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Spinoff story
Material for Mars Makes Life-Saving Sutures
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
NASA aims to bring samples back from Mars, but challenges abound: for example, simulated Martian dirt interfered with a clean seal. Techno Planet Inc., building a canister with SBIR funding from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, turned to Orangeburg, South Carolina-based Zeus Inc. to make a barrier to wipe dirt off the canister edge, which resulted in a new process to get the required properties. Since then, the company has found numerous uses for the extruded material, including as soft, flexible, strong sutures.