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What Ever Happened to Space Spin-Off?
Culbertson, John
10/3  (Spring 1968): 33-40

The notion that space technology could spin-off a host of processes products, and material which would have a dramatic impact on everyday industrial and commercial economy of the U.S. is now distinctly unfashionable. Two significant factors explain why spin-off has not occurred as previously predicted. Firstly, the factor that NASA technology developed for space application simply does not promise earthly application and secondly, the government developed and patented innovations which are not often attractive candidates for commercial exploitation for proprietary policy reasons. It is improbable that the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would burden its own staff and contractors with the constraint that innovations which are developed to attain NASA mission goals must have joint applicability to the space effort and to commercial-industrial utilization. Such a constraint would add cost burdens to an already expensive space program and is, therefore, not economically justifiable. Moreover, the added design criteria would put NASA in the position of consciously designing for the commercial industrial market.

 

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