Technology developed by NASA to stabilize rockets is being employed by Thornton Tomasetti to reduce vibrations in skyscrapers.
It doesn’t take much imagination to be swept up in the enthusiastic way Terry Taylor, Manager of the Technology Transfer Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, communicates his love for what he does. An excellent storyteller, he sets a jarring stage for the listener, explaining the rocket-related issue which spurred his favorite (and most recent) Marshall Space Flight NASA patent to be commercialized for public use.
“We had a very obvious complication that I think you’ll like,” Taylor begins, “so this rocket, as it burns, develops vibrations that [shake] the rocket in a way that’s very…undesirable. Basically, what it would do was that the astronauts’ eyes would go into [luxation] which means that their eyes would literally bounce out of their sockets.”
Well then!
There’s obviously going to be some level of vibration which we civilians will never completely wrap our minds around, but…who knew?