2011
Optimizing Flight Routes in Real-time
Building on research that started at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Boeing incorporated flight path optimization technology into its Direct Routes product. This service, made commercially available in 2011, provides real-time advisories to aircraft for suggested shortcuts that have been pre-checked for traffic conflicts, wind conditions, and other factors.
European System Enhances GPS Location Accuracy for Aircraft
Air travel also benefits from space technology. As of March 2011, aircraft can use the satellite-based European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), which improves the accuracy of GPS signals in Europe, to aid in the critical task of vertically guiding aircraft during landing approaches.
Minimizing Bike Share Losses Through Satellite Tracking
Many U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington, D.C., have recently become home to citywide bike-sharing programs. These programs promote exercise and help to reduce automobile traffic, but one of the challenges is ensuring that bikes are not lost or stolen.
Beijing Bottlenecks Pinpointed With Taxi GPS
Researchers at Microsoft Research Asia used GPS data from more than 33,000 Beijing taxicabs over two years, amassing enough data to analyze every road in the city. This data not only showed areas where traffic slowed down, but also showed where journeys started and finished, and how a commuter traveled in between.
Determining the Connection Between Health and Commuting
In September 2011, the Nashville, Tennessee, Area Metropolitan Planning Organization selected firms that will use GPS monitors as part of a unique study of the connections between transportation and health. The study will begin with a survey of the daily travel and commuting patterns for 6,000 residents.
Improving Bus Routes From Space
GPS tracking has provided researchers and city planners with an important source of information for improving transportation systems. Studies using GPS tracking can help planners learn about where people are going, what methods of transportation they are taking, and how funds can best be spent to improve the system.
GPS Enhances Customer/Business Relationships
GPS-enabled phone applications are connecting businesses to their customers in new ways. Smartphone applications such as FourSquare, Google Latitude, and Yelp use GPS-enabled phones to allow users visiting a restaurant or store to check in and instantly share their location with friends.
Nebula Cloud Computing Helps Terrestrial Cloud Computing
Space can contribute not only to the products and services that individuals purchase and use, but also to those used by entire companies. A spinoff technology based on NASA’s Nebula cloud computing platform is now helping companies to use their information technology resources more efficiently.
Student Experiments On Board the ISS
More than 31 million students have participated in ISS-related educational demonstrations and more than 1 million students have conducted experiments linked to the space station. That number will grow even more with two new educational programs that began in 2011. The Plants in Space project, funded by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, allows students to compare observations about ISS plant growth to those on Earth. In September 2011, astronauts on the space station planted Brassica rapa seeds with the goal of investigating the influence of light on root orientation.
Tele-education Using PAKSAT
Many countries use satellite technology for education. With the August 2011 launch of the PAKSAT-1R communications satellite, Pakistan has joined this group of nations. The satellite, which provides TV broadcasting, internet, and data communication services, extends modern communications to the whole country. Pakistan’s prime minister urged the national space agency to focus on tele-education for improving the quality of life in remote areas. The technology allows Pakistani students in outlying areas with little or no access to educational resources to link up with classrooms in major cities.