first special topics symposium of the Greater Washington

Nanotechnology Alliance. Held on November 25th in Laurel, Maryland,

this day-long event was filled with presentations on topics ranging from

public interest issues to technical practices, research, and potential/

developing applications. The event—as well as the Alliance itself—is

mainly a knowledge-sharing and networking opportunity. By knowing

the key players and what they are researching, the Office of Technology

Transfer can identify opportunities for combined research efforts that

benefit NASA as well as the partner.
O ffice of Technology Transfer Repor t 2003

Technology Conferences

As discussed on page 17, the Office of Technology Transfer helps coordinate the participation of Goddard

researchers at various professional conferences. Not only does this provide a valuable professional benefit to the

researchers—and thus encourage them to participate in technology transfer—but it also is an excellent venue for

presenting Goddard technologies to targeted potential partners. Similarly, NASA’s technical and research needs

can be presented in the hopes of generating spin-in partnerships.

In 2003, the following Goddard presentations were made at professional conferences:

Technology/Presentation Event

Aluminum super polishing technique SAMPE (Long Beach, CA)

“Application of Nanotech to Spacecraft and Scientific Instruments” NASA Tech Briefs Nanotech 2003 (Boston, MA)

“Applied Nanotechnology in Space” Nanotech 2003 (Boston, MA)

Encoder technologies NDES (Chicago, IL)

Gear bearings NDES (Chicago, IL)

Hilbert-Huang Transformation method NASVF (Baltimore, MD)

Multi-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator SAMPE (Long Beach, CA)

Noncatalytic manufacturing method for carbon nanotubes Nanotech 2003 Conference (Boston, MA)

NDES (Chicago, IL)

SAMPE (Long Beach, CA)

“Oriented Nanocomposite Extrusion” Nanotech 2003 (Boston, MA)

Passive gas-gap heat switch SAMPE (Long Beach, CA)

NASVF = National Association of Seed and Venture Funds

NDES = National Design and Engineering Show

SAMPE = Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering

Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology

Transfer (FLC) Annual Conference

The 2003 FLC national meeting was held May 5–9 in Tucson, Arizona. In

pursuing the theme of “Adding Value to the T2 Frontier,” the week included

advanced training on intellectual property management and licensing as

well as sessions on leveraging technologies for economic development.

The FLC meetings allow Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer to share

best practices with other research labs.

NASA Technology & Business Conference

On August 25–26, the Chief of the Office of Technology Transfer participated

in a presentation at the 12th Annual NASA Technology & Business

Conference in Albany, New York. Attendees of this small business networking, training, and education conference met with NASA, contractors, and

other government agencies to discuss possible business opportunities.

In her presentation, the Office Chief outlined a step-by-step process for the

public and private sectors to participate in NASA’s technology transfer

activities through licensing or joint R&D opportunities.
26

How to Contact Us

The staff of the Office of Technology Transfer welcome calls and e-mails from

industry, academia, government labs, and the general public interested in

learning more about partnership opportunities with Goddard.

telephone: (301) 286-5810

e-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov

internet: http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov

O t her Web Sites

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov

NASA’s Commercial Technology Network http://nctn.hq.nasa.gov

NASA TechFinder http://technology.nasa.gov
Office of Technology Transfer

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

phone: (301) 286-5810

fax: (301) 286-0301

e-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov

web: http://techtransfer.gsfc.nasa.gov

NP-2004-3-625-GSFC