Folklife Festival on the Mall

Folklife Festival on the Mall
Washington DC
June 25-June 29 and July 2-6, 2008

NASA will show cleaning of a Jackson Pollock painting at the
Folklife Festival on the Mall, along with may other topics relevant
to conservation and conservation science, such as designing new
space gloves.  This demonstration is on-going in the NASA area of
the Festival.

    <URL:http://folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/NASA/index.html>
    <URL:http://folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/NASA/NASA_Derived.html>

NASA-Derived Technologies

What do artificial hearts, art restoration methods, grooved
highways, memory foam, rescue equipment, surgical implants, water
purification systems, and even acne treatments have in common? All
directly benefit from NASA-derived technologies.

Every day, our lives are touched by space technology in ways we may
not realize. Since 1976, NASA has documented that over 1,600
applications of NASA-derived technologies have benefited the public
and the economy. The applications are present in our airports,
factories, farms, highways, homes, hospitals, offices, and
supermarkets. They have contributed to the development of commercial
products and services in the areas of consumer goods, computer
technology, environmental resources management, health and medicine,
industrial technology, and transportation.

Several well-known products are mistakenly regarded as NASA
inventions. In truth, they were only adapted by the agency for the
Space Program. For instance, Tang was selected for meals in orbit.
Teflon was applied to heat shields and space suits. And Velcro was
used to anchor equipment in zero-gravity situations.

Coming to the Festival:

    Bruce Banks, Alphaport, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio
    Currently a consultant to Alphaport, Bruce holds more patents
    than any other researcher in Glenn Research Center history.
    During his forty-one years with NASA, he conducted research
    activities in electric propulsion technology, thin film
    coatings, surface texturing processes, and space environment
    durability. He has authored 184 technical publications and has
    received 147 invention and meritorious performance awards.

    Peter Homer, Southwest Harbor, Maine
    Peter is the developer of an innovative new space suit glove
    design that is strong, easy on the hands, and gives the operator
    a high degree of dexterity. Working alone at his dining room
    table, Peter designed and then manufactured the best-performing
    glove within competition parameters to win NASA's 2007 Astronaut
    Glove Challenge.

    Sharon Miller, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
    As a research engineer for twenty-seven years, Sharon has
    focused on environmental durability testing of power system
    materials for the low-Earth orbit environment. She has also been
    involved in the development of coatings and surface modification
    techniques to make materials more durable and/or to enhance
    properties such as heat transfer and optical performance for
    Earth- and space-based applications.

    Paula T. DePriest, Ph.D.
    Deputy Director
    Museum Conservation Institute
    Smithsonian Institution
    Museum support Center
    4210 Silver Hill Road
    Suitland MD  20746-2863
    301-238-1206
    Fax: 301-238-3709

Mary W. Ballard
Senior Textiles Conservator
Museum Conservation Institute
Smithsonian Institution
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland MD 20746 U.S.A.
301-238-1210
Fax: 301-238-3709


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:3
                   Distributed: Monday, June 30, 2008
                        Message Id: cdl-22-3-006
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