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Spinoff story
Magnetic Liquids
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Ferrofluidics Corporation's recent innovation is a spindle for rotating computer discs that supports the disc's rotating shaft on a film of magnetic fluid instead of conventional ball bearings. According to its developers, the spindle offers greatly increased rotational stability, meaning substantially reduced vibration and mechanical noise, and non-repeatable runout. This allows disc drives to store two to 10 times more information.