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Spinoff story
Mission Control Conference System Enables Global Collaboration
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Conference calling is easy and common, but it requires complicated technology that didn’t exist before the 1980s, when NASA wanted to improve its own communications system. Originally, NASA’s global and space networks required constant manual reconfiguration. To upgrade to a digital system, Goddard Space Flight Center called on Pittsburgh-based Compunetics. The company created a conference bridge that allowed connections and conferences to be reconfigured instantly and automatically. The company has since sold millions of similar systems worldwide based on what it created for NASA.