KSC's Fruitful Hopes for Georgia
he State of Georgia and NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) recently signed an Interagency Agreement for Technology Transfer to establish a more proactive working relationship, according to the KSC Technology Programs and Commercialization Office. NASA has a responsibility to transfer space program technology and information to private industry, and KSC believes this agreement will provide "the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities, and consequentially, benefit the general public and the national economy," according to the agreement.
This cooperative relationship is similar to one KSC already has with the State of Florida, Kathleen Harer of KSC explained. It is to include joint projects, which will provide, as efficiently and effectively as possible, the necessary education, transfer of technology and utilization of information to fulfill the common goal of helping the private sector and industry readily benefit from the space program. The Interagency Agreement was signed jointly by KSC Director Roy D. Bridges, Jr., and Georgia Governor Zell Miller.
Both Georgia and KSC have responsibilities spelled out in the agreement. Georgia will identify state university system resources that can assist NASA in meeting its technology development and commercialization needs. The state must also provide resources and support for promoting the transfer of NASA technology to the private sector in Georgia, as well as identify viable markets and industries that are most likely to benefit from the technology transfer.
KSC must identify NASA technologies that have a potential for commercialization by the private sector in Georgia, provide the state with access to KSC for technology demonstrations and consultations and provide the personnel and resources necessary for the transfer of technology. KSC must also identify its own specific technologies and projects having technical transfer potential and co-sponsor and support workshops, symposiums and technical projects.
For more information, contact Gale J. Allen at Kennedy Space Center.
Call (407) 867-6226, Fax: (407) 867-2050, E-mail: gale.allen-1@kmail.ksc.nasa.gov
Or contact Jeff Labow at Georgia Institute of Technology. Call (404) 894-2272.
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Gamma Array Bursts With Applications
gamma ray detector array developed by a Goddard Space Flight Center research team promises unprecedented accuracy in locating gamma ray bursts and a wide range of potential commercial applications, including medical imaging, environmental monitoring and nondestructive evaluation. Goddard is collaborating with the University of Arizona in Tucson and the National Institutes of Health to use a pixel array, another type of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) array, in a brain imaging instrument.
Many areas of brain activity are smaller than 1 millimeter, and no prior instrument existed that could image activity in areas this small, researchers say. Nuclear medicine techniques for precise imaging are used to identify and locate gamma array activity in the brain. As a result, researchers expect the development of an entirely new class of high-resolution nuclear medicine scanners for improved detection of breast cancer, post–heart attack tissue damage assessment and more accurate epilepsy and stroke diagnoses.
A gamma ray strikes the CZT chip and produces an electric charge in a tightly packed electrode strip that makes very accurate determinations of a gamma ray's origin in such a small area. This portable detector could be commercially applied to many industrial situations, including monitoring radioactive waste storage sites, verifying nuclear treaties and probing interiors of structures and equipment to identify faults. A soda company is exploring the possibility of using gamma rays to determine whether bottles are filled to the correct level.
For more information, contact Bill Steigerwald at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Call (301) 286-5017, Fax: (301) 286-1629, E-mail: wsteiger@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov
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