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Spinoff story
Silicon Diode Sensor Tracks Extreme Temperatures
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
It’s important to keep close track of rocket fuel temperatures, which must remain hundreds of degrees below zero. NASA uses special sensors to get the extremely accurate reads it needs at those low temperatures, and West Palm Beach, Florida-based Scientific Instruments Inc. has been supplying them to Kennedy Space Center since the Apollo program. A more recent version, first used and improved for the Space Shuttle program, is now sold to private space companies and the medical industry.